Championship Game "What if"...Big Ten and PAC-12

In my last post, I shared some "what if" scenarios for the ACC Championship Game and what may have been at the ACC home stadiums.

Up next: the two most recent additions to Conference Championship Games, the Big Ten and PAC-12.  With only three games apiece so far, it's not like our sample sizes are particularly big.  But, let's see what might have been if the two Rose Bowl conferences reversed the way their Championship Games were done.

For the Big Ten, the games in Indianapolis have been a clear success.  And with some of these schools and fan bases involved, I'm sure an on-campus setting would have been just as exciting (though nowhere near as neutral).

2011: Wisconsin at Michigan State.  How could this have possibly been any better?  A down-to-the-wire championship game, which was itself a rematch of an instant classic regular season game (the anti-VT/Clemson games from 2011).  Might the Spartans have pulled it out at home, instead of falling oh-so-close at Indy?  And if they do, how does that impact the tone - and the result - of the Rose Bowl against Oregon?

2012: Wisconsin at Nebraska.  Bo Pelini just can't win a Conference Title game it seems (2009 vs Texas and "one second left", 2010 vs Oklahoma and blowing a 3-score lead, and then this embarrassment in Indy).  Given the way this game played out, it's hard to imagine the change in venue making that much of a difference (recall, in the regular season game, the Cornhuskers needed a rally just to edge out the Badgers in Lincoln).  The all-Husker crowd in Lincoln would have been much better, though, since the Wisconsin half of Indy was a bit lacking (they were there by default, thanks to Ohio State and Penn State's sanctions, plus they had just been there the year before against Michigan State).

2013: Michigan State at Ohio State.  Now this is the one that I think has the greatest possibility of a different outcome.  The Buckeyes played valiantly against the Spartans in Indy, and had this game been in Columbus (I figure it would have come down to BCS standings, since both teams were 8-0 in Big Ten play), with a sellout crowd and just one game away from the BCS Title Game, it's hard to imagine the Buckeyes even thinking about "playing down" or taking things for granted.  It would have been a very close game - much like the real-life 2011 MSU/Wisconsin games - and a very large crowd.

The conclusion?  Keep it in Indy.  The on-campus games might bring more people due to some larger college stadiums, but the convenient location and quality games (yes, even the Wisconsin surprise blowout) have definitely spoken for themselves.


Now, for the PAC-12.  It's hard to say exactly where the Title Game would have been held.  Early speculation included Las Vegas.  Also, this is where the Basketball Tournament is held.  So, for the sake of argument, I'm going to assume this for the location of the first 3 PAC-12 Title Games.

2011: Oregon vs UCLA.  Good crowd in Eugene, but it would have been horrible anywhere else.  Phoenix?  Denver?  Seattle?  And of course, with UCLA at 6-6 and a coach-in-limbo situation, that game would have been a tough sell even in Los Angeles.  From Oregon's perspective, why waste money for the Vegas trip?  Just save a little and go to the Rose Bowl!

2012: Stanford vs UCLA.  This time, UCLA was there on their own merits (and not just there because of USC sanctions).  However, they were just blown out by Stanford the week before.  On a Friday night, not even Stanford hosting it yielded a good crowd, so it's hard to imagine it doing better somewhere else.  As for the game itself, perhaps the non-crowd would have been enough for UCLA to pull off the upset (my PAC-12 pick as "most likely to have a different outcome), as the Bruins came close to doing it in Palo Alto.

2013: Stanford vs Arizona State.  Of the three games, this probably would have had the best Vegas attendance.  Not too bad a drive (by Western U.S. standards) for either team, and a true "anything can happen" kind of game.  Given the result of the rematch in Tempe, I'll go out there and say Stanford wins this one in a different venue, probably by a similar convincing margin.

The conclusion?  Keep the games at home!  The PAC-12 territory is just too darn big for any one "central" location, unlike the ACC, Big Ten, and the SEC.  And just as Stanford showed at Arizona State (and UCLA almost showed at Stanford), the road team certainly has a chance.

Next time: the one that started it all, the SEC.  With more than 20 games in the books, it's going to be interesting to see how some of the die-hards might have handled these Championship Games being held in their back yards.