Delany: BCS system works
Big Ten commissioner supports set-up, but feels bad for Michigan
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
BY JOHN HEUSER
News Sports Reporter
Two days after the University of Michigan football team was dumped from national title game contention in favor of Florida, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany voiced support for the Bowl Championship Series system, but also expressed regret for the Wolverines' plight.
"We had a great football season, and we had some great football teams,'' he said Tuesday. "Personally I was disappointed that Michigan did not have an opportunity to play for the national championship.
"We have a system, and the system worked out. I've seen other disappointed teams from other conferences. This is not the first time it's happened.''
The frustration is still fresh for the Wolverines, however, who entered the final weekend of the season ranked third by the BCS. When No. 2 Southern California lost to UCLA, Michigan held out hope for a title game invitation to play No. 1 Ohio State. Instead, the berth went to Florida, which jumped ahead of Michigan in the standings after winning the Southeastern Conference championship.
Delany admitted that things might have been different if the Big Ten had played games the past two weeks. In keeping with Big Ten tradition, league action ended Nov. 18, the weekend before Thanksgiving.
"Typically, if everyone's playing and winning, the status quo (in the rankings) holds,'' he said.
Delany said he expected the end-of-play date to be discussed in the off-season, but he didn't sound sure that any action would be taken. Michigan coach Lloyd Carr has been an advocate of the current system because it allows players to spend Thanksgiving with their families and provides more study time at the end of the semester.
The commissioner made his comments at the end of a teleconference to announce Mark Silverman as president of the fledgling Big Ten Network. The network, which will televise classic and current league sports as well as original conference-affiliated programming, is scheduled to launch next August.
John Heuser can be reached at jheuser@annarbornews.com or 734-994-6816.