New Big 12 scheduling rule means your Baylor jokes won’t work forever

Following the lead of the SEC, Big Ten and ACC, the Big 12 will now require all of its teams to play at least one power conference opponent each non-conference season. With a nine-game conference schedule, Big 12 teams, like the Big Ten, will now be playing 10 of their 12 games against power conference competition.

The Big 12 has announced it will require Conference football programs to annually play at least one non-conference game against an autonomy conference institution (ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC, plus Notre Dame).

BYU and Army will also count as power conference teams, according to Brett McMurphy. [Update: Apparently they won’t.] The Big Ten and SEC count both teams. The ACC only counts BYU.

The team most obviously affected is Baylor. Despite being national contenders most years, the Bears rarely play anybody in non-conference season. This year, Baylor played SMU, Lamar and Rice. Next year, swap Northwestern State for Lamar. Duke does appear on the schedule the next two years, though!

Teams won’t be forced to break current contracts, so this won’t affect Baylor until 2019, and who knows what the new rules will be then.

We have long defended Baylor’s scheduling practice because it actually helps the Bears, but the Big 12 said that the policy needs to change to help improve Big 12 teams’ schedule strength for the College Football Playoff rankings.

‘Schedule strength is a key component in CFP Selection Committee deliberations,’ commented Commissioner Bob Bowlsby. ‘This move will strengthen the resumes for all Big 12 teams. Coupled with the nine-game full round robin Conference schedule our teams play, it will not only benefit the teams at the top of our standings each season, but will impact the overall strength of the Conference.’

Unfortunately, Big 12 teams cannot schedule Kansas twice to meet the requirement.

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