Choices For Rose Bowl in Big Ten

If the Big Ten champion finishes in the top four of the College Football Playoff, the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual does not have to choose the loser of the game between No. 4 Iowa and No. 5 Michigan State.

If No. 6 Ohio State is ranked above the loser, it makes it very easy for the Rose Bowl to select the Buckeyes, but if Iowa loses the Big Ten championship game, this scenario allows for the Buckeyes to potentially leapfrog the Hawkeyes for a coveted spot in the Rose Bowl on College Football Playoff Selection Day (ESPN, Sunday at noon ET).

Should Michigan State lose, it would be unlikely that the Spartans remain the next-highest-ranked Big Ten team, because they would have two losses and Ohio State would still be 11-1. The bigger debate would be between Ohio State and Iowa.

"In this case any one of those three might be the next-highest-ranked team, depending on what happens on Saturday," Jenkins told ESPN.com on Wednesday.

"The strong presumption is that we're going to go with the highest-ranked team that's available to us. Only in extraordinary situations will we deviate from that presumption."