A Big Ten championship game never carried this much weight.
Where that weight shifts will shape the College Football Playoff — and the idea of conference championship games as we know them — in just the third year of the four-team era. Penn State (10-2, 8-1) and Wisconsin (10-2, 7-2) will feel that weight at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday.
This is the biggest debate for the committee the next six days, and it comes down to one question that could shake the whole concept up for years to come. How much does that conference championship game — that 13th data point — matter?