Big 12 title game can only help Oklahoma, as perception will keep Baylor out of playoff
When asked about the Big 12 title game, Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley could only say, “It is what it is.”
Any time someone utters this defeated phrase it implies abject indifference.
We are five years into the College Football Playoff era, and the Big 12’s decision to reinstate its conference title game three years ago has only affected its wallet rather than the league’s chances of reaching the final four.
The 2019 edition of the Big 12 championship game at Jerry’s Club is the first test whether this game positively affects one of the team’s chances to reach the playoff.
Or whether the stature of the Big 12 is regarded differently today than it was five years ago.
Of whether adding a crucial “data point” does anything.
Everyone who follows the Big 12 should prepare for the conclusion: No.
At present the Big 12 remains The Big 1.
No. 6 Oklahoma needs a win over No. 7 Baylor in the title game to have a shot to reach the fourth spot. A win for Baylor may not be enough, no matter the point differential.
The immediate future for both teams mostly depends on what happens to No. 4 Georgia in its loss to No. 2 LSU in the SEC title game, and whether No. 5 Utah can defeat No. 13 Oregon in the Pac 12 title game.
It’s hard to envision the selectors plop a two-loss Georgia team into the playoff (FYI: LSU is a 7.5-point favorite).
That means Utah needs to lose to Oregon or the Sooners blow out the Bears.
The problem remains the same in 2019 as it did in 2014: The left and right coasts of our great nation only take into consideration Oklahoma and Texas when it comes to the middle. It’s not right, but it’s reality.
In 2014, TCU and Baylor were famously left out of the playoff despite résumés that suggested one should have made it.
Since the creation of the playoff, all but one team selected has won a national championship. Oregon, which was invited in 2014, has not won a national title but finished second in 2010 after losing to Auburn in the BcS title game.
Before the playoff was created, college football was already a gated community. All the “final four” has done is to build an exclusive club inside the walls.
Coaches like to speak of increased parity in the sport, but the committee refuses to acknowledge that it exists. It refuses to acknowledge that any team other than the traditional names could possibly be good enough to be the best.
The TCU team in 2014 could have defeated two of the playoff teams, Oregon and Florida State. TCU was not going to beat the other two playoff teams, Bama and Brutus.
As evidenced by the point margins in the national semifinal games, the committee may sadly be right. Of the 10 semifinal games that have been played, only two have been decided by less than double digits.
There are but a few in the limited field that is the Power 5 that are considered to be the best.
The Big 10 has 14 teams, but it’s not like this league is anything more than Ohio State and ... a rotation of Wisconsin, Penn State and some other random team not named Michigan.
The ACC is Clemson and ... Florida State had been relevant but it’s gone to trash in recent years.
The Pac 12 is USC, Washington and now Utah. Only Washington has made the playoffs.
The Big 12 is Oklahoma University and the University of Oklahoma.
The SEC has a few more in LSU, Georgia and Alabama; Florida and Auburn should be at least be viable candidates.
Notre Dame, please leave or join the ACC.
This is where we are, leaving the likes of Baylor, Utah, TCU and two dozen others needing to be perfect, as well as the alignment of every dog on the planet to bark simultaneously, in order make the playoffs.
The Big 12 added a conference title game to solve that problem, and Saturday could serve as proof whether it actually helps or just gives the league more money.
And you know what people say about money and college football? Only one matters.
This story was originally published December 5, 2019 at 6:30 AM.
