The Big 12 is slightly different from other Power 5 football conferences. It has 10 members, while the other four have 12 or more each. This means it doesn’t have a conference championship game, which would be a stupid thing to have, considering it’s the only power conference whose teams all play each other every year anyway.
The Big 12 should respond to its critics by inviting everyone to enjoy Oklahoma’s Playoff run
If your conference didn’t make the Playoff, that’s on your conference, but you’ll probably make it next year.
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
The Big 12 being slightly different means everyone has to have a fierce opinion about the Big 12.
Last year, Baylor’s and TCU’s exclusion from the College Football Playoff meant the Big 12 must expand or die, according to opinion-shouters.
This year, Oklahoma’s inclusion in the College Football Playoff means the Big 12 has a path that’s unfairly easy, according to the Pac-12’s commissioner.
“I’d like to see more consistency (between conferences) rather than less,” Scott said to CBS Sports. “I’d like to see the Big 12 go to a championship game. I don’t think it’s good or fair to see a conference not have to win that extra game and have that extra opportunity both for a win and a loss. I don’t like the idea that a champion can be in the clubhouse and not put it on the line when, in this case, there are strong teams in other conferences that, if they lose, can be out of the Playoff.”
This year, Oklahoma was in the clubhouse so early that it could spend the final weekend scouting potential opponents. Good for Oklahoma.
The Pac-12 and Big 12 both have nine-game conference schedules, while others have had eight.
So all of this is about the Pac-12’s conference schedule being one game longer than the Big 12’s, with two years of data showing the difference can be either good or bad for the Big 12.
Scott does acknowledge that the Pac-12’s nine-game schedule is not to blame for the conference missing the second Playoff after making the first. So this doesn’t sound entirely like blaming someone else for the Pac-12’s problem.
“The question had no bearing this year with Stanford’s candidacy,” Scott said, as there is no specific game that kept the Pac-12 out of the Playoff that wouldn’t have been played in an eight-game conference schedule. The conference’s last Playoff hope lost to division opponent Oregon and non-conference opponent Northwestern, and the story’s similar for other Pac-12 contenders this year.
So how should the Big 12 respond to this?
And to the Big Ten’s meddling in its attempt to add a conference title game for some terrible reason, and any other outside thoughts on how the Big 12 should handle Big 12 business?
The Big 12 should thank all other conferences for their many frequent comments on the Big 12, which show the great level of national interest in Big 12 football. The Big 12 should invite the Pac-12 commissioner and all other interested Big 12 observers to enjoy watching the Big 12’s one-loss champion play Clemson in the Orange Bowl for a chance to reach the National Championship.
That’s all the Big 12 should say about any of this.
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