Big 12’s Playoff chances similar to non-powers,’ says Cincinnati’s Tommy Tuberville

Hey Cincinnati head coach Tommy Tuberville, how’s your summer vacation? Everything good? Just gonna hop on and do some talk radio real quick?

“Nothing else to talk about right now, so I guess that got everyone riled up,” Tuberville said via phone late Monday.

Tuberville clarified a few items to SB Nation, specifically his views on the Big 12 as a former head coach at Texas Tech and his thoughts on Cincinnati’s potential candidacy as a Big 12 expansion member.

“What I said was that there was going to be a lot of changes, and it’s going to be hard for them to ever get to the national championship in the Playoff unless they have a [conference] championship game or go undefeated, and that’s hard to do.”

In the first year of the Playoff, Baylor and TCU were the next teams out after Ohio State’s Big Ten Championship performance sealed the Buckeyes the No. 4 spot.

“Next few years, couple things could happen,” he continued. “People could take different teams in and boost their numbers up, or they could consolidate and go from five power conferences to four. I don’t know what they’re going to do, but you have to have an even number. You can’t have five. You’ve got to do something.”

Criticism of the 10-member Big 12’s lack of a 13th game is nothing new. That it came from a former conference coach whose current school is consistently mentioned as a power-conference expansion candidate is of note.

When asked if the Bearcats would be a suitable addition to the Big 12, Tuberville was honest.

“Oh, I don’t know. Well, I think they would. But will that happen? The problem is that the Big 12’s TV package is not that great. They’re not even near [some other power conferences in TV revenue]. So they have a tough time making a decision [on expanding]. Now if it was better, they would’ve already made a decision. Would we be in? I don’t know.”

This year, Tuberville’s Bearcats are predicted to be among a handful of schools in contention for the New Year’s Six bowls’ non-power at-large bid. But Tuberville likened a non-power’s chances of making the Playoff four with a Big 12 team’s.

”I think we’d have a lot of consideration, but it would depend a whole lot on the other teams, if all the Power 5 teams [in contention] were undefeated or not. But if there were a few one- or two-loss teams, we’d be going against them as an undefeated, and we might have a shot.

“It’s a lot like the Big 12. You’ve got to win ‘em all and still hope that the right people lose. It has to be a perfect scenario.”