The Big 12 announced that it would be reinstating the Big 12 Championship Game in 2017 and would most likely split into two divisions whether the conference expanded beyond the current 10 teams or not.
The conference said that over the next year the board would listen to ideas and proposals about how to handle splitting into divisions and scheduling -- a full 9-game round robin schedule is still a possibility. One of the more out of the box proposals that has been mentioned is to re-seed and balance the divisions after every season. That proposal intrigues at least one significant member of the Big 12, as Iowa State president Steven Leath says he likes the idea.
"The idea of re-seeding every year is intriguing," Leath told The Des Moines Register on Thursday. "It differentiates us as a league. It keeps the league really vibrant, exciting and fresh. I think if we do that, other leagues will say 'Wow, that's a really neat idea.'"
It certainly would be a unique approach to ensuring that one division doesn't always end up with the bulk of the powerful teams. Teams can change plenty from year-to-year, so it would never be a foolproof plan to create balance, but it could bring some excitement to the league each year.
Re-seeding on an annual basis is as viable a strategy as any for the Big 12, so long as it would give the schedule makers enough time to create the following year's schedule. Geography, which is the most common method used by conferences when splitting up divisions. doesn't work particularly well with the current 10 teams in the conference. To split it into North and South like it was before realignment, the Oklahoma teams might need to be divided into separate divisions.
The Big 12 won't have to make a decision in the immediate future, but will have to at some point figure out what they feel is the best way to split up the 10 teams (or 12 or 14 should they choose to go the expansion route) into divisions in time for the 2017 schedule to be made.
