Big 12's image low on list of problems for Oklahoma, Texas
The Sooners and Longhorns are bringing cap guns to the Red River Shootout lately. (Image courtesy: USA Today Sports)
The College Football Playoff’s selection committee’s decision to leave Baylor and TCU out of the inaugural tournament field has generated plenty of angst in Big 12 country. Not surprisingly, it has sparked calls for various reforms to the Big 12, including expansion and adding a conference title game.
And, knock me down with a feather, some Oklahoma and Texas fans are taking the developments as a sign of what's to come for the foreseeable future. The Bears and Horned Frogs didn't rate when the committee could take blue blood Ohio State, which goes to show what a waste of space the Big 12 is. Therefore, the Red River rivals should shed all that brand-challenged dead weight and find a better club to join.
I found the best articulation of that position from the Texas point of view over at Barking Carnival in an article that used Game of Thrones as a metaphor for the direction of major college athletics.
Oddly enough, I saw no mention in the piece of how much it hurt the case of Baylor and TCU that Texas played Red Viper to The Mormon Mountain for the second year in a row (this time in the friendly court of Austin Landing, no less). Or, there was that time when Jerry "the Butcher's Boy" Neuheisel turned the tables on the Longhorns' confused Hounds at Jerry World.
OU definitely played its part in the Big 12’s Red Wedding weekend. Aside from falling way short of preseason expectations in 2014, the Sooners botched what should have been an easy win over Oklahoma State in the last game of the year, which sent conflicting signals to the selection committee.
Look, I get it. In the grand scheme of things, TCU and Baylor being left out of the playoff jibes with the idea that the Big 12 is a second-rate conference. However, the core components of that argument – TV sets, money, prestige – wouldn’t have changed if the Big 12 had received all four bids this season or none.
As such, it couldn't sound more entitled – and, frankly, bizarre – to hear fans of two teams that tied for fourth in the league use the occasion to complain that the Big 12 is going to hold them back. The play of the Big 12’s Big 2 on the field this year suggests they need to take care of their own shit before worrying about everyone else.