That does not close the gap between the Big 12 and other conferences, but every little bit helps. “It’s monetized in different ways by each institution, but each institution benefits a great deal through exposure of its teams that way, as well”. Also, it would undoubtedly backfire when an inferior team beats the regular season champ in the game.
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In other words, all of Boren’s recent babbling about expansion and a conference TV network being preconditions for the Big 12’s very survival has dissipated into the clouds like a Texas tornado. It eliminates the idea of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State playing Bedlam in late November, then turning around and playing again the first weekend in December.
Let’s not forget, this is the same conference that could have established its own TV network long before the SEC and Big Ten started their ultra-profitable networks, but league members overruled former commissioner Kevin Weiberg. By one estimate, that could fetch million to million per year. No one can accurately predict the future. Alabama doesn’t play Georgia, Florida, Vanderbilt on a regular basis and therefore you can not determine if Georgia is the better team or if Alabama is.
Instead, what the Big 12 should do is learn from its past and try to find some competitive balance in its divisions. Yes, it has several campuses, but it also has a big-time program that produced Blake Bortles and a rather one-sided Fiesta Bowl victory over Baylor three years ago. Had TCU not dropped from No. 3 to No. 6 in Year 1? The rule change opened the door for the Big 12 to implement a championship game.
“The addition of a football championship game allows for a 13th data point for our teams under consideration for the College Football Playoff”, Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said in the league’s statement. In 1998, No. 2 Kansas State was stunned in double overtime by No. 10 Texas A&M. Keeping the round-robin will guarantee a rematch in the Big 12 Championship Game. A rematch is a certainty, meaning the regular-season victor must win a second time to earn hardware.
Boren said it is time for the league to make decisions, but is in a position of strength with time to be careful in making them. “It doesn’t. When you’re in a league that way, it just doesn’t work”.
Of all the dumb things about the Big 12, the least dumb thing is that it’s called the Big 12 but has only 10 member schools. On five occasions, the lower-ranked team defeated a higher-ranked opponent. And that of course should keep conference heavyweight Texas happy; Longhorn Network won’t be going anywhere.
This decision shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Common sense would dictate it’s on the horizon or else the five-team divisions don’t exactly make the most sense in the world.
The infamous line from Oklahoma president David Boren last June about the Big 12 feeling smaller because it is smaller may have been misguided.
The Big 12 needed a touchup, and Friday, it stepped to the vanity mirror. Remember, the Big 12 has a history of title game upsets, with the lower ranked team winning 5-of-15 matchups. “I don’t know what the next chapter is, but I feel very good about the chapter that we are embarking upon, because we went through a process that made it an obvious and unanimous choice”.
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“I was really undecided about a championship game”, Boren said.
