Big Ten Media Days: Jim Delany delivers message for College Football Playoff committee

Credit: Ben Gabbe

Credit: Ben Gabbe

Jim Delany has a clear message for the College Football Playoff committee: Follow your protocol more faithfully in the future.

In his final address at Big Ten Football Media Days, the outgoing Big Ten commissioner expressed multiple times his viewpoint strength of schedule and conference championships have not carried enough weight in the final rankings that determine which four teams will play for the national championship.

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The Big Ten was not represented in the past two playoffs, and the conference’s champion has not been chosen for the final four since Michigan State in 2015.

One-loss Ohio State made it in 2016 despite having lost to conference champion Penn State, who lost two games and was left out.

Ohio State went 11-2 and won the Big Ten but was the first team out in 2017, when the SEC had two representatives (league champion Georgia was joined by one-loss Alabama).

Last year, the one-loss, Big Ten champions Buckeyes not only missed the playoff again but were ranked sixth, one spot behind a Georgia team that went 11-2 and lost the SEC championship game to Alabama.

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