A Big 12 football title game would make tough path tougher

The omission of a Big 12 team from the inaugural College Football Playoff remains a wound that hasn’t completely healed among league coaches. That’s understandable, and so is their desire to do whatever it takes to avoid a similar situation in future years.

But bringing back a conference football championship game isn’t the solution to this issue.

The NCAA probably will amend a rule that prohibits a conference championship game for leagues with fewer than 12 teams by 2016. The Big 12 wants it to happen, not because it’s lined up a series of title games, but because it wants to remove the technical obstacle from the conversation.

A title game will be discussed over the next few weeks by conference leaders and coaches with the events of December serving as the primary reference point.

To review: The College Football Playoff committee ranking order headed into the final weekend of the regular season went Alabama, Oregon, TCU, Florida State, Ohio State and Baylor.

They all played on the final weekend and all won impressively. The final ranking: Alabama, Oregon, Florida State, Ohio State, Baylor and TCU.

The four that remained or entered the final four won a conference championship game. The two that fell or remained outside are members of the only power five league without a title game.

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops thought simple math worked against the Big 12.

“If the selection committee is going to put weight in a numbers system, the numbers of games, the number of wins, if an extra game matters then I would be in favor of playing it,” Stoops said.

Big 12 teams play 12 games. Everybody else has an opportunity to play a 13th in a conference championship game.

Stoops has a point. If Ohio State, Baylor and TCU all looked alike in the eyes of the committee going into the final weekend, the Buckeyes took full advantage by crushing a quality opponent, Wisconsin, on a neutral field. The Bears and Horned Frogs, impressive as they were on the same day, didn’t have the same opportunity.

But if the Big 12 restores a championship game, its teams would have a path more difficult than any other power conference. It’s the only league with round-robin scheduling, and tacking on a championship game would add another rugged opponent in a guaranteed rematch from the regular season.

Currently, only the Pac-12 plays as many conference games (nine) as the Big 12 but without the round robin.

Still, they want to have the discussion. TCU’s Gary Patterson, whose team beautifully handled the disappointment of dropping from the top four by walloping Mississippi in the Peach Bowl, was direct in his support.

“If it makes a difference whether you get into the (top) four teams, yes,” he said. “Whatever we can do to help our conference.”

The answer to this hypothetical question — Would the committee have placed the winner of a Baylor-TCU rematch ahead of the Buckeyes? — is the heart of the matter. If enough leaders and coaches believe that is the case, the idea of a championship game will gain momentum.

One of the most measured voices on this topic during the Big 12 coaches teleconference belonged to Baylor’s Art Briles, who was the most outspoken after the national semifinals were announced. Briles was most upset at the Big 12 for not identifying the Bears as the clear-cut champion after they tied TCU in the standing but beat the Horned Frogs during the season.

“If you can go undefeated in our league, you’ll be in the College Football Playoff,” Briles said.

He’s right. The problem is in the four years of the 10-team Big 12, no team has gone undefeated. That demonstrates the rugged road traveled by Big 12 teams in the regular season, one that would be made even more difficult by a championship game.

This story was originally published April 21, 2015 at 3:00 PM with the headline "A Big 12 football title game would make tough path tougher."