INDIANAPOLIS -- The Big Ten conference was one of three leagues that voted against expanding the College Football Playoff to 12 teams last year.
As part of an alliance with the ACC and Pac-12, the Big Ten's vote spoke more to the way that the expansion process was handled than the actual notion of an expanded playoff.
But as the Big Ten kicked off its conference media days on Tuesday, it still loomed as an unlikely setting for bullish chatter about College Football Playoff expansion.
Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith told ESPN on Tuesday that the chatter around a potential 16-team College Football Playoff is growing.