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Report: Big 12 to have conference championship game by 2016

By Patrick Schmidt

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The Big 12 could have a conference championship game as early as 2016 and won’t have to add any teams to the conference as they look to avoid a similar fate in 2014 that kept them out of the College Football Playoff.

TCU and Baylor tied for the Big 12 championship last year with identical records but the lack of a conference championship game left both teams out of the first College Football Playoff with Ohio State taking the No. 4 seed.

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Under current NCAA rules a conference must have at least 12 teams to hold a conference championship game, but legislation allowing for the deregulation is expected to be passed by 2016, according to CBSSports.com.

Therefore, the Big 12 won’t have to expand by two teams and can have their conference championship game by 2016 and join the rest of their Power 5 conferences by having the game to decide the conference champion and potentially represent the school in the playoff.

Last year, TCU and Baylor were shutout of the playoff after Ohio State passed them in the final ranking after they beat No. 13 Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship game by the score of 59-0. That last impression was good enough to move the Buckeyes in the top four and they ultimately won the national championship.

What could have been if the Big 12 had a championship game and either Baylor or TCU got in ahead of Ohio State?

Would we be talking about back-to-back titles for Florida State? Marcus Mariota and Oregon winning it all? Alabama winning yet another title under Nick Saban? Gary Patterson or Art Briles bringing the championship back to the Big 12?

It only makes sense that the Big 12 have a conference championship game like every other conference and take the guesswork out of the playoff committee members and have a champion decided on the field.

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