On WTKA yesterday I made my case for a Big Ten Showcase week to replace the Big Ten Championship. It's a very simple plan: Use Championship Weekend to play the best Big Ten games that were not played already. The weekend after Thanksgiving, each team would play one of the four Big Ten opponents they missed during the 9-game regular season, assigned by record. Sometimes—often I suspect—the top game would remain a winner-take-all championship bout. But it would do away with rematches, could do away with the need for divisions, virtually ensure all the championship contenders got a chance to play each other, and finish the season with relatively evenly matched Big Ten games we would have otherwise missed. Values of a good scheduling system I came to the Showcase idea by working backwards from the things we want to accomplish in a Big Ten season. They are (in order of relative importance): Produce an uncontroversial Big Ten champion that has the best claim to the best season. Play all the important rivalries, and most of the other rivalries. Be fair. Contenders shouldn't have grossly different paths to their records. Make money. Is business. No rematches! (discussion at end) The Plan I. Big Ten Championship weekend will be replaced by Showcase games across the conference. At the end of the regular season (IE the week after Thanksgiving) the Big Ten will host three to seven (preferably seven) games between Big Ten teams that have not yet played each other. These can be hosted on campus, or (sigh) at one or more neutral sites. We'll have to get approved for a 13th game, but I can't see why they would allow 2 teams to do this and not the rest. If a de facto tenth conference game is an issue with the NCAA, the showcase can be chopped down to just the three best games not played, but that's less fun. More Big Ten football: good for everybody. II. Best teams that haven't played each other play each other, and on down. Choosing the games is actually really simple once the data (records and which games haven't been played yet) are in front of you. Let's take the 2021 season: Seed School Rk Div Haven't Yet Played Showcase Opponent 1 Michigan (8-1) #1a East Iowa, Minn, PU, IL vs. Iowa (Game 1) 2 Ohio State (8-1) #1b East Iowa, Wis, IL, NW vs. Wisconsin (Game 2) 3 Michigan State (7-2) #3 East Iowa, Minn, Wis, IL vs. Minnesota (Game 3) 4 Iowa (7-2) #1 West UM, OSU, MSU, RU @ Michigan (Game 1) 5 Minnesota (6-3) #2a West UM, MSU, PSU, RU @ Michigan State (Game 3) 6 Wisconsin (6-3) #2b West OSU, MSU, UMD, IU @ Ohio State (Game 2) 7 Purdue (6-3) #2c West UM, PSU, UMD, RU @ Penn State (Game 4) 8 Illinois (4-5) #5 West UM, OSU, MSU, IU @ Indiana (Game 5) 9 Penn State (4-5) #4 East Minn, PU, Neb, NW vs. Purdue (Game 4) 10 Maryland (3-6) #5 East Wis, PU, Neb, NW vs. Northwestern (Game 6) 11 Rutgers (2-7) #6 East Iowa, Minn, PU, Neb vs. Nebraska (Game 7) 12 Nebraska (1-8) #6a West PSU, UMD, RU, IU @ Rutgers (Game 7) 13 Northwestern (1-8) #6b West OSU, PSU, UMD, IU @ Maryland (Game 6) 14 Indiana (0-9) #7 East Wis, IL, Neb, NW vs. Illinois (Game 5) The best opponent Michigan hasn't played is Iowa; there's your Game 1. Ohio State already played Minnesota so they get Wisconsin, and MSU gets Minnesota. The rest fall into place with very little room for decisions (read: controversy). In cases where there are multiple ways to organize the matchups, go with whatever makes for the best games, based on rivalries and knowledge of the specific teams in the context of that season. The Big Ten can have broad power to build the matchups that work best, so long as the results of the top game(s) will produce an undisputed champion, and there are no rematches. Note: this leaves open an opportunity to match a #2 and #3 against each other even if one or both didn't play #1, if that's the best game not played that year. For example if #1 Michigan went 12-0, #2 OSU and #3 Iowa are both 11-2/7-2 and haven't played each other, and Minnesota is 10-3/6-3 but already played Ohio State, you're not locked into a Michigan-Iowa game that won't change the champion. Have OSU and Iowa play each other, and get your Jug on. III. Declare a champion based on best Big Ten record/standard tiebreakers. Once the showcase games have been played, there should be no doubt who won the Big Ten, or if there's a tie in the record, which team gets the Rose Bowl berth. The Big Ten already has tiebreaker rules in place; the Showcase game only adds information, and gives the schedulers an opportunity at the end of the season to supply what's missing. Keeping the system in place: Best conference record, determined by % of Big Ten games won. If two teams are tied, head-to-head wins. If three or more teams are tied, they go through a series of steps until they can get down to 2 that played each other (head-to-head wins) or 1. IV. Hosting Options The Showcase can be held at home sites or neutral sites. If you keep the divisional structure, the division that had four home games gets to host, and will know years in advance that they're hosting that weekend. If you get rid of divisions, choosing who hosts adds a layer of complication. I always prefer college sites, but if they limit the Showcase to just 3 or 4 games, they'll probably want to use neutral/NFL sites so they can advertise. Not today's battle. [After THE JUMP: I test every Big Ten season from 2009-2021 to see how this would work out]