Bob Bowlsby: Big 12 will probably move toward championship game
After hearing from College Football Playoff committee chair on the value of a 13th game, Big 12 commissioner makes his strongest statement yet about adding title game.
By
Jon Solomon
•
3 min read
IRVING, Texas -- Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby entered the College Football Playoff meetings this week seeking definitive answers on how much a 13th game helped Ohio State get picked over Baylor and TCU. Bowlsby ended Wednesday with as close of a statement as he has ever made that the Big 12 will add a conference championship game.
Bowlsby wouldn’t definitively say the Big 12 will add a championship game in 2016 if a new NCAA rule allows 10-team members to do so. But given the knowledge he has now, Bowlsby said, “I surmise we would probably move in that direction.”
Bowlsby said he was told this week by CFP Selection Committee chairman Jeff Long that 13 data points are better than 12. Ohio State blew out Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game on the final week last season while Baylor and TCU won their final regular-season games in round-robin play.
“What we heard is if we don’t go to a championship game we’re at a disadvantage,” Bowlsby said. “All things being equal, 13 games are better than 12 games. That’s what we heard. So that gives us clear enough direction that we’re coming in at least at a modest disadvantage. We need to do whatever we can to mitigate that.”
This was a significant statement by Bowlsby. He had previously said that even if the Big 12 got the option from the NCAA to add a conference championship game, it wouldn’t necessarily move toward a title game. But Bowlsby signaled Wednesday that he heard enough to suggest a title game is coming for the only major conference without one. The topic will surely be discussed at next week's Big 12 spring meetings in Phoenix.
The Big 12 played a conference championship game from 1996 to 2010 and was hurt in the BCS era more than any conference by having a national contender lose that game. The conference championship game ended when the Big 12 contracted to 10 teams.
Current NCAA rules require a conference to have 12 teams in two-team divisions to stage a championship game, but the Big 12 and ACC want to change the rules. The other option for the Big 12 would be to expand to 12 teams to stage a conference championship game.
CFP executive director Bill Hancock said there is "absolutely no movement" to require a conference championship game be played. But as Long has previously said, the 13th game mattered for Ohio State.
“The 13th game against a quality opponent helped Ohio State,” Hancock said. “The other matter at play here is everybody in that room, particularly Bob, understands the rewards and the risks of a conference championship game.”
There is no given that adding a conference championship game is the best move for the Big 12. If Florida State had lost the ACC Championship Game and/or Ohio State fell in the Big Ten Championship Game, the Big 12 would have put one or two teams into the playoff.
“I just think you could make an equally compelling argument that there are years it helps them (not playing a 13th game),” Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said. “You just have to let it play out over time. One year’s data is nothing.”
Notre Dame is also in a position of being without a conference championship game. Speaking prior to Bowlsby's comments, Swarbrick didn't sound interested in jumping at ways to create a 13th game for Notre Dame.
"You wouldn’t believe the number of letters I get from fans with proposals on how to get a 13th game. It's crazy," Swarbrick said. "All of them have one common feature about them: There's not a chance in hell the other school or conference would be willing to do it. It benefits Notre Dame, but it wouldn’t help anybody else. Honest to goodness, I get the most creative letters on this topic, it’s crazy."
Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany offered a reminder that for as much as the conference championship game helped Ohio State in 2014, it hurt the Buckeyes in 2013. Ohio State was knocked out of the BCS Championship Game two seasons ago after losing to Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship Game.
"Bob's group has handled it well," Delany said. "They've got some decisions that they'll have to make about the 13th game. We had decisions for many years. We had 11 members and didn't have a champ game. For the Big 12, they had games going back in history when that championship game hurt them and it really helped the SEC. ... It cuts both ways. You're always going to have clusters of teams that could make an argument."
