College Football’s Selection Sunday came and went with nine Big 12 teams hearing their bowl games announced. Of course, Arizona State is heading to the College Football Playoff as the No. 4 seed after beating Iowa State in the Big 12 Championship Game on Saturday. But there are plenty of other interesting match ups and storylines to watch as we get set for the final push of the college football season.
Here are the five biggest takeaways from the Big 12 football bowl bids.
Arizona State got Hosed
Arizona State should have received the No. 3 seed over Boise State, and it’s not close. The committee supposedly cares about Strength of Schedule, head-to-head, and common opponents.
Well, Arizona State’s strength of schedule is 62. Boise State’s is 82.
There was no head-to-head competition, obviously.
There was a common opponent: Wyoming. And Arizona State beat Wyoming 48-7. Boise State struggled with Wyoming 17-13.
Even if you use the excuse that Arizona State’s game against Wyoming was home and Boise’s was on the road, the problem there is that the Cowboys weren’t any good this season. They went 3-9 on the season and were 2-5 in Mountain West Conference play. There’s no doubt Laramie is a tough place to play, but does it account for a 37-point difference? It shouldn’t.
This was not even a debate, and the committee screwed it up, of course.
An All-Big 12 Alamo Bowl
Due to the contracts between the Pac-12 and Big 12, this year’s Alamo Bowl game will feature two current Big 12 teams, but one team that was in the Pac-12 last season. It’s Colorado vs. BYU in the Alamo Bowl.
It probably will do very well in the ratings, as every Colorado game has this season. But for us diehard Big 12 fans, it’s a great game because it features two teams that tied for first place in the Big 12, but missed out on the Championship Game due to tiebreakers.
And these two teams didn’t play each other in the regular season. Arizona State had played BYU and Colorado, and then Iowa State in the Title Game. BYU played only Arizona State. Colorado didn’t play any of the other three teams they tied atop the Big 12. So this will be one of the better tests of this Colorado team.
And Deion Sanders has already confirmed his stars will play. So this will be fun.
Related: College Football Playoff 2024: First Round Odds and Over/Unders
Another Trip to Orlando for Iowa State
Cyclones fans might need to consider condo purchases in Orlando. Iowa State is heading to the Pop-Tarts Bowl for the third time in the last six seasons. They’ll take on Cam Ward and the Miami Hurricanes.
Now Iowa State needs to go win one. In 2019, they lost to Notre Dame 33-9 and then in 2021, they lost to Clemson 20-13.
The reason Iowa State keeps ending up in Orlando is because they’re consistently winning, but they’re not winning the Big 12, so they aren’t getting one of the top bowl spots. But they’re also a desirable team for a bowl to pick up given the way the fan base travels. I do wonder if some fans might skip this year. But then again, leaving Iowa in late December for sunny Florida sounds like a great time. So why not?
Texas A&M Runs Scared From the Big 12
We sat around waiting to see who the opponent was going to be of Baylor in the Texas Bowl, and Texas Tech in the Liberty Bowl. Both opponents require an SEC opponent. And the SEC took forever to figure out which team was going to be in these two games.
Texas A&M made a ton of sense to put in the Texas Bowl against Baylor. Alas, the Bears drew LSU. The SEC has a direct impact in these bowl games, and A&M always seems to conveniently avoid a Big 12 Texas team. And props to SicEm365’s Sam Bradshaw for highlighting just how obvious this has been in recent years.
Poor TCU
Somehow TCU ended up having to go to Albuquerque, New Mexico to play in the New Mexico Bowl against Group of 5 Louisiana.
Who did TCU piss off to have to end up in this bowl game? What a dud.
TCU was hoping for the Texas Bowl or Liberty Bowl. Texas Instead, Tech earned the bid to Memphis while Baylor was selected for the Texas Bowl. Elsewhere in the Big 12, Kansas State was selected for the Rate Bowl in Phoenix against Rutgers.
It’s believed that the logjam of 8-4 Big 12 teams resulted in TCU getting squeezed, but some fans are questioning whether former athletics director Jeremiah Donati turned down a potential invite to the Liberty Bowl. TCU has denied this.
Regardless, unless you’re a diehard Breaking Bad fan, this isn’t exactly an ideal trip for TCU fans.
