Then there's the Big XII. One of the proudest conferences watched as Colorado departed for the PAC-12. Nebraska then cut ties to join the Big Ten. Things seemed to calm down for the Big XII, but the advent of the Longhorn Network angered the Aggies at College Station so much that they left to join the SEC, taking the Missouri Tigers with them. The college football nation held their collective breath as it looked like the Big XII was on the verge of collapse.
Rumors began to swirl that Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and potentially Texas Tech were looking at joining the PAC-10. Having only eight teams would be a definite detriment to the conference. Moving quickly, the conference invited West Virginia and TCU to join. Both colleges accepted the invite and the Big XII found themselves at ten teams.
And so the 2014 season rolled around, and the Big XII touted themselves as the only conference that crowned "One True Champion." The ten teams in the league play nine conference games, meaning everyone plays everyone. No other Power Five conference does that. It would be obvious to anyone that, if two teams ended up with identical records at the end of the season, seeing as they played each other, then the head-to-head outcome would determine the champion.
But not for Big XII commissioner Bob Bowlsby. Baylor defeated TCU 61-58 during the season, and both finished 12-1. Instead of touting Baylor as their champion, the Big XII announced that they had co-champions. It was a political gamble, and boy did it backfire.
The College Football Playoff Selection Committee had ranked TCU 3rd overall just one week before the conference championship games. Once the games were over, TCU, which had defeated Iowa State 55-3, dropped from 3rd to 6th. Ohio State moved up to 4th, claiming the last playoff spot. Baylor jumped TCU by defeating Kansas State.
The conspiracy theorist in me is shouting that the committee rather conveniently snubbed only one conference instead of two, and also rather conveniently snubbed the only conference without a conference championship game. Of course, they also jumped Ohio State into the playoff and let's face it, Ohio State will make the playoff a lot more money than Baylor or TCU would. It makes me wonder how different the outcome would've been if, instead of TCU and Baylor, the Big XII representatives were Oklahoma and Texas.
But here's the point I'm driving toward...I think this is the committee's way of telling the Big XII that they need a title game. And for that, the Big XII has to expand, as NCAA bylaws prevent a conference from staging a championship game unless they have twelve teams. So what does the Big XII do?
Well, they can hold course, which is boring. For the purpose of this exercise, I pushed the big red button on the center of my desk and exercised the nuclear option of conference realignment, pushing the Big XII all the way to 14 member institutions. Hey, if the Big Ten can have 14 members, so can the Big XII.
Here's the current conference alignment:
Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Christian, Texas Tech, West Virginia
To get the Big XII up to 14 member institutions, we need to find four schools looking for potentially better situations than they currently have. Of the four I chose, three make fairly good sense. One is a bit of a stretch, but it makes geographical sense. We'll start on the east side of the Mississippi River, where West Virginia is the only Big XII school. They need a partner over here; a bridge to the rest of the conference. The bridge is found in the Cincinnati Bearcats.
Cincinnati is currently one of the top members of the American Athletic Conference, the smoking ruin of the Big East. I can't imagine the Bearcats would turn down a chance to play in the Big XII.
The other three schools are farther west than any current Big XII school, but they fit the mold. First up is BYU. The Cougars of Brigham Young recently went independent, and I think they'll grow to regret that choice. Joining the Big XII would be a move in the right direction. Think being an independent is a good idea in college football? I would bet even Notre Dame, the stalwart independent, will be a full-fledged member of the ACC within five years.
Second on our list is Colorado State. The Rams had a great season, flirting with the Top 25, which in this new era of college football playoffs is rarefied air for a mid-major. Cast your lot with the Big XII, though, and see your fortunes rise.
The last addition is the most tenuous: Boise State. The Broncos have had great success in the WAC and Mountain West, but they'll never sniff a national championship unless the get into a Power Five conference. Welcome to the new era of college football.
Now that the Big XII is up to 14 teams, we need to split into divisions. The SEC has the East and West, as does the Big Ten. The PAC-12 has a North and South. The ACC has an Atlantic and Coastal. Go ahead, tell me which division Florida State is in, without looking it up. Unless you're an ACC fan, you probably can't. I love college football and I can't. Geography is the best definition of division. The Big Ten proved how disastrous a non-geographical alignment can be with the asinine Leaders and Legends Divisions a couple years back.
For the Big XII, under this new membership list, I think an East and West division will do nicely.
The Big XII East would be made up of Baylor, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa State, Cincinnati, and West Virginia.
The Big XII West would be made up of TCU, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Colorado State, BYU, and Boise State.
Each team would play the other six teams in their division, plus a yearly permanent cross-division rival and two floating games against the other division. The permanent cross-divisional rivals in this scenario would be:
Texas - Texas Tech
Oklahoma - Oklahoma State
Kansas - Kansas State
Baylor - TCU
Iowa State - Colorado State
Cincinnati - Boise State
West Virginia - BYU
Yes, some of these match-ups are stretches, but it maintains the tradition of Bedlam, the Kansas rivalry, and just plain awesomeness that is TCU vs Baylor. And it would allow the Big XII to stage a conference championship game, likely in Jerry's World in Dallas, though a couple other options do exist, like Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. And it would increase the Big XII's chances of landing a team in the College Football Playoff.
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