underway. "If you can't win the national championship, it's nice to to be able to fight for a conference championship."

When I first became a big college football fan, winning the conference championship was the main stated goal of teams like Ohio State, Michigan, USC and Oklahoma. Over time our culture has become more national Championship focused. A team like Ohio State is going to start the year with making the playoffs as its number one goal. If they win the B1G but don't get in the playoffs, it will be a nice consolation prize.