Jimbo Fisher Comment on Big 12

According to Yahoo sports Jimbo Fisher took a shot at the Big 12 because they don't have a championship game. Maybe we get lucky and more people jump on the bandwagon and that slowly starts the ball rolling toward Big 12 expansion.

Follow-up story on cbssports.com: http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/writer/dennis-dodd/24631591/one-true-champion-sounds-nice-but-might-not-be-enough-for-big-12" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That last article hits the Big12 pretty hard for not having a CG and a weak SOS.

Since the big 12 was a big topic on BYU's media day due to bronco's summer comments, this topic was discussed by Trevor Matich. Trevor said that the Big 12 would probably only expand if pressure was put on it by the other leagues since they are the only ones that don't have a championship game. And of course pressure would be put on them if they get excluded from the playoff for not having a championship game as well. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few years.

I think the odds are good for them expanding. If they expand, them want money. BYU offers more than any other school they could get.

scott715 wrote:
I think the odds are good for them expanding..

Out of curiosity what do you base that on? What is the timeframe? What is the event that causes this to happen?



My opinion is it will not happen until they are forced to do so.

NDCougar wrote:

I think the odds are good for them expanding..

Out of curiosity what do you base that on? What is the timeframe? What is the event that causes this to happen?



My opinion is it will not happen until they are forced to do so.

I think they will be "forced" into expanding when their 11-1 team gets passed over for the playoff by another 12-1 team from a conference with a championship game due to lack of schedule strength. Or when other conferences commissioners lobby to force them into having a championship game because it is not fair that they should have an easier road to the playoffs than other conferences.

I wonder if the selection committee will legislate that selected teams will have played in a CG? Isn't that how are courts now work? It might be worth looking at the makeup of the committee from that stand point.



This article is the start of putting pressure on the Big12. Their lack of SOS and no CG will hurt their chances of getting selected. I wonder if the SEC thinks they will get two teams into the playoffs?

scott715 wrote:
I wonder if the SEC thinks they will get two teams into the playoffs?

It's the SEC so they probably think they'll get 4 teams in.

based on past experience, they probably will.

But how does BYU increase their SOS?

How does BYU increase their SOS?



I'm guessing that if they add BYU, then the Big XII looks to add a 2nd team (Boise?) as well to get to 12 and back in the world of conference championship games.



So between those two new teams and a conference championship game the Big XII champion's SOS would take a bump up.

The loss of Nebraska and A&M and the addition BYU and BSU does not a bump make. Have to see it for their angle.

A conf champ game would help. But, Did you read the Big 12 AD's piece on college athletics changing? They are the most selfish, self interested ("ADs and coaches are not going to LOWER their salaries") this conference is and how rotten it is at its core.

Cougs_Rule wrote:
The loss of Nebraska and A&M and the addition BYU and BSU does not a bump make. Have to see it for their angle.

Their angle is to add BYU and BSU not trade them for Nebraska and A&M. That ship sailed. Although if we're going there adding BYU and BSU is a bump over Colorado so that's a good trade.



I'm no expert at how their TV contract works but I thought that even if we're added it doesn't reset their contract so they'd be sharing the same money with more teams. Until they can negotiate a new TV deal I think we're out. I would think the majority of Big12 teams want the money more than NC access due to a CC game.

SpiffCoug wrote:
How does BYU increase their SOS?



I'm guessing that if they add BYU, then the Big XII looks to add a 2nd team (Boise?) as well to get to 12 and back in the world of conference championship games.



So between those two new teams and a conference championship game the Big XII champion's SOS would take a bump up.

IMO, the earliest the Big 12 would expand is for the 2016 season. But, more likely, not until 2018 or beyond. They will need more than a one-year sample to determine whether the 10-team league without a CCG is viable.



The current short list is:



BYU

Cincinnati

UConn

UCF

USF



and then perhaps Boise, along with UNLV, Air Force, and yes, Tulane, Memphis (if they actually make some bowl games and start attracting fans - Tulane has a new on-campus stadium this year and Memphis actually has a bowl-potential team).



