Updated JUL 31, 2015 at 4:11p ET CHICAGO — If you’ve turned on the Paul Finebaum Show for even five minutes anytime this summer you’ve likely heard SEC fans engaging in one of their favorite pastimes: bashing Ohio State’s schedule. At Friday’s Big Ten Media Day, commissioner Jim Delany laid out a new conference-wide scheduling model beginning next season that his teams may soon trot out as a counterargument. For one thing, it includes a stipulation that schools no longer schedule FCS opponents — a tradition other leagues have shown no sign of abandoning. Beginning in 2016, the Big Ten will adopt a “Strength of Schedule” commitment (it’s not a formal requirement but rather a “mutual agreement” among league ADs) that consists of at least one intersectional game against a Power 5 opponent (which can include independents Notre Dame or BYU), nine conference games and no foes from outside the FBS realm. In doing so, the league will join the Pac-12 as the only ones with nine conference games AND a championship game. The ACC and SEC previously instituted the one Power 5 requirement but will continue to play eight league games. On Friday, a reporter asked Penn State coach James Franklin — previously at Vanderbilt — to respond to Auburn coach Gus Malzahn’s recent comment that SEC teams get “worn down” by the league’s rugged schedule. Franklin said it’s a valid point, but then questioned which conference’s scheduling model is in fact tougher. “Eight games in the SEC and they play FCS, or nine games in the Big Ten and no FCS?” he asked rhetorically. All of it, of course, is a response to the advent of the College Football Playoff, whose selection committee explicitly values schedule strength. Baylor, which finished just outside last year’s top four, suffered by playing three patsies. “When you start looking at schedules that have FCS teams that have some 20 fewer scholarships, that’s going to be a consideration,” said Delany…
Continue Reading: Big Ten Media Days: Ohio State now has a strong response to all schedule-bashers
