“I beg your pardon,
But hello? Darlin’?
This is me, you’re talking to!
Sit down and tell me about it!
And you don’t have to shout it at me –
Tell me what you really wanna do!
Don’t give me no alibis!
Don’t want your stories, trying to justify;
Don’t want no alibis!
Just another reason, for another lie …”
--------------------
For the third time in six years, my alma mater has (in
theory) been screwed out of a shot at winning the national championship.
In 2009, an undefeated TCU team came within one second –
literally – of playing Alabama in the Rose Bowl for the national title. Unfortunately, the officials put that second back on the clock in the Big XII Title Game (oh, the f*cking irony, given
today), and Texas drilled a 44 yarder, to beat Nebraska 13-12 as time expired
for a second time.
In 2010, an undefeated TCU team needed Alabama to beat
Auburn, to be in position to reach the Fiesta Bowl and face Oregon for the
national title. Alabama led 24-0. They lost 28-27.
And now, in 2014, the third ranked Horned Frogs, needing
merely to be amongst the top four, went out on Saturday and delivered the
second best effort of the day, a 55-3 spanking of Iowa State that should lead
to mass firings in Ames. (Even I have to
concede, what Ohio State did last night, was more impressive, than what TCU did
yesterday afternoon.)
Somehow, winning by fifty two points, dropped the Horned
Frogs to sixth, behind another pathetic Florida State performance (needing to
handle an onside kick to beat a mediocre Georgia Tech squad), and an Alabama
performance that was underwhelming at best (that game was 21-13 with twenty
minutes to play, before the Tide pulled away).
I am not here to rip the Selection Committee, for leaving
the Big XII out of the inaugural college football playoff.
If anything, as much as today hurts, I’m here
to praise them.
Because Big XII? Pull your
heads out of your collective asses.
Your lack of a true champion?
Possibly just cost you a national championship.
--------------------
There are five power conferences in the FBS world – the ACC,
the SEC, the Pac 12, the B1G Ten (plus four), and the Big XII (minus two).
The minus two, is why neither TCU nor Baylor made the
inaugural playoff … and why the Big XII is screwed from here to eternity, at
this point. Because that minus two
ensures the Big XII cannot stage a conference championship game.
Look it, I love the round robin style of scheduling probably
more than the next guy. Every team plays
every other team in the conference, regardless of sport – and in hoops, a true home-and-home
schedule is really cool to watch unfold over those magical eight weeks that
give us “Big Monday”.
But sometimes? When
you’re wrong? You have to own your
failure, own your mistake, admit you f*cked up, and adapt to reality.
The Big XII f*cked up, by not staying at twelve teams, after
the defections of Texas A&M, Nebraska, Missouri, and Colorado (while adding
West Virginia and TCU). They should have
added two more – and I’d argue the two they should have added were Louisville
and BYU.
That mistake – clinging to an ideal that is no longer relevant, of "one true champion" by having every team play everyone else – has just cost the Big XII millions of dollars, literally. They have literally just whizzed away
millions of dollars, by being the only power conference not in the national
playoff. Sure, they will have at least two
teams in the Big Six bowls (TCU is in the Peach; Baylor is in the Cotton … and
KSU in the Alamo isn’t anything to sneer at.)
But they won’t get a spot, in the two bowls that ultimately count this year -- the Rose, and the Sugar.
All because of one stupid ass decision, to not stay true, to
the conference name.
Ten, instead of twelve.
--------------------
So let’s acknowledge the obvious up front: the Big XII has a
very limited roster of squads, to pick who they’re going to poach from.
No SEC school is leaving that conference – none has since
Georgia Tech fifty years ago. (And in yet another ironic moment, had Georgia Tech scored three more points last night, at least Baylor makes the inaugural playoff, providing yet another Montreal Screw Job to the alma mater.)
No Pac 12
squad is leaving – if anything, the Pac 12 will be the first to go to
sixteen. They’re not shrinking.
And why would any B1G Ten (plus four)
institution look to move – if you believe the critics, they have the best men’s
basketball conference in the nation*, and they’ve got enough rock solid
middle-of-the-road football squads to be far more marketable than the Big XII
at this point.
The ACC? Maybe … if
only because you have the defending national champions, who haven’t lost in
over seven hundred days, barely squeaking into the inaugural playoff. But like the B1G Ten, the ACC is loaded in
hoops, has enough middle-of-the-pack football teams to be marketable, and at
least has a region of the country they own (the East Coast).
So if you’re Bob Bowlsby, you’re looking at independents, the
American, and maybe the Mountain West.
As Rick Pitino would note, “there’s no Louisville walking through that
door”.
