Scarblog: Slive gets the better of Delany again

[jbcarol]

Mike Slive just sank Jim Delany's battleship.

A Rose Bowl by another name.

In one deft move, Slive managed to neutralize Dela­ny's last advantage in the Big Ten commissioner's los­ing battle for the title of the most powerful man in col­lege sports.

Until Friday, Slive may have had six straight BCS championships, but Delany had the Rose Bowl. Slive may have had two new schools from two new states and two new TV mar­kets preparing to swell his league's ranks to 14, but Delany had the Rose Bowl. Slive may have had most of the best players, coaches and fans in college football under his big tent, but Del­any had the Rose Bowl.

Now Slive has his own Rose Bowl. A new-and-improved Rose Bowl. A Rose Bowl whose value will lie not in what it meant in the past but in what it'll mean in the future.

[jbcarol]

Herndon: The hyperbole rained down in sheets as the SEC and Big 12 announced the creation of a new bowl game matching their champions beginning in 2014.

A seismic development, it was called. College football as we know it will never be the same.

This new game will be a good deal for the SEC, which maintains its spot at the forefront of the sport, but the biggest winner is the Big 12. Its obituary was being prepared just a year ago with defections and dissatisfaction over Texas' level of influence. Now it could get back to 12 members and re-establish a championship game, as the alliance with the SEC gives it a full magazine of ammo with which to go hunting for new members.

The other big winner: New Year's Day, which could again be filled with big bowl games, a tradition that should have never left us. That's a seismic development we can all get behind.

[OTTER]

As Delany grabs his ankles, preparing for the next smack of the paddle, yelling "Thank you sir, may I have another", Slive smiles and goes into a full backswing!

[jbcarol]

AP: Don't get too giddy about playoff just yet

Unfortunately, Otter, Boon and the rest of the "Animal House" gang can't decide some of the more pressing issues: Where will the games be played? Are the bowls going to be part of the mix? Should the champions of the strongest conferences get some sort of preference? Will four teams be enough to determine a legitimate champion?

Already, they're staking out their positions. The conferences want to come up with a plan sometime over the next month, with the university presidents having something to vote on by the Fourth of July, thereby freeing us all from the tyranny of the redcoats, a.k.a. the Bowl Championship Series.

The Big Ten wants to craft a playoff system out of the current bowl structure, largely because it has such strong ties to the granddaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl, which has traditionally matched its champion against the winner of Pac-12. Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany also says any new format shouldn't include a team that doesn't win a division within its own conference -- a definite shot at the current national champion, Alabama, which finished second in the Southeastern Conference West but got a second chance against LSU in the BCS title game.

Not so fast, says SEC Commissioner Mike Slive, who prefers a playoff with neutral sites, mirroring the hugely successful NCAA basketball tournament. Then, looking to give himself some Rose Bowl-like leverage, he aligned with the Big 12 just last week to announce yet another new bowl game, one that would pit those two conference champions on New Year's Day beginning in 2014.

"A new January bowl tradition is born," Slive gloated. "This new game will provide a great matchup between the two most successful conferences in the BCS era and will complement the exciting postseason atmosphere created by the new four-team model."

[jbcarol]

Slive 1, Delany 0

[jbcarol]

Greenstein on Delany,'He's a very smart guy who likes to hear himself speak. He takes a ton of pride in the B1G Network.'