It hasn't been a good 12 months for Delany. The cracks in the Big Ten's reputation are evident.

The humiliation of consecutive national championship game blowouts has called into question the overall quality of Big Ten football. And the launching of the much-ballyhooed Big Ten Network proved disastrous.

Meanwhile, Delany's displeasure with a "plus-one" national semifinal BCS format hasn't stopped other conference commissioners from seriously looking at implementing the system -- with or without the Big Ten's blessing.

But a reminder of Delany's worst moment came immediately after LSU's 38-24 romp over Ohio State on Monday night, when one of the victorious Tigers took issue with Delany's questionable response in February to a newspaper article seeking explanations for the Big Ten's perceived football inferiority to the SEC.

Delany wrote on the Big Ten Web site: "I love speed, and the SEC has great speed, especially on the defensive line, but there are appropriate balances when mixing academics and athletics. ... Each school, as well as each conference, simply must do what fits their mission regardless of what a recruiting service recommends. ... Winning our way requires some discipline and restraint with the recruiting process."

In other words, he promoted a stereotype that SEC football players are only slow above the shoulders.

"We didn't forget what they were talking about before," said LSU senior defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey, Outland Trophy winner and potential No. 1 overall selection in April's NFL draft. "We kept that in the back of our minds. Every senior on this team is graduating. We've got guys on this team who came back to not only have a chance of winning a national championship but to also get our degrees."

Delany needs an ego check.

You heard the dreaded "I-word" floating around the Superdome late Monday night as it pertained to his Big Ten football brand -- irrelevant.

The Big Ten believes there's no legitimacy to any national championship competition -- or, stated differently, no broad viewer appeal considering Delany's conference has the bulk of the primary television markets.

But after watching another Ohio State implosion and seeing Illinois prove itself unworthy of a Rose Bowl invitation, does the Big Ten really deserve such a prominent seat at the discussion table?

And it could get worse if the Buckeyes reach next year's BCS championship game in Miami. They've got USC on the schedule in September, but one loss isn't fatal in this process.

But who's going to beat them in the Big Ten next season?

Michigan?

Wisconsin?

Illinois?

It's not outlandish envisioning an 11-1 Ohio State worming its way into the final top-two slots of the BCS rankings because it's again built a faux dominance against the likes of inferior conference competition.

SEC commissioner Mike Slive and ACC commissioner John Swofford said before Monday's championship game that the plus-one system of using two of the four major bowls as national semifinal games would be a topic of discussion at the BCS committee's meeting this spring.

They added that full participation from all BCS conference partners in a plus-one wouldn't be mandatory.

That's a proviso aimed directly at Delany's bluster.

He's apparently the primary obstructionist to altering the system, arguing that university presidents don't desire change. But it's Delany who tells the university presidents what to do regarding athletics.

The plus-one doesn't necessarily improve what's already there, but a little humility might help Delany see the changing football landscape for what it is. He can lead the change, or risk getting trampled in the stampede.

Les Miles played it a little more tongue in cheek after the Tigers won the 2007 BCS title with their 38-24 victory over Ohio State on Monday night at the Superdome.

When asked about next season, Miles chuckled and said, "Last night about 2:30 I put the next year plan down until about 4:30," he said. "Then (daughter) Macy woke up."

After a long night, which included a trip to Bourbon Street and little sleep, Miles spoke in generalities about 2008 -- a strong recruiting class, 100 percent graduation and another national championship are the goals.

Here are five specific questions Miles and next season's Tigers will face:

-- Defensive coordinator: With Bo Pelini leaving for Nebraska, this will be the first order of business. Miles has said all along he's had his finger on the pulse of this issue and hinted Tuesday he might be promoting from within.

"I have guys on my staff that I'm considering," he said. "I'm looking at options. I can tell you we are committed to having a strong defense here. The defense will not change. It will be called aggressively, and you will be familiar with it."

A likely candidate is secondary coach Doug Mallory, whose coaching career spans 20 seasons. Mallory, the son of former Indiana and Colorado coach Bill Mallory, has worked with Miles for seven seasons and reportedly has Pelini's blessing.

There also is a possibility of the job being handled in tandem by Mallory and linebackers coach Bradley Dale Peveto.

