Once a decade or so, the pragmatic Jim Delany comes out from his time-deprivation chamber to advance the plodding Big Ten a revolutionary step forward. Inexplicably, Delany then crawls back into his shell like a frightened turtle where the league hibernates for an indeterminate amount of time.

This cycle is as predictable as the day is long.

Last month, Delany took a small step forward – a large leap for Delany-kind – by offering his support for a prospective four-team playoff model that began percolating of heightened anticipation. He suggested, though, that he preferred a model that included higher-seeded teams hosting the semifinals.

B1G athletic directors emerged from meetings this week in Chicago with the league now staunchly against the idea and instead prefer to utilize BCS bowls. This turnabout could be a bargaining chip, the product of calculated genius. It also could be tomfoolery and caving to what Death to the BCS author Dan Wetzel calls the ‘bowl cartel.’