Big 12 Announces Conference Will Remain Without Divisions

On Friday morning the Big 12 announced that they have decided not to split the conference into two divisions in anticipation of the 2017 Big 12 Championship game in football.

#Big12FB: When the championship game returns in 2017, it will be No. 1 vs. No. 2 in the conference standings – https://t.co/F8uuSbORCV ?? pic.twitter.com/ZFnmWSb9Np

— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) October 28, 2016

This is kind of a curious choice but probably shouldn’t be too surprising. It basically forgoes any drama over division alignment.

Here’s what Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said about the news in a statement Friday:

Given our round-robin, nine-game scheduling model, it is expected the Big 12 champion will be uniquely positioned for College Football Playoff consideration.

I would argue there will be no path more difficult than our champion’s, where it will have played every team in the Conference, faced at least one Autonomy Conference non-conference opponent, and then plays in our championship game.

The guaranteed No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup will be a great game for our fans, and it’s hard to imagine a stronger position for a conference champion.

Of course the nightmare scenario would be something that could have played out as recently as last year (had there been a title game). Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the conference when they met for Bedlam, the de facto title game. Meaning that after Bedlam, OU and a OSU would have turned around and played each other for the title in the next game.

Say Oklahoma wins in Stillwater and then Mason Rudolph comes back and the Cowboys find away to beat the Sooners on a neutral field. Doesn’t that effectively knock the Big 12 out of the College Football Playoff? I think you’re playing with fire a little there.

Maybe it never works out that way. Maybe it does. Either way it seems like another dysfunctional move from a dysfunctional conference.

I do agree that playing an extra conference game has value, IF those making decisions value your conference. But that selling point has had no buyers in the national landscape over the last couple of years.