The Big 12 has a chance to prove itself on multiple occasions in 2017, with numerous impactful out of conference games on tap.
The Big 12 is consistently the most looked down upon of all the Power Five conferences in college football. The combination of a fewer schools and the lack of representatives in the College Football Playoff seem to have doomed the conference’s national reputation.
There’s three teams in the Big 12 that have the best shot at bringing home the title this season: the Oklahoma Sooners, Oklahoma State Cowboys and Kansas State Wildcats. Consequently, those are the most important teams to pay attention to. In terms of national spotlight, both the Sooners and the Texas Longhorns have matchups against teams like the Ohio State Buckeyes and USC Trojans that are extremely important.
Even the Cowboys and Wildcats have rather strong out-of-conference schedules that could have national implications early in the season. However, it is important for college football fans to pay attention to all Power Five conferences early in the season to gauge what each conference’s members look like playing against outside competition.
Debates like which conference is best can somewhat be settled with non-conference matchups. Even if Bowl season seems to ultimately settle that debate. The Big 12 needs a solid overall performance in both the out-of-conference portion of the college football season and Bowl season.
The conference has enough of an uphill battle to get their biggest brand name schools into the College Football Playoff. Teams like the TCU Horned Frogs and Baylor Bears in 2014 and the Oklahoma Sooners in 2016 were left on the outside looking in for the Playoff.
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