David Pollack: Big 12 is a one-bid league after Week 2 struggles

The Big 12’s profile as a conference took a serious hit on Saturday when Arizona State, perhaps the top contender in the league, went down on the road at Mississippi State. Has that jeopardized the league’s postseason chances?

Absolutely, said college football analyst David Pollack on the See Ball Get Ball podcast. In fact, when asked if the Big 12 was now a one-bid league in the College Football Playoff, Pollack didn’t hesitate.

“Yes. Yeah. I don’t think that’s good,” Pollack said. “Because you’ve also got to look around the league too. Kansas State just got beat by Army. Kansas got beat by Missouri. Like a lot of teams in that league obviously suffering out-of-conference losses that yeah, I think that’s… and I still think there’s a bunch of really good teams that are going to beat up on each other and have a bunch of losses too.

“But I think the deepness and not as elite of playmakers, of players probably, as other leagues. I still think obviously the most fun league to watch, period. Going to be week in and week out. It’s just that good. But yeah, I think that makes the Big 12 get one bid.”

The conference winner will obviously get a berth in the College Football Playoff. But it’s hard to see where a second berth would come from at the moment.

Iowa State is out to a 3-0 start and appears to be legit. BYU and Utah can make compelling cases as well. Who knows what TCU will end up being.

But for Arizona State and the Big 12, the loss over the weekend was disappointing. Because coach Kenny Dillingham had preached so much to his team about not taking anything for granted, the loss stung even more.

“He tried to call out his team all summer, right?” Pollack said. “Time and time again, letting them know, guys, you ain’t done nothing. You haven’t arrived. And then they didn’t show up for the first half and Dillingham was like, ‘Do you understand what I was talking about now?’ He’s got their attention now, so I’ll be interested to watch how they respond.”

Arizona State still has the talent to run the table, even though it’ll have to go through ranked Iowa State, Texas Tech and Utah teams. But that’s where Pollack’s prediction comes into play.

The Big 12 could well beat itself into a pulp by the time the CFP rankings come around. There’s no guarantee anyone survives. And, at least for now, Pollack sees the Big 12 as a one-bid league.