The Big Ten can go back to eight. I mean, who are we kidding about strength of schedule? The committee has shown that doesn’t matter.

And Big Ten teams can be a double-whammy: not always good enough to help your SOS but good enough to knock you off. See: Iowa and Purdue over Ohio State.

You can make the case that OSU might not have played those two crossover games had there been eight conference games. But who knows?

Speaking of scheduling: What in the name of Bo and Woody was Nebraska doing playing at Ohio State and at Michigan in the same year, along with Michigan State as a crossover sidekick? The Big Ten Schedule Gods must have known NU would be in rebuilding mode this year. Can you imagine if Nebraska had a national title contender?

Leagues that care about national championships think about these things.

The SEC does. Between playing eight league games and scheduling a cupcake in mid-November to allow teams to rest before the heavy-lifting games, the SEC looks out for No. 1, literally.

As soon as the Alabama-Georgia game was over Saturday night, SEC media types went into overdrive tweeting and talking up Georgia in the playoff. It’s a regional pride thing and everyone in the South is all-in.