The College Gameday bunch was at it today, already dismissing the B12 for a shot at the playoffs. It’s funny how they are now back on the P12 bandwagon a bit and dismissing the B12. Oklahoma could still end up 12-1 with a win over a ranked Baylor and a win over a probably ranked opponent in the B12 title game... or Baylor could theoretically go 13-0 which would get them in the playoffs as they would likely have to face Oklahoma twice which would help offset their weak nonconference schedule.
Only yesterday on ESPNU Radio, Greg McElroy was dismissing Oklahoma after losing 1 game, but then went on to say that Georgia losing to a bad South Carolina team was only an anomaly and they shouldn’t be counted out of the playoffs yet. Kansas State could go on to win 10 games which would certainly make Oklahoma’s loss to them look like the mythical good loss voters talk about, as opposed to Georgia’s bad loss.
Now what I am about to say will undoubtably offend and trigger the sensitive side of the connoisseurs of only the finest football available here on the message board. That said...
As much as I like the round robin style of play in football in the B12, there is a clear advantage for the conferences only playing an 8 game conference schedule each season. Obviously you can’t take away the fact that Clemson and Alabama are just flat out elite teams, but even with the weakened ACC overall, their teams are getting opportunities for nonconference wins that bolster even what little success they appear to have on the field which makes Clemson’s resume look better than it actually is.
The B12 needs to follow suit with the 8 game conference schedule model. This would include the scheduling of the annual patsy game in November the SEC is so fond of. Make note that on November 2, 2019 (i.e. today) reigning national champion Clemson is playing Wofford. Even they are copying SEC scheduling practices to the letter. For the B12 to do it effectively, they need to grow by two teams.
Obviously not playing Texas and Oklahoma every year would be a hit to the schedule for fan interest, but WVU looks committed to playing 11 P5 teams each year. If we were able to get an additional regional game like a PSU, Pitt, VT, Maryland, each year, or even a Miami, UVA, or some other P5 opponent that would generate interest it would offset not playing both teams a little. And some years we might still face both Texas and Oklahoma. It would also open up opportunities for Texas to maybe begin playing A&M annually again, and Maybe Oklahoma to face Nebraska, and Kansas to face Missouri, etc...
Only yesterday on ESPNU Radio, Greg McElroy was dismissing Oklahoma after losing 1 game, but then went on to say that Georgia losing to a bad South Carolina team was only an anomaly and they shouldn’t be counted out of the playoffs yet. Kansas State could go on to win 10 games which would certainly make Oklahoma’s loss to them look like the mythical good loss voters talk about, as opposed to Georgia’s bad loss.
Now what I am about to say will undoubtably offend and trigger the sensitive side of the connoisseurs of only the finest football available here on the message board. That said...
As much as I like the round robin style of play in football in the B12, there is a clear advantage for the conferences only playing an 8 game conference schedule each season. Obviously you can’t take away the fact that Clemson and Alabama are just flat out elite teams, but even with the weakened ACC overall, their teams are getting opportunities for nonconference wins that bolster even what little success they appear to have on the field which makes Clemson’s resume look better than it actually is.
The B12 needs to follow suit with the 8 game conference schedule model. This would include the scheduling of the annual patsy game in November the SEC is so fond of. Make note that on November 2, 2019 (i.e. today) reigning national champion Clemson is playing Wofford. Even they are copying SEC scheduling practices to the letter. For the B12 to do it effectively, they need to grow by two teams.
Obviously not playing Texas and Oklahoma every year would be a hit to the schedule for fan interest, but WVU looks committed to playing 11 P5 teams each year. If we were able to get an additional regional game like a PSU, Pitt, VT, Maryland, each year, or even a Miami, UVA, or some other P5 opponent that would generate interest it would offset not playing both teams a little. And some years we might still face both Texas and Oklahoma. It would also open up opportunities for Texas to maybe begin playing A&M annually again, and Maybe Oklahoma to face Nebraska, and Kansas to face Missouri, etc...
- Bring in Cincinnati and Memphis
- Do not create divisions, which allows for the 2 best teams to face each other in the B12 title game
- Potentially prevents annual rematches in B12 title game
- Both schools are geographic fits and bridge the gap between WVU and the rest of the conference
- Committed to being competitive in football though will still have growing pains for a while.
- Fed Ex sponsorship for B12 was offered previously if Memphis invited to B12 http://archive.commercialappeal.com...edex-involvement-32868a03-954-378891691.html/
- Quality basketball programs which enhance the B12’s basketball strength
- Top 50 tv markets for both programs
- Allows for 8 game schedule model which has benefited ACC and SEC
- For WVU specifically it affords another opportunity for an additional regional rival game each season due to having 4 non conference games each season
- Also for WVU, it creates drivable conference matches for road games.
- Potential to benefit Big 12 by having more potential 10-game winning teams at end of each season which helps appearance of strength of playoff resume for a team like Oklahoma that might beat a few conference opponents that end up with 8, 9, or 10 wins because they aren’t playing each other for 9 conference games. A B12 team might end up with 8 wins instead of 7, or 9 instead of 8, etc... because the additional nonconference game each season instead of a B12 team having an additional guaranteed loss due to head to head conference matchups.
- It would add more available content to the Big 12 platform on ESPN+
- ESPN would probably be on board because it would mean more subscribers in top 50 markets to ESPN+ expanding the B12 conference footprint.
- There is a conference tv contract provision that adds revenue to the league contract if it expands; Cindy and Memphis would receive partial shares of revenue for the first several years, and the revenue they did not receive due to receiving partial shares would be distributed among the other members.
