Michigan-Ohio State Could Become the Big Ten’s Title Game
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Pete Thamel of ESPN reported on Thursday that “the College Football Playoff is nearing a deal to expand to 24 teams,” and that “the new format will start in 2027 and is expected to come together in the near future, pending final approvals.” If that deal lands, the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry is one of the first things college football has to rethink.
The same reporting says the expansion is expected to wipe out the Power Four conference championship games. That is the detail that matters in Ann Arbor and Columbus. With no Big Ten title game in December, the last Saturday of November becomes the only game left that can settle the league, and a loss in it stops ending anybody’s playoff season. DSN had the full report when the news broke Thursday.
Conference championship games would be eliminated
Reports on the proposed bracket describe a 24-team field built from 19 at-large selections, the four Power Four champions and the highest-ranked Group of Six team, with the opening two rounds played on campus. The Big Ten, SEC, ACC and Big 12 title games go away, and each league would decide on its own how it crowns the champion who takes that automatic bid.
Those championship weekends have usually doubled as playoff elimination games. Under a 24-team field, the regular season carries that weight instead, and 12 more teams get in.
The Game could become the Big Ten’s title game
Put those two pieces together and Michigan and Ohio State inherit something strange. If the Big Ten awards its automatic bid to the team that finishes first in the standings, then in any year both schools are in that race, the winner on the final Saturday of November takes the conference with it. The trophy moves out of Indianapolis and onto the field in Ann Arbor or Columbus.
At the same time, the loss stops being fatal. With 24 spots instead of 12, a Big Ten contender that drops The Game is not automatically done. Michigan already found out this season how little room the current format leaves, and one Big Ten loss moved its playoff math in a hurry. Twenty-four spots change that calculation for everybody.
The Michigan-Ohio State rivalry will still be heated
None of this cools the rivalry off. Even with no Big Ten championship game next season and for years to come, Michigan and Ohio State is going to keep all of its juice, because the two fan bases cannot stand each other.
The coaches on both sides will never treat this as a meaningless game, whatever the records say. They could both be 0-11 or 11-0 and they would still want to win it badly.
Ohio State ended Michigan’s four-game streak last season
The Buckeyes broke their four-game losing streak in the series last season, winning 27-9 in Ann Arbor on Nov. 29. Ohio State finished that regular season 12-0 and then met Indiana in the Big Ten championship game, exactly the kind of December date the new format would delete.
The next meeting is set for Nov. 28 at Ohio Stadium. The postseason that follows it is the part still being negotiated.
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