Well, well, well … maybe it just means more in the Big Ten?

The first 12-team College Football Playoff field was set Sunday afternoon, with slick graphics followed by a small army of well-elocuted haircuts opining about strength of schedule and data points and valuable losses.

But what the analysis weren’t arguing about was the relative strength of the Big Ten – even with it sitting right there in brilliant color displaying the power of the black-and-blue conference.

Oregon, Penn State, Ohio State and Indiana make up a full one-third of the Lucky 12 not because of luck or any other mystical factor. The Ducks, Nittany Lions, Buckeyes and Hoosiers are in the College Football Playoff not because Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel is the head of the Playoff committee.

No, the 4 Big Ten teams still standing because they are very, very good – and deserving – of their spots.

Let’s take the easiest example first. Anybody with an operating cerebral cortex understands that the Ducks are the class of the country at this moment. Going undefeated in its maiden Big Ten voyage, a quibble could be offered that the Ducks didn’t square up with much quality opposition beyond Ohio State at Autzen Stadium. Still, the 0 behind the hyphen in the win-loss column is inarguable.

The conference champ and No. 1 overall seed, Oregon draws a first-round bye before heading to the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 to face the winner of the Tennessee at Ohio State game. The case could be made that the Vols or Buckeyes will be infinitely tougher than what No. 3 Boise State would get in either SMU or Penn State. But pressure creates diamonds, and as Oregon coach Dan Lanning said Sunday “winning national championships is supposed to be hard.”

As the No. 6 seed, Penn State hosts 11th-seeded SMU – the final team in the bracket over Alabama and Miami. The Nittany Lions absorbed a couple of high-profile Ls, losing at home to then-No. 4 Ohio State and to the Ducks in Saturday’s Big Ten title game shootout, but coach James Franklin’s team dropped those games by a combined 15 points.

Again, quibbles could be quibbled over the fact that “Little Game James” indeed earned his nickname in those contests against Ohio State and Oregon. But still, Penn State made it to the conference championship – and that is certainly deserving of a home game in Happy Valley at noon on Dec. 21.

Ohio State also earned a home game (Dec. 21 at 8 pm), though the Buckeyes didn’t exactly thrill the last time they appeared in Columbus – losing 13-10 to unranked arch-rival Michigan. As the No. 8 seed, the difference between Ohio State and No. 9 seed Tennessee is razor-thin, but the Playoff committee clearly figured top-5 wins against Penn State and Indiana down the stretch were strong factors.

And then there are the Hoosiers. Yes, Indiana didn’t beat a single Top 25 team. And after barely surviving Michigan 20-15, it got hammered 38-15 at then-No. 2 Ohio State to snap the 10-game winning streak that took the nation by storm. But Curt Cignetti’s Hoosiers are 2nd in the country at 43.3 points per game, allowed just 14.7 points per outing, and are salty to make sure the Playoff committee didn’t make a mistake.

Indiana doesn’t have a picnic, of course, as they head across the state to take on Notre Dame on Dec. 20 at 8 pm. A night game in South Bend in late December is sure to be arctic, though staying inside the state should be a salve of sorts for Hoosiers fans wanting more.

With its quartet of teams dominating the bracket from top to near-bottom, the Big Ten clearly proved it – not the Southeastern Conference, like the glitzy ads and ESPN partnerships would suggest – is the most powerful league in the land. Three Big Ten teams have a great chance to join Oregon in the quarterfinals, which if it happens would clearly make the proceedings the Big Ten Invitational.

There’s no whining or gnashing of teeth going on across the Big Ten today, no sir. The proof is in the freshly made pudding.

In this conference, if only this year, it really does just mean more.