Big 12 Football Won’t Survive Without Conference Championship Game

The Big 12 Championship game was a classic for so long, and now it’s gone. Just like cigarette ads in magazines, compact disc drives and minutes of America Online, the game has become a relic of recent memory.

The great exodus of 2012 left the Big-12 with just 10 teams, and two of those teams had to be wooed-in just before the revolving doors of the Power-5 finally locked in place.

TCU Horned Frogs head coach Gary Patterson seems to be glad conference championship games are gone, but this could just be posturing in defense of the Big 12. Patterson is likely taking a high-road approach to contrast the redundant complaining of Baylor Bears head coach Art Briles. Patterson conducted himself with class after learning TCU would not be chosen for the playoff, and the Horned Frogs refocused and obliterated the Ole Miss Rebels 42-3 in the Peach Bowl three weeks later. Briles, on the other hand, could seemingly do nothing but unleash his outrage, and Baylor would fall to the Michigan State Spartans in nearby Dallas, cementing the committee’s case against the Bears.

TCU showed they were 2014’s truest snub from the inaugural college football playoff, yet ironically enough, it was a conference championship game that likely confirmed a playoff berth for the last team in the Ohio State Buckeyes. It’s as if Patterson and co. would like the committee to evaluate based on limited information, but unfortunately for the Big 12, a good panel is going to side with the wealth of information when making a decision so very informed.

Until college football expands their playoff, it’s five spots going to four teams. How could you possibly ask the committee to make an exception when every other Power-5 conference provides a championship game? If you’re in the Big-12, you absolutely have to run the table; there are no exceptions, unless you’re willing to adapt. And instead of fighting the strong current of change, it’s time to swim with it.

It’s time to grab two more teams, recreate the North and South divisions, and figure out your true champion. Otherwise, it’s another year of throwing stones and another year of the committee giving credence to the bigger case file. In this current scenario, the Big 12 will lose four times out of five.

Jerry Landry is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow Jerry on Twitter at @Jerry2Landry, “Like” him on Facebook or add him on Google.