The Big 12’s Big Off-Season

Posted by on May 19, 2012 in cyclones, Cyclones Football | 5 Comments

Andrew Gogerty

Quick—name the biggest off-season moves of recent memory.  Two summers ago the Miami Heat added LeBron James and Chris Bosh in one of the biggest off-seasons of any organization ever.  The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim thought they struck gold with the Albert Pujols signing this past baseball off-season.  And the Denver Broncos made one of the biggest free agent signings in professional sports history when they signed Peyton Manning this spring.  Can you officially throw the Big 12 Conference into that discussion with the events that have transpired this college football off-season?  I think so.  Here are the 5 big things that have transpired in the Big 12 the last few months:

1.  SEC/Big 12 Title Game–On Friday, the Big 12 and the SEC conferences announced an agreement that would pair each other up in a New Year’s Day bowl game beginning in 2014.  We’re now partners with the most prestigious college football conference in America.  That can’t be a bad thing, can it?  For the stability of the conference, no.  Big-time “no.”  But like every other conference in the nation, the Big 12 is going to have to figure out how to actually beat the SEC.  We’ll take our chances—this is going to be fun. 

2.  The hiring of Bob Bowlsby—The most important development in the history of the Big 12; maybe in the history of any current conference.  Bowlsby’s experience and steady hand will keep the conference from ever teetering on the brink of elimination ever again.

3.  Conference additions/continuing talks of expansion—West Virginia and TCU join; Florida State and Clemson on the verge.  Any college football fan worth his weight in salt knows those are some pretty good football programs.

4.  Charlie Weis joins the league—A big name gives a no-name college football program relevance.  That’s always a good thing for a conference.  For once, people around the country will tune in to what the Jayhawks are doing on the gridiron, which just gives more stability and media coverage to the Big 12.

5.  It’s not just about Texas anymore—6 months ago, that wasn’t the case.  This was known around the nation as the “Texas Conference.”  And rightly so.  But I don’t think that can be said anymore.  The hiring of Bowlsby, who will not be bullied by the Longhorns, the agreement with the SEC, and the rumors of the addition of Florida State hardly make the Big 12 the puppets of the Texas Longhorns.

 

 

 

 

 

5 Comments

  1. Matt Gogerty
    May 19, 2012

    Andrew, I’m not so sure that the SEC/Big 12 partnership is entirely a good thing for the Big 12. Sure, it will bring you more noteriety, exposure and money which of course are all good things. However there’s one REALLY

    Reply
  2. Matt Gogerty
    May 19, 2012

    big negative involved. It’s my understanding that this will essentially be a “playoff” game to get to the National Championship. If there’s 1 conference I don’t want to have to go through to get a shot a National Title it’s the SEC. What this could essentially mean, is that it might be quite some time before anyone from the Big 12 conference even gets a shot a National Championship any time in the foreseeable future.

    Reply
    • Andrew
      May 20, 2012

      Having to play the SEC every year to get to have a Big 12 team get to a National Championship game is no picnic. But at least it would give the Big 12 a shot every year potentially.

      Reply
  3. Clone63
    May 20, 2012

    There’s a lot of things that have to play out before a playoff is approved. I’m guessing the SEC doesn’t want to limit a national title game to only one potential school. Just ask LSU and Alabama. A playoff scenario is prob going to include a scenario of conference champions and at-larges.

    Reply
  4. Matt Gogerty
    May 20, 2012

    The way things are currently going, there would be a 4 team playoff which would most likely include the winner of the Big 12/SEC matchup playing against the winner of the Rose Bowl (B1G/PAC 12). You’re absolutely right though, the whole playoff picture is far from being decided, and I know they’ll probably add more teams so that not only can other conferences get involved other than just the “Big 4″, but also other teams besides just the conference champions. I think we can safely say that with this new agreement between the Big 12 and SEC, a playoff scenario is a done deal. Now it’s just a matter of how many teams it will involve.

    Reply

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