Tom Dienhart, BTN.com Senior Writer, June 5, 2012

The college football world was abuzz with analysis and opinion about the Big Ten?s stance on a playoff, which the conference discussed during a conference call on Monday.

Listen to the audio now:

In short, the Big Ten said it prefers the status quo BCS system over a four-team playoff. (I am shaking my head as I type this.) In fact, the league says it even likes a plus-one format better than a four-team playoff. (I am shaking my head faster now.)

But, if a playoff is coming, the Big Ten says it will accept it-as long as the bowls are part of the process and conference champions are given preference in the selection process.

Needless to say, these revelations didn?t play well in Peoria ? or in most other locales, for that matter.

Here?s what various opinion shapers across the country had to say about the Big Ten?s stance:

TAPPING INTO FLORIDA: I almost fell off my bean bag chair when I read this: Penn State has landed its first recruit from Florida in more than a decade. Yes, you read that correctly. Feel free to let your face collapse into your bowl of SpaghettiOs.

Florida just happens to be the most fertile state in the nation when it comes to producing FBS recruits. The question: Why the lengthy drought?

Any way. ?

The credit goes to Nittany Lion defensive coordinator Ted Roof, who is well-connected throughout the Southeast from his days at Georgia Tech, Duke and Auburn.

MONEY MAKERS: Sure, the SEC has won the past six national championships, the Big Ten has the fattest wallet in the nation.

The Big Ten will distribute a record $284 million to its 12 schools when this fiscal year concludes. Divvied up, that comes to $24.6 mil per school-but Nebraska won?t get a full slice until 2017. Last year, each B1G school received $22.9 mil.
The SEC? It recently announced it will distribute $241.5 million to its 12 members, which comes to $20.1 mil per school.

POSSIBLE SUPER CONFERENCES: Is college football headed to four, 16-team ?super conferences?? Big Ten commish Jim Delany doesn?t think so. But Michigan coach Brady Hoke disagrees.

Hoke also recently told the Dayton Daily News that he thinks the Big East will go away and maybe the ACC, too.

I have to concur with Hoke on the super conference structure that seems to be coming down the pike. But Delany thinks leagues that get too big lose their intimacy and lack rivalries. That may be true to a point, but the NFL seems to do fine with 32 teams. And there are plenty of rivalries within divisions, which also would be the case within divisions in a 16-team college conference.

BIG TEN TEAM AT NO. 1: Bob Asmussen of the Champaign News-Gazette has updated his preseason top 10. And you won?t believe who is No. 1. Yep, a Big Ten school. Look, I like Bob. But, I?m not so sure about this.

TWEETS THAT MATTER

My take: Act now! Michigan State is almost out of football tickets for the upcoming season! (I typed this while using my Billy Mays voice.) Only 300 season tickets are left! The old record of 61,479 sold was in 2000. It will be shattered!

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