The difficulty is that teams can improve over the next 3 or 4 seasons. I would actually pull for UNLV - if they can get that illusive 60K-seat stadium going. They would make a good travel partner for BYU in Olympic sports and would bring great value for men's Bball. But Cincinnati, UConn, or UCF wouldn't be bad either. (I hope we play Cincinnati at the Miami Beach Bowl this year, to get an early jump start on the 2015-2016 series. If BYU and Cincy could get a sort of rivalry thing going, it could make the pair very attractive to the Big 12).

A conference championship game could be important, but I don't think the Big 12 has its hands tied yet. If an OU or UT is undefeated or a quality loss they will get in the top 4 without issue. I don't foresee in most years being hindered by not having a conference championship, in fact it could hurt many years if a clear top 4 team is upset in the conference CG. There are real scenarios where the CG hurts the conferences chances to get in a playoff.



There are too many variables on the CG side, arguments from both angles. It all has to do with $$$$$.....is having a conference CG more profitable than not having it but not having to split the pie with two additional schools (even if football only there will still be considerable payout given how profitable football is compared to other sports). I have not run the numbers, if someone has the numbers and can do the math that should explain it......if the math shows that each individual school will be better off splitting revenues and having a CG it will happen, if the numbers don't show that then there is not incentive to have it happen.



Look at the motives. If it made economic sense it would already be happening. I want it to happen and hope BYU is added but we must look at the motives......the motive is access to the playoff (they have it) and possibly more important the economic factor ($$$$).



Maybe I am missing something, but if I were the Big 12 I would add two schools for football only. BYU is difficult given the Sunday component (football causes less issues) and to be honest the other sports are not needed for the conference (bball is fine as is etc). Football drives revenue and IF they are forced to expand I don't think I it is crazy to see a football only addition of BYU, I would be all for that.

Cougs_Rule wrote:
The loss of Nebraska and A&M and the addition BYU and BSU does not a bump make. Have to see it for their angle.

A conf champ game would help. But, Did you read the Big 12 AD's piece on college athletics changing? They are the most selfish, self interested ("ADs and coaches are not going to LOWER their salaries") this conference is and how rotten it is at its core.

True, but if the loss of NE and A&M led to BigXII teams playing an FCS team or a non-BYU/Boise non-P5 team then yes, adding BYU and Boise does make a bump.



Hypothetical in 2009 Texas played Nebraska. Nebraska leaves the conference and a game slot opens up. Texas decides to fill that game that normally went to A&M or Nebraska with New Mexico or Northern Arizona.



Their SOS has taken a hit. Now if you add BYU to the conference, the game against UNM is now against BYU.



Their SOS gets a bump. The bump might not be back up to where it was with Nebraska, but it's better than it was.

The article said their SOS was 69 (I assume that is the average for the conference) using last year data. If BYU is a 32, we would help with the SOS.

The other thing to consider is, why do you have to go to twelve teams to have a championship game? You can still have two divisions of five each, play the other four in your division, three of the other five in the other division and schedule deals with the PAC12, ACC, SEC, and Big10 and maybe one instate non-power school to fill in the holes.



Even assuming a championship game is required, expansion is not the only way for the Big 12 to have a championship game and not have to split the pie anymore. It helps, but it is far from a sure thing.



Personally, I hope they do expand to pick up BYU, but if I were the conference commisioner, I would probably go with my plan above to avoid splitting the revenue even further and demonstrate that the conference is willing to schedule games with the other conferences.

Cougarfan87 wrote:
The other thing to consider is, why do you have to go to twelve teams to have a championship game? You can still have two divisions of five each, play the other four in your division, three of the other five in the other division and schedule deals with the PAC12, ACC, SEC, and Big10 and maybe one instate non-power school to fill in the holes.



Even assuming a championship game is required, expansion is not the only way for the Big 12 to have a championship game and not have to split the pie anymore. It helps, but it is far from a sure thing.



Personally, I hope they do expand to pick up BYU, but if I were the conference commisioner, I would probably go with my plan above to avoid splitting the revenue even further and demonstrate that the conference is willing to schedule games with the other conferences.

NCAA rule 17.9.5.2 (c) states “a conference championship game between division champions of a member conference of 12 or more institutions that is divided into two divisions (of six or more institutions each), each of which conducts round-robin, regular-season competition among the members of that division.”