Report: Big Ten mulling 4-team football playoff

Big Ten officials are considering a plan for a four-team college football playoff, sources told the Chicago Tribune.

The Big Ten's idea is to take the top four BCS teams and have them play semifinal games on the home field of the higher seed. The title game, under the plan, would then be bid for, the way cities bid for the Super Bowl.

The BCS title game, between two SEC schools and played on Jan. 9, after the start of the NFL playoffs, had low TV ratings, perhaps opening the door for a long-awaited playoff system.

The SEC, in 2008, proposed a Plus-One, which was essentially a four-team playoff. The plan drew support from the ACC, but the Big Ten, Pac-10, Big 12 and Big East disapproved, according to the Tribune.

"We have to listen to the fans; we cannot be tone-deaf," Northwestern athletics director Jim Phillips, who chairs the Big Ten's Administrators Council, told the Tribune. "The Big Ten is open and curious."