-- Ryan Perrilloux: It seems like the question mark never gets removed from this talented but troubled quarterback. Except for the SEC championship game when he was forced into a starting role, Perrilloux has not made a significant contribution since his last off-the-field run-in with trouble. He took two snaps Monday night, running the ball once.

Perrilloux, who will be a junior, stands to inherit the job from Matt Flynn, but Miles might not want to put the offense in the hands of someone he's not sure he can trust. Perrilloux already was on thin ice before the November incident at the Varsity, which got him suspended for the Alabama game.

As of now, behind Perrilloux are redshirt freshman Jarrett Lee and transfer Andrew Hatch. Perrilloux will really come under the microscope during the next few months.

-- Cornerbacks: Miles had next year's cornerbacks Jai Eugene and Chris Hawkins plus several other reserves on the field for Ohio State's final, meaningless touchdown drive. Any experience they can get is worthwhile.

Senior corners Chevis Jackson and Jonathan Zenon showed their ability and value in the last two games, playing tight coverage and each getting key interceptions. Any aggressive blitzing defense is reliant on man-to-man cover ability of its cornerbacks.

It's likely that next year's opponents will start out attacking Eugene and Hawkins. Both played special teams, with Eugene getting into 12 games and Hawkins 13.

-- Offensive playmakers: Old reliable Jacob Hester and playmaking wide receiver Early Doucet are gone. While the talent level behind them is high, it will be tough to play up to the standards those two set.

Keiland Williams seems to have most of the tools to excel. Charles Scott had some great moments, and speedy Richard Murphy was underused. The question is the reliability. Which one do you give the ball to on fourth-and-short?

Doucet might not be missed as much since his playing time was limited by injury. But someone needs to lead that group, and that most likely will be Brandon LaFell. He struggled through the first half of the season but played better in the latter half, as did junior college transfer Demetrius Byrd.

Others such as Terrance Toliver, Jared Mitchell and Chris Mitchell have work to do to get the finer points of their position down.

-- Helmet size: Some of the better leaders of the 2003 championship team didn't handle success well. They returned the following season out of shape and overconfident.

Players will get a full offseason of being told how great they are -- or were. Miles will have to guard against the natural sense of entitlement, because opponents are going to come hard every week.

A big part of this challenge will go to strength and conditioning coach Tommy Moffitt, who doesn't tolerate slackers well.

The most powerful man in football isn’t Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn or Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson or some overstuffed, able-to-bench-press-a-house offensive lineman from Texas.

It’s a slightly built, 65-year-old former trial lawyer from Utica, N.Y., who will never be confused with a Manning or a Cannon or The Fridge.

But Mike Slive is something that no one else in college football can claim to be: the coordinator of the Bowl Championship Series for the next two years.

In a way, the power base of college football has come full circle. For the first time since Roy Kramer, the so-called “Godfather’’ of the BCS, was the SEC commissioner, the job rests with the man who now occupies his office. Not that he rests easy with the label he is now the college game’s supreme power broker.

“Surrounded by all you guys with those red lights on I don’t feel very powerful,’’ Slive said as he faced a battery of running tape recorders at the SEC Spring Meeting.

Slive is the first to admit his job is more about public relations for the most controversial entity in sports. The BCS has a momentum of its own, and it is difficult for one man to bend that momentum to his will.

The new direction of the BCS was charted before Slive began as coordinator. The new four-year BCS contract drawn up last year calls for the Fiesta, Sugar, Orange and Rose bowls (in that order) to take turns hosting their game then a BCS championship game one week later. The first will be played at the Arizona Cardinals’ new stadium in Glendale, Ariz., on Jan. 8, 2007.

What the game will be called is still undefined. Slive would say only that Fox Sports, which will televise the championship game the three years it isn’t hosted by the Rose Bowl, will be making an announcement soon regarding a title sponsor.

A few facts about the new format were hammered out in April at the BCS meeting in Phoenix. A team must have at least nine wins and be ranked among the top 14 in the BCS standings — a combination of the Harris, coaches’ and computer polls — to be BCS eligible.

Explaining how this is all better than scrapping the entire deal and going to a full-fledged playoff will be Slive’s job the next two years. Maybe.

The man who once served as a district court judge in New Hampshire reserves the right to offer a dissenting opinion.

“The coordinator becomes the person who speaks for the BCS,’’ Slive said. “But you still have the opportunity to share your views. There is some separation between my personal views and others. I have my view and the other commissioners have theirs. I’ve been very open about that.