The Big 12 spent the offseason wrangling about expansion, a conference championship game and dealing with the Baylor scandal.
The season hasn’t gone much better so far. Texas, Baylor and West Virginia are the only undefeated teams left in the conference. That’s the lowest number among the Power 5 conferences. The conference doesn’t have a conference championship game, so you know what sentence is coming next.
The Big 12’s playoff hopes are in big trouble after just two weeks. They’re not dead — we won’t pronounce any conference DOA after two weeks. Too much can happen.
Still, consider what happened Saturday. The conference put out a 4-5 record. No. 22 Oklahoma State lost in grand fashion to Central Michigan, a loss that will be the topic of conversation well into next week. It’s the refs fault, but they didn’t help themselves. How did they let that happen?
No. 15 TCU would later lose to Arkansas in double overtime at home. The game-tying play was a double-reverse pass on a two-point conversion. How did they let that happen?
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Kansas, Iowa State and Texas Tech all lost. So that leaves Texas as the highest-ranked school, a team that entered the season with its coach on the hot seat. Oklahoma re-established itself in a blowout. Baylor will be ranked and West Virginia has a chance in the next poll. Is that enough now?
Conference play might not increase the playoff profile. Not including Texas’ win against Notre Dame, the Big 12 is 1-4 against other Power 5 conferences with the lone win coming when the Mountaineers knocked off Missouri in Week 1. They also are 3-3 against the Group of 5, with losses to Houston, Ohio and Central Michigan.
That’s why next week is huge from a perception standpoint for the conference. Texas can improve to 3-0 if they avoid a landmine at Cal. Oklahoma State can get redemption of sorts with a win against Pittsburgh.
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Yet no game looms larger than the Sooners’ home showdown against Ohio State. It’s essentially a win-or-else moment for Oklahoma when you consider no two-loss teams have made the College Football Playoff the last two seasons and only two-loss team played in a BCS championship game. It would go a long way in improving conference perception as it pertains to the four-team playoff. The Sooners got hot last year to make it.
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Are they that true playoff contender again? We’ll find out next week. Is it Texas? We’re not quite there yet. Is it Baylor or West Virginia? The Bears have the offense, and the Mountaineers have the favorable schedule. Can any of those teams get through Big 12 play without two losses?
The Pac-12 cannibalized itself out of the playoff last year, but that was through conference play. The Big 12 is doing too much damage in nonconference play.
That’s why next weekend is important. The Big 12 isn’t in critical condition, but it’s not in fair condition either. If it continues to go south at least there’s a fallback conversation.
Who wants to talk conference expansion now?
