Big 12 Has a Big Problem – Themselves
The College Football Playoff is set. Alabama, Oregon, Florida State and Ohio State will play in the inaugural final four in college football for the chance to win it all in Arlington at AT&T Stadium for the National Championship.
About a week ago, the Big10 was the conference on the outside looking in as TCU and the Big12 were represented as the Horn Frogs were number 3. That changed ever so quickly didn't it?
So one would ask, how does a team win 55-3 over Iowa State as TCU did and then see their ranking slip to #6?
The answer for many is the fact that the Big 12 does not have a championship game and even more so, all year, the Big 12 claimed they would have one true champion yet when it came down to crunch time, the coward that is the Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby decided he'd instead name TCU and Baylor co-champions even though Baylor beat TCU head to head and both had the same record.
Most minds, intelligent or not, could see this ultimate decision biting the Big 12 as the inaugural final four were released for the College Football Playoff and that is exactly what happened.
When the problem is you and the mirror doesn't lie, it's clear changes need to be made.
First take all of the previous information out of the equation. Big 12 schools like TCU and Baylor need to schedule better non-conference opponents. Baylor was 128 out of 128 schools in their non-conference schedule ranking, which is flat out pathetic.
Secondly, there needs to be a conference championship game for the Big 12. All the other Power Five conferences, the ACC, Big10, Pac12 & SEC, have championship games to crown a "one true" champion and it's clear the committee will take that into account, so adapt or fall behind.
I do think additionally there needs to be reform across the board in the Power Five conferences that it becomes a requirement to have nine conference games as well. Plus, make it standard for all conferences in the Power Five to have a championship game too.
This is only going to help the situation down the road as my belief is that eventually we will get to an eight team playoff with all Power Five conferences sending their champion along with three "wild card" spots to round out the eight.
Oh and back to the bigger problem here - the Big 12 Commissioner essentially sealing the fate of his two one loss teams. I sure hope both Art Briles and Gary Patterson have a very heated conversation with their commissioner as many believe this exclusion of the Big 12 is a direct result of his inadequacies in decision making.
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