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Mark Dantonio on CFP: What’s the point if you have two teams from the same conference?

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

Put Mark Dantonio in the group of people that don’t believe a conference should have two teams reach the College Football Playoff.

During his weekly press conference on Tuesday, the Michigan State head coach was asked about his opinion on the College Football Playoff, whether he thought the B1G would get in and how he felt about one conference occupying two of the four spots.

And Dantonio — who made it to the CFP after winning the conference in 2015 — fully believes the B1G will be represented this season.

“I would bet you — I’m not a betting man — but I would bet you there’s a B1G team in that Playoff,” he said. “I just think it warrants it. I think, when you look across the college football scope of things, you’re always going to want somebody from the Midwest represented from this conference.

“If you look at this conference, it had three teams in the top 10 for a majority of the year. I think that’s a power conference.”

Dantonio went on to say that it wasn’t just the Midwest that needed to be represented, but that several different regions from across the country should be involved in the College Football Playoff.

It’s been hotly debated as to whether Wisconsin should be in the final four, even if it wins out, due to its weak schedule. And with everyone else in the B1G having two losses, the Badgers seem to be the last hope for the conference.

But that scenario really doesn’t waver Dantonio’s opinion on the situation.

“What’s the point if you have two teams from the same conference? And who have already played (each other) in the Playoff,” he said. “What’s the point? That would just be me.”

Dantonio makes a good point, and considering how top-heavy the B1G has been this season, the conference might be able to land a representative, even with a Wisconsin loss. But that would require a lot of chips to fall in the right place.

Here’s the full clip of Dantonio’s thoughts on the matter:

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB