FanHouse Jim Delany

Even though by Lord Voldemort Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany has already shot down the idea, Penn State coach Joe Paterno still thinks the league should add a twelfth teams and a championship game. JoePa added a twist on Wednesday, saying who he doesn't want to see added to the conference: Notre Dame.

Stating the Irish have "had their chance," Paterno wants the league to look east, as in Big East. He recommends adding Syracuse, Pitt, or Rutgers to the conference. Paterno wants to see the Big Ten pick up the New York market, which would argue against Pitt. Rutgers has to like its chances in the Big East more than in in the Big Ten. As for Syracuse, well, at this point, you couldn't blame them if they decided to join Temple in the MAC. So there's no school out there that makes sense as a twelfth Big Ten Team, right?

Every sport needs a bad guy to keep the fans interested. Just ask Vince McMahon. Wait, don't. He can't hear you, he's on top of a 238-foot-high pile of $100 bills. So take my word for it. Sports are as much about who to root against as who to root for.

College football used to have a plethora of villains. When Steve Spurrier was at the height of his powers he had the two qualities most valued in a villain. He was arrogant and he was right. You never knew what he was going to say next, but you knew it was going to be a slam of one of his rivals. We won't even discuss some of his final scores.

Nowadays, however, everybody's just so doggone nice. (Okay, everybody outside the SEC.) There's one man, though, who might make a good hate sink for football fans. That's him in the picture.

With Ohio State's loss to Texas last night, the Big Ten finished the bowl season with a 1-6 record. We could offer up a lot of reasons for the Big Ten's lousy bowl record, but Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany told the Chicago Tribune after watching USC beat Penn State in the Rose Bowl that it's really quite simple:

"You look at it and ask: Did the players play hard, and were they prepared?" Delany asked. "Yes and yes. You know what? SC's a better football team. In all of the [bowl] games I've watched, I'm seeing us get beat by better teams.

"Then you say: Why is that? I don't have a great answer other than to say that these things tend to be cyclical."

So there you have it. Delany says the Big Ten teams are just getting beaten by better teams, and that's that.

And really, does anyone disagree? Texas is better than Ohio State. USC is better than Penn State. Georgia is better than Michigan State. Kansas is better than Minnesota. Missouri is better than Northwestern. Florida State is better than Wisconsin. Iowa is the one Big Ten team that won its bowl game because it's the one Big Ten team that drew an opponent (South Carolina) it should have beaten.

I don't have any grand solution to the problem of the Big Ten's bowl record (I'd love to see one of the BCS games relocate to Soldier Field, but somehow I don't see that happening), but I give Delany credit for accepting the simple fact that Big Ten teams are losing bowl games because they're not as good as their opponents.

Yeah, this is what I was talking about when I pooh-poohed that NY Post article all but guaranteeing a plus one game in the somewhat near future:

"Our presidents have no interest whatsoever in a plus-one model -- none," [Pac-10 Commissioner Tom] Hansen says. "It's a little annoying that my colleagues continue to float this idea as though it has merit. If they continue to push it, and try to push us into a corner ... " Will the Pac-10 walk away from the BCS? "Yes, no question."

No doubt the Big Ten's Jim Delany is ready to walk, too. Instituting further rounds of playoffs that all take place in the South isn't in their interests whatsoever. Blame the "sweetheart deal" with the Rose Bowl if you must, but don't expect either conference to do something against their self-interest. (HT: Deadspin.)