Blow up the B1G’s stubborn 6-game mandate and schedule with 2 weeks left in the season? Why not?

Why?

It might be the most important question you can ask when facing a difficult decision. Why is this course of action best? Why am I in position to make this decision in the first place? Why would I pick Decision A over Decisions B and C?

“Why” allows you to stop sifting through the weeds of chaos and take a giant step back.

As the Big Ten’s athletic directors and other brass figure out what the heck to do with the conference’s current fiasco of its own creation, it’s a question they’d do well to consider. These ladies and gentlemen have spent the better part of this year on hundreds and hundreds of Zoom calls, deciding on details from COVID-19 protocols for athletes to who’s allowed to enter their venues and everything in between.

Why do colleges maintain conference membership in the first place? Why don’t teams just create their own schedules with regional foes like they did back in the 19th century?

For the mutual economic and competitive benefit of the schools. That’s why the B1G, SEC and every other major conference exist. They provide schedules and collectively bargain for the hundreds of millions of dollars to be had from television network revenue. They set a playing field that gives their member institutions an optimal environment in which to compete.

At least that’s what they’re supposed to do.

In mishandling and miscommunicating its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the B1G seems to have forgotten its reason for being. First it caved to external pressures and decided not to play at all, then it caved to internal pressures and reversed course.

Precious time was lost as the conference decided to push its season back, built in zero make-up dates and enacted the Power 5’s most stringent medical requirements for returning to play after a positive coronavirus test.

Now the B1G is sleeping in the bed it made for itself, and the mattress is full of dents and nails.

Thanks to an outbreak on Ohio State’s roster combined with other cancellations around the league, its top team is in jeopardy of missing the conference title game and subsequently the College Football Playoff. The risk was heightened Wednesday when Michigan announced it wasn’t playing this weekend’s game against Maryland, which has had its own COVID-19 issues.

Even if the No. 3 Buckeyes are able to return this Saturday against Michigan State — they’re reportedly on track even though coach Ryan Day remains out after testing positive — there’s a very real chance The Game against their archrival doesn’t happen during the final week of the regular season.

Current conference rules dictate teams must play a minimum of 6 games in order to be eligible for the B1G championship, unless the league average of games played per team dips below 6. That looks unlikely.

But maybe there’s some wiggle room.

Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez told the Detroit News on Wednesday the conference “can’t keep [Ohio State] from having the opportunity if they have a chance to be in the finals.”

It’d be up to Alvarez and the conference’s other 13 ADs to make any changes in championship game policy.

It’s time.

It’s time to get creative. It’s time for this conference to quit being so stubborn and show some adaptability as the virus continues to plague college football and North America. Here’s how:

• Scrap the minimum-game requirement, as Alvarez alluded to.
• Allow healthy teams whose opponents have canceled games to play another conference team. If Michigan can’t go, give Ohio State a chance to take on another team if one comes available.
• If the minimum-game requirement can’t be changed, give Ohio State the best possible crossover matchup Dec. 19. Scrap the order-of-finish matchups and favor competition and rivalries like Minnesota-Wisconsin. Let the Buckeyes play the highest-ranked CFP team available at that time.
• Let schools that don’t make a bowl game scheduled their own postseason exhibitions. This has NOTHING to do with the Playoff and everything to do with making schedules and budgets whole.

Give all your teams, not just Ohio State, the best, safest opportunity to compete. Give the Buckeyes as many chances to prove themselves to the College Football Playoff committee as possible.

“I would think that if something would happen to Ohio State and they’d have to cancel another game, that’s something we’ve got to revisit,” Alvarez said. “They’re sitting up there still ranked No. 4.

“We may make some adjustments on that last week. That’s sort of a flexible week of scheduling. But those are things we talk about and certainly you’ve got to consider, or reconsider.”

Alvarez’s comments Wednesday could seem to confirm the widely-accepted theory that the B1G decided to play this year solely because a once-in-a-generation roster led by Justin Fields had the opportunity to make the Playoff and compete for a national championship. The payout for B1G schools that comes with any member being selected to the semifinals is certainly a decision point, but if that was the No. 1 motivator, why cancel the season in the first place?

This is about the B1G doing what it’s meant to do, which includes giving Ohio State its best shot. The conference wasn’t going to until several of its members pushed hard to reinstate the season.

Of course, the Playoff committee could decide to let the Buckeyes in even without a conference championship, but you can see the conundrum when weighing a 5-0 or 6-0 Ohio State team against, say, a 9-1 Florida team, an 8-1 Texas A&M squad or even a 9-0 Cincinnati crew.

“A lot of discussion about the number of games that a team plays,” Playoff committee chairman and Iowa athletic director Gary Barta said Tuesday on ESPN. “It’s not anybody’s fault, but trying to evaluate a team that has 4 games in vs. a team that has 7, 8, or 9 games in is definitely a problem, and it’s created by the pandemic. The more games a team brings to the committee, the more we have to evaluate.”

Here’s a question: Would the CFP ever consider moving selection day back a week in order to allow leagues to get more games in, including the B1G championship?

That seems unlikely. CFP executive director Bill Hancock told the Associated Press on Nov. 19 the Playoff schedule would go on as planned after there were discussions about playing it later. Selection day is Sunday, Dec. 20, with the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl serving as New Year’s Day semifinals followed by a Jan. 11 title contest.

A CFP spokesman told Saturday Tradition on Wednesday “there have been no CFP changes since Bill Hancock made these comments.”

But this is about more than just the Playoff. Another primary reason the B1G exists is to put on conference championships that pit the league’s top 2 teams against each other. Does a Northwestern-Indiana COVID Bowl really constitute that?

There’s still so much up in the air, from what will actually happen with Michigan to the ADs’ decision to what the CFP selection folks think. Also remember Ohio State will be playing without a swath of athletes who must sit out at least 21 days after testing positive.

There are no guarantees in 2020. But there are still opportunities to fulfill organizational missions.

Hopefully the B1G athletic directors are focused on that as they determine where to go from here.

Phil Ervin

Veteran sports writer Phil Ervin brings his expertise on Minnesota and B1G football to Saturday Tradition. Follow him on Twitter @PhilErvin.