It took three days to determine the first Big Ten Title Game participant

While the Nebraska football team is almost certainly eliminated from the Big Ten Championship game, it might be worth the effort to double check. After all, it took the conference the better part of three days to confirm that one team has officially punched its ticket to the final game.

The Big Ten announced late on Tuesday afternoon that it ran through all the scenarios it needed to (and there are a lot) in order to confirm one team has clinched an appearance. It seems likely the second team will move very close to clinching this Saturday.

The Big Ten announced that the Oregon Ducks have officially qualified for the title game. And the conference went through its very many tie breaker factors in order to confirm the Ducks are indeed the first team in.

Big Ten shows the new normal

It’s not at all a surprise that Oregon has made the championship game. It is a bit of a surprise though that the announcement  means the Ducks could lose both of its next two games and still make the Big Ten Title Game.

Meanwhile there are 10 scenarios remaining based on results in the final two weeks that leave Ohio State, Indiana and Penn State alive for the Big Ten Championship Game. Oregon earns the No. 1 seed in five of the scenarios, while Ohio State reaches the field in four. However, if Ohio State beats Indiana and loses to Michigan, the tiebreaker could come down to winning percentage of conference opponents between Indiana and Penn State, which will be up in the air until the season is over.

One thing has become very clear. That it took Sunday, Monday and a good deal of Tuesday to run through all the scenarios to make sure Oregon clinched a spot in the Big Ten Title Game is the new normal. And the SEC and Big 12 will almost certainly have to go through similar gymnastics.