Per ESPN: Last week, most Big 12 head coaches told ESPN.com that they would favor adding a conference title game if the College Football Playoff selection committee indicated a 13th game carried weight in its process. Wednesday, the committee indicated just that, prompting Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby to suggest a conference championship game would soon return to the league. "What we heard was that if we don't go to a championship game, we're at a disadvantage," Bowlsby said. "If we don't make changes, we're potentially going into the season with a short stick in our hand.” Why this wasn’t worked out before the inception of the playoff, we may never know. But what is clear is that the Big 12 is not getting the proper credit it deserves from the committee for playing a nine-game conference schedule. Despite its round-robin format, the Big 12 needs to add a championship game. This obviously comes with risk. Just ask 1998 Kansas State. Or 2007 Missouri. Both times a conference title game cost the Big 12 a shot at the national title. With a championship game, the Big 12 wouldn't be operating on the same level as the other conferences. Because the Big 12 would be staging one more conference game than everyone else, except for the Pac-12. To mitigate the risk [of having a 2-loss team beat an undefeated and knock both out of the CFP] and help protect the Big 12’s top playoff contender, I have another suggestion. Instead of going back to playing the conference title game at a neutral site, the Big 12 should hold it on the home field of the regular-season champ. This would boost the conference in four ways. It would give the Big 12 that 13th game the playoff committee holds so dear. It would offer the Big 12 regular-season winner an opportunity for another quality win. It would diminish the chances that the Big 12 champ would lose. It would provide the Big 12 with a whole lot of national buzz, something the league has lacked in the post-realignment era. Imagine Texas traveling to Norman for the first time in almost a century, or Oklahoma running through the tunnel at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium. For those reasons, one Big 12 official agreed this would be an idea worth discussing at the conference meetings in Phoenix next week. [Emphasis added / Full article here]
Dion, I like the way you talk cowboy! The lowly sooners walking into DKR for a Big XII Championship? Can you imagine the ticket demand for THAT game. I am trying to imagine the ongoing monsoon of boos raining down from pre-game to the of the end of the game toward the land thieves and Big Game Bob... it would be EPIC!
To a football person it doesn't. Unfortunately the committee is not made up of football people. If it was they would discount the FCS games which would mean only 11 games would count for the SEC teams - and they would never get in with at most 11 victories when others could have 12/13 victories against FBS teams.
Does anyone else find it odd that all the years the Big XII had a CCG and the Pac 28 and B1 eleventy plus G were doing round robin and they were lauded for playing all their conference foes? Now it is the opposite and Texas and ou are looked down on for the same thing? Yes, I meant to leave out TCU and Baylor and their flash in the pan current success.
My concern was merely that the undefeated team would have something to lose no matter what happened. If they lost, they're done. If they won, they're directly responsible for lowering their own quality wins by hanging two losses on a top opponent. But still that wasn't enough negative side to trump the better chance of making a playoff. In this home field scenario, the downside still applies. However, the undefeated team is rewarded for their extra risk with an extra home game, and it's a huge one. Adds massive recruiting exposure as another bonus to them. The national audience (and recruits) will get to see a raucous home crowd environment for the undefeated team. I like it better than the 1-loss team walking in on even (or better) footing, with nothing to lose and everything to gain. As in if 1-loss Kansas St. got to play undefeated Texas in Kansas City, MO. Or vice versa in Arlington, TX. Kinda uncool if the already defeated fanbase has the advantage of a minimal car ride to the stadium.
While adding a CCG may help, I think the committee will find a way to downplay it and keep the B12 out.
Solution - add two teams to get back to a true BigXII, forego the round robin system (which I prefer), add the CCG (which I dislike), play 8 (5 in your division, 3 from other division) conference teams each year (which I dislike), include 1 big name out-of-conference game (I prefer two), add more patsies to your non-conference schedule (which I hate). Sounds kind of like the SEC or the old BigXII. Nothing should be done NOW. We have one year of experience with the "playoff" system. Give it another year. The BigXII screwed itself with the lack of official championship decision rules. Let's see how things work with that corrected.
OR....they could have TCU's offense go to Waco to face the Baylor defense and Baylor's offense go to Fort Worth to face the TCU defense. Change of possession would be marked at the point on the field where the ball is and the offense take over. Home field advantage for the defense. Full stadiums at both locations. What a novel idea!!.....................................not!
Trotter is an OU Troll, he almost never has anything positive to say about Texas and Stoopsie walks on water, he is so nauseating(sp), so glad that his article turned out to mostly be fabrication. Taking parts of Bowlsbys quote skewing them completely. I can't wait until ESPN cans his *** and Chatmons. I almost want to say bring back Ubben, they have got to find someone who can be honest to all 10 teams, how about that Beadle girl?