Big 12 football championship game is a no-brainer, and the door is open
Big 12 football has been without their conference championship game since 2010, and the door is open for the conference to join the rest of the FBS.
Related Story: NCAA Compromise Opens Door for Big 12 Title Game
The American, the ACC, the Big Ten, Conference-USA, the MAC, the Mountain West, the Pac-12, and the SEC – what do these conferences have in common? They all play that all-important 13th game at the end of the regular season. Two of their teams are pitted against each other in a season-make-or-break conference championship game.
Only two conferences don’t join that party – the Sun Belt, and the Big 12.
We’ll assume for now that the Sun Belt Conference won’t be too concerned with sending teams to the College Football Playoff.
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The Big 12, however? Yeah, we’ve already had two years of grief from that conference when it comes to playoff time due to their lack of a title game, and that can all be rectified now thanks to the NCAA compromising (that we really weird to type) and allowing the Big 12 to have a championship game without necessarily having to expand the conference.
Not that expansion would be bad either, but that’s a bone to pick in another column.
All that needs to happen is for commissioner Bob Bowlsby to take a Swiffer to that light that’s been hanging over his head and realize that a championship game will settle a lot more than just who is the real Big 12 champion…it will make the playoff selection committee’s job much easier, and will eliminate (or at least curtail) some of the bellyaching from fans on both sides.
Bob…a word, please?
Look, this one is a no-brainer. Your conference needs to hold a championship football game, and it shouldn’t even be a second thought. Even if you want to forgo adding teams and dividing into divisions, and if you want to continue with this round-robin “every game matters” drivel that you’ve been selling to make your conference title seem legit – add this game and do it now.
Forget about any of the risk/reward you might have bouncing around in your head. There is no risk. So one of your teams might get bounced out of the top rankings because they have to play an extra game? Hey…welcome to the world the rest of the Power-5 has been living in for years.
In 2014, TCU got jobbed because there was no conference championship game by which they could be measured along with the other closely contending teams. In 2015, obviously overmatched Oklahoma was given a pass beyond other one-loss teams *ahem, Ohio State* who probably would have been a better choice, despite their lack of playing that deciding game.
You can’t have it both ways and expect fair treatment for all.
Think of what’s to be gained…money, more exposure for the conference, money, TV face time, money, a chance to showcase your teams in a venue like AT&T Stadium, money…
Plus, you’ll get pictures of your conference’s championship players standing in mounds of confetti with a massive “BIG XII” sign. Boffo!!
This is an opportunity for the Big 12 to step up and say, “Every game matters…plus one”, and not have any excuses when it comes to playoff selection time. Hopefully, Bowlsby and all the other tarnished brass in the Big 12 offices will see that as well.