CBS Sports reports that the Big Ten was calling for a review and possible change to the selection process at the start of last year.
Jim Delany wants conference championships to be weighted more in the process.
Delany wanted clarity on the value of winning a conference championship and questioned a disparity in the number of conference games played by leagues, another source said. According to a different source, the Big Ten commissioner wanted to make sure the 13-member CFP Selection Committee was “adhering to the protocol” developed when the playoff was finalized in 2012.
The Big Ten champion has been left out of the playoff for the last three years. The conference hasn’t had a team in the CFP since 2016. Through the first five years of the playoff, the Big Ten has three appearances but has been shut out in each of the last two seasons.
“If I had any concern, it would be about strength of schedule and the value of [conference] championships, period,” Delany said last month. “That’s not a criticism. That’s just: What do we know after five years?'”
A Big Ten spokesman told CBS Sports on Sunday that the conference supported “the spirit and letter of the original intent of how conference champions should be respected in the selection process.”
