Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio thinks only winners of league title games have a place in the playoff

It’s been a couple months since the debate about whether only teams that win their league championship game should be eligible for the College Football Playoff, but Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio decided to revive the conversation during his weekly press conference Tuesday.

"We can't say, 'Hey, let's try and go 11-1 and not be in the championship game, and then we'll get into the playoffs.' I don't think it should work like that. That's just my opinion," Dantonio said. "My vision is that you should be the champion of your league before you can be the champion of the country. That would be my vision if I was doing it. It might not happen like that."

While Dantonio didn’t specifically mention the Big 12, it is the only Power Five conference that doesn’t have a championship game. However, Big 12 sympathizers would say it is also the only league where every team plays every other team. We could go back and forth on this subject, but we're not going to becuase both sides have merit.

Look, this isn’t a new argument. Coaches from leagues that play a conference championship game have been ringing the bell for the playoff to be limited to these championship winners since the day the development of a playoff was announced. But in doing so, those coaches also are limiting opportunities within their own conferences. What if Wisconsin and Michigan State are both undefeated (not this year, of course, but stay with me) and one beats the other by a last-second field goal in one of the greatest conference championship games we’ve ever seen? Should the loser be punished for that when it’s had a better season than a conference winner from another league?

According to the College Football Playoff guidelines, admittance in the playoff is not currently limited to conference champions for this very reason. Football is a fluky game. There was no better example of that than Auburn’s wins against Georgia and Alabama last season. But that’s also what makes the game entertaining and exciting. To punish a team for something that makes the game more inticing seems to miss the point.

Michigan State is already facing an uphill battle for the playoff after losing at Oregon earlier this season. But winning the Big Ten is definitely a possibility, and the Spartans will just have to hope Oregon continues to win and the fine folks on the playoff committee deem the loss a “good loss.” Michigan State was one of the few teams to travel across the country to play a nonconference game against a top five team in one of the toughest stadiums to play.

Still, Dantonio said, his team's goal is winning the Big Ten championship. Anything less would be unacceptable.

“I'm looking at it like we need to get to the championship game. That's our goal. That's always been our goal,” Dantonio said. “We need to win the Big Ten championship. That's our goal. Then you springboard past that.

“We don't play in that championship game, we won't get in that final four.  Hopefully the committee sees it like that, too."

For more Michigan State news, visit SpartanMag.com.

More college football coverage from Yahoo Sports:

- - - - - - -

Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday

And don’t forget to keep up with all of Graham’s thoughts, witty comments and college football discussions on Facebook