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CHICAGO – If the College Football Playoff opts to expand to 24 teams in the near future, expect things to look a look a little different in the Big Ten. 

Those were the exact words of Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti when he was repeatedly asked about future expansion during his annual press conference at Big Ten Football Media Days in Chicago on Tuesday morning. 

Petitti discussed a lot of important topics during his 45-minute briefing but one of the most valuable discussion points during his presser was the future of the Big Ten Championship Game. The conference introduced the title game ahead of the 2011 season, and it has been held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis ever since. 

Kirk Ferentz has taken his Iowa football team to the championship game on three occasions – 2015, 2021, and 2023 – as the Big Ten West champion, but the Hawkeyes couldn't get the job done. 

Divisions were dropped in 2024 following conference expansion, meaning Iowa will basically have to go 12-0 or 11-1 in the regular season to qualify for the championship game. Iowa is capable of doing so, but the chances of it being a regular occurrence are very slim. 

The Hawkeyes' only Big Ten crowns in the Ferentz era came during the pre-championship game era. No one as recent as five years ago thought there was ever a chance the shared titles would return, but there's a chance it could be coming back. 

Why? Because Petitti said the Big Ten would likely not continue with the Big Ten Championship Game should a 24-team CFP happen. 

"We think overall if we expand the playoff and have the access we need, we'd be willing to make that trade," Petitti said. "We've had incredible games the last couple of seasons, but I still think we're willing to do that because we believe that access is still the most important thing." 

How the Big Ten would restructure its league crown is the next question that would come out of this, but if you're Iowa, you've got to be really intrigued by this quote. 

A Big Ten championship doesn't hold as much value in the CFP era, but that doesn't mean it's completely worthless. The Hawkeyes last won the league in 2004, and though they've reached remarkable heights since (Orange Bowl win in 2009, perfect regular season in 2015) their Big Ten trophy case continues to show more dust each year. 

That could change if the Big Ten Championship Game goes away, though. The league may still opt to declare an outright champion, but considering the conference now boasts 18 teams compared to 11 back in 2010 (the last year before the title game), an outright champion seems impossible to decide. 

Instead, I would expect to see the Big Ten go back to having a split conference championship. That could be a good sign for Ferentz, as both of his Big Ten title-winning teams (2002 was the other) shared the crown with Ohio State and Michigan, respectively. 

A return to this format means more opportunities for Iowa to recapture a Big Ten championship. Of course, winning a share of the Big Ten with potentially five or six other teams doesn't guarantee a berth in the CFP, but in an era of college football where so much is unknown, you'll certainly take what you can get. 

Here's the bottom line: no Big Ten Championship Game = more opportunities for Iowa and the rest of the league. 

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HawkeyeRoundtable publisher Brad Schultz has covered the Iowa Hawkeyes since 2023. To send him story ideas, scoops, or criticize his writing, reach him at bradschultz@roundtable.io

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