Big 12’s Bowlsby weighs in on league’s CFP case over Ohio State
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby acknowledged his league probably needs some help to get in the College Football Playoff.
The CFP has never taken a two-loss team and the Big 12 champion will have two losses. Iowa State (8-2, 8-1 Big 12) and Oklahoma (7-2, 6-2 Big 12) play for the conference title at AT&T Stadium on Saturday at 11 a.m.
But Bowlsby made a case that the league deserves a seat at the table for playing close to a full season over, say, an Ohio State team that will only play six games. With a victory, Iowa State would end its season on a six-game winning streak while a win would be the seventh straight for Oklahoma.
Iowa State is ranked No. 6 in the latest CFP rankings, while OU is No. 10.
“If Iowa State were to win the championship game, they would have won six straight games, which is the same that Ohio State has played the entire season,” Bowlsby said during a conference call Thursday. “The selection committee has fewer tools available to it this year, but one of the things they’re going to have to reconcile is the differences in the number of contests played.
“There’s a certain extent to where this is a war of attrition. You play 10, 11, 12 games, you don’t always have the same personnel. You’re not always similarly prepared. There’s games you’re most ready to play and games where you’re less ready to play. That’s when good teams get picked off. That’s a difficult assessment to make when you have teams with four and five game differentials.”
The Big 12, of course, is far too familiar with how the selection committee has used “data points” in the past. Having one less “data point” is why TCU and Baylor were supposedly left out of the 2014 CFP with Ohio State moving in. At that time, the Big 12 didn’t have a conference championship game and TCU and Baylor were declared co-champions.
This season has the opposite feel where Ohio State could get in despite playing fewer games with fewer “data points.”
At the end of the day, Bowlsby trusts the selection committee to get it right.
“We put 13 honest people in a room and they’re going to decide who should be in and who should be out,” Bowlsby said. “We’re still in position to have teams in the playoff. Obviously we probably need some help, but it’s a good position to be in.”
Most importantly, Bowlsby said, is this format remains far superior than any previous format used to determine who played in the national championship game.
Having controversy and debate is not a bad thing. The four-team format will always create some sort of controversy by leaving at least one “Power Five” conference out of the mix.
“There’s an awful lot that’s right about the College Football Playoff,” Bowlsby said. “It’s clearly far superior to any predecessor structure that we’ve had. The selection committee is clearly superior to leaving it in the hands of computers. Reasonable people can disagree on where they would advocate for change, but there’s an awful lot right about it.”
Big 12 honors
The Big 12 released its All-Big 12 football team on Thursday and Iowa State ranked as the biggest winner.
Cyclones coach Matt Campbell was named the coach of the year; running back Breece Hall was the offensive player of the year; linebacker Mike Rose was the defensive player of the year; wide receiver Xavier Hutchinson was the offensive newcomer of the year; and defensive back Isheem Young was co-defensive freshman of the year along with TCU defensive end Khari Coleman.
Other individual awards went to West Virginia’s Tony Fields II, defensive newcomer of the year; Kansas State’s Deuce Vaughn, offensive freshman of the year; Baylor’s Trestan Ebner, special teams player of the year; Oklahoma’s Creed Humphrey, offensive lineman of the year; and West Virginia’s Darius Stills, defensive lineman of the year.
Iowa State’s Brock Purdy was named the first-team quarterback with Texas’ Sam Ehlinger on the second team. Oklahoma State and Fort Worth native Tylan Wallace was named a first-team wide receiver.
TCU winners
The Frogs had 14 players earn recognition on Thursday, including three first-team players on defense (linebacker Garret Wallow and defensive backs Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson and Trevon Moehrig).
Defensive end Ochaun Mathis earned second-team honors, as well as punter Jordy Sandy. Coleman was named the co-defensive freshman of the year and also was an honorable mention as a D-lineman.
Other defensive players named honorable mention included defensive tackle Terrell Cooper and defensive backs Ar’Darius Washington and La’Kendrick Van Zandt. Mathis was named an honorable mention as defensive lineman of the year, and Wallow earned an honorable mention for defensive player of the year.
Offensively, honorable mention honors went to wide receivers Taye Barber and Quentin Johnston, and offensive linemen Steve Avila and T.J. Storment.
Returner Derius Davis received honorable mention as a returner and as special teams player of the year.
This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 2:11 PM.