But if you’re Bob Bowlsby, you should be encouraged. There are two schools out there who would at
least be receptive to a sales pitch to join the Big XII – and both immediately
enhance the conference, and not just by ensuring the league can stage a
football championship game.
Adding these two schools?
Expands the Big XII’s footprint west … and east. It adds two schools that have
well-established programs in all three sports that truly matter for revenue
purposes (football, and men’s and women’s hoops). In fact, it’s hoops, that should drive the
first invite to the party.
God, I love the irony -- selling a p*ssed off football audience on expansion ... by emphasizing basketball, as the reason for doing it.
--------------------
(*: I hate B1G Ten basketball with a passion. If I wanted to watch a 52-51 brickfest, I'd go to my nephew's game every Saturday at the church rec league.)
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Because if I’m Bob Bowlsby?
I’m on the phone to Kevin Ollie, I’m on the phone to Geno Auriemma,
I’m on the phone to whoever the hell UConn’s AD is, and I’m inviting the
University of Connecticut, to join the Big XII, effective ASAFP.
Emphasis on the f.
What you add? Two
world-class hoops programs – more than that, your two defending national
champions, for God’s sake. An instant
awesome (or is that shaw-some?) rivalry between two of the elites of the sport –
KU/UConn for the men, UConn/Baylor for the women. You bring in the long-standing rivalries
UConn has with the old Big East, and you bring in two programs in hoops, that
their worst season, is what, a NIT berth?
I mean, does anyone really believe UConn will miss the tournament more
than one year in a row?
(To put this in perspective?
Duke has missed the tournament once in thirty years – the year Coach K
was out. KU has missed the tourney once
in thirty years – they were on probation.
UConn has missed four of the last twenty five years … and has four
championships, in the last twenty five years.
And their women’s team? Good
God. If they lose a game, it’s a failed
season. The odds of them not being a
major factor, are slim and none. To say
nothing of what having UConn in the Big XII, might mean to attracting more NCAA
regionals and women’s Final Four’s to Kansas City might mean.)
You also add a football program that was in a BCS bowl less than four years ago (and that, with quality competition, could once again rise
up and be a factor). You gain a
footprint in the nation’s media hub – UConn gives you immediate viable access
to every New York sports report. To say
nothing of Philly, the District, and Boston.
Or to put it another way – the B1G Ten (plus four) invited
Rutgers to join, to get that access. Who
would you rather have, Rutgers or UConn?
UConn is, simply put, the single most attractive property
available for purchase, in the NCAA D1 portfolio. They're Park Place, to Notre Dame's unavailable Boardwalk.
The Big XII has to pay the price, to bring
them in.
The other school to poach?
That’s not quite as clear.
--------------------
Me? I’d go for
BYU. You gain a national following, a
rock solid football program that won’t disgrace itself on the field, a solid
men’s hoops program that routinely makes the postseason, and if anything, that’s
its biggest selling point to the KU and UT’s of the world – BYU is just good
enough to consistently lose to you by five or less on the hardwood. They’re another Iowa State, another Oklahoma,
in basketball. They won’t embarrass you, but rather they enhance the resume, they strengthen the RPI, while never really
threaten you, for top dog status.
And football is the same way. BYU will upset you occasionally – they pounded
UT in Arlington this year (and beat OU in Arlington a few years ago). But they’re an eight, nine win ceiling
program.
More importantly, you add UConn and BYU? You get to twelve. You get your conference title game. You make the South happy (by giving them a
guaranteed money-maker every first Saturday in December in JerryWorld). And you make the North happy (by giving them
a guaranteed money maker every second weekend in March, at the Sprint
Centre).
And you prevent utter f*cking catastrophes, like today was,
where because you don’t have an undisputed squad to choose from?
Neither gets chosen.
--------------------
If BYU isn’t who you target for your second? Then take a swing at Memphis. They won the American this year, they’re a
beast in men’s hoops, and they give you a footprint in the southeast
(much as UConn gives you one in the northeast).
Take a swipe at Cincinnati – they give you a decent middle-of-the-road
program in the two primary revenue-generating sports, and give West Virginia a
closer built-in rival.
Or take a crack at a ACC squad. Florida State can't be thrilled that winning twenty nine straight games, and being a defending champion, made them sweat out today. You can do worse than backing up a case of Coca Cola to the Dean Dome, and seeing if Roy will crack one open. You can do far worse than seeing if Syracuse is truly happy at being the fourth fiddle in the ACC for hoops, and an afterthought on the gridiron.
But for God’s sake, take a swipe at SOMEBODY.
Because as long as the Big XII (minus two)
remains minus two?
Today is going to happen.
Every damned year. From here to
eternity.
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