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Pac-12 has a brilliant revelation: Hey, deal with Big Ten won’t work.

Mike Hlas, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa –

College sports are funny.

The Big Ten and Pacific-12 conferences made a big whoop several months ago about their agreement to have all of their schools’ football teams play a game each year against a team from the opposite league, effective in 2017.

Then Friday, Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said this:

“We recently learned from Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott that the complications associated with coordinating a non-conference football schedule for 24 teams across two conferences proved to be too difficult. Those complications, among other things, included the Pac-12’s nine-game conference schedule and previous non-conference commitments.”

Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said this:

“The Pac-12 came to the conclusion that it’s in our best interests to maintain our nine-game conference schedule and maximum flexibility in out-of-conference scheduling. Thus, the Pac-12 decided not to lock into the proposed mandatory 12-game schedule in football.”

Both statements were made indirectly, via the Pac-12’s office and a Big Ten press release. Boy, these guys aren’t afraid to go right to the press when they have happy-talk, are they?

These were things the Pac-12 wasn’t aware of last Dec. 28? That’s when the announcement of the arrangement was made.

As the months past, grumblings from schools in both conferences emerged. The concept sounded good, but the practicalities were not.

So, what do Big Ten teams do now? Stay with an 8-game league schedule and continue to stuff their nonconference dates with a lot of soft touches?

Well, probably. But my proposal is truly great. You’re in a conference with 11 other schools, so play all 11 other teams every year? Then play whoever you want in your 12th game, be it USC, Iowa State or Soft Touch Tech.

Sure, it would mean the Big Ten’s chances of putting a team in the four-team playoff would diminish, perhaps greatly. But you’ll do what you always say is so important to you, which is to keep the regular-season and conference-title meaningful.

I know that’s a crazy dream with a less-than-zero-percent chance of happening. But how great would it be for every game to truly matter, instead of seeing Big Ten teams playing so many Mid-American Conference and Missouri Valley Conference teams?

I ask for so little, Big Ten. Just give me an 11-game conference football schedule, and I won’t bother you again.

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