Like it or not, there is a well-established narrative that the SEC and Big Ten are objectively better football conferences — from top to bottom — than we see in the Big 12.
Whether that is true or not is probably more a matter of opinion than most pundits would admit, but there is some validity to the top tiers of those leagues being the best in college football — teams like Georgia and Alabama were regulars in the four-team College Football Playoff.
However, in the era of the 12-team playoff, there could be something else that is playing in their favor.
While the Big 12 is required to play a nine-game conference schedule, the SEC plays eight league games and gets to schedule an FCS opponent in the other slot, giving them a guaranteed win and pseudo-bye week in the middle of November.
If the Big 12 isn’t going to benefit from playing a ninth conference game, which should make their schedule “tougher” than an eight-game SEC schedule, then why should they continue to do it?
Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman addressed this issue this week.
“Other teams can lose in other leagues and that league is really good. We lose in [the Big 12] and this league stinks. I don’t understand that,” Klieman said during his press conference on Monday.
“As a conference, we need to get together and figure some things out,” Klieman said. “Because for a bunch of teams to be (10-2 or 9-3) and us only get one of those teams in the College Football Playoff, then we’ve got to cancel one of these games. I don’t care what people say, we go to eight games in league play. Or we stay with nine but play an FCS team or play a Group of Five team.”
Every team in the Big 12 is required to play nine conference games every year, in addition to at least one game against a Power Four opponent in nonconference play. Hypothetically, this should create a tougher schedule and give teams from the Big 12 an edge when comparing resumes with an SEC school that plays just eight conference games and also gets an FCS team in mid-November.
“I don’t care,” Klieman said. “Say what you want, 10-2 looks better than 9-3. We’re going to visit at this year’s conference meetings, and we have to do things to benefit our league in regards to the 12-team playoff, not to just benefit our league in general.”
If the Big 12 is going to take advantage of the new 12-team format and get multiple teams into the field of 12, they’re probably going to have to make some adjustments to how they’re approaching the schedule — especially if they hope to keep up with the Big Ten and SEC.
“We need to be able to get two or three teams in the Big 12 into the playoff,” Klieman said. “The carnage that you’re seeing is going to allow for one team, most likely. I wish we would get two, but it’s probably going to allow for one. We can control that. I really believe that. We just have got to get everybody on the same page.”
