The nation watched as Cracker Barrel got itself caught up in the culture war of the moment over a logo re-brand that was despised by its core base of customers, many in the Heartland of America. To the credit of Cracker Barrel, they admitted they had screwed up, and did an about face on Wednesday when they announced they would be going back to the old, beloved logo.
Here’s a look at the announcement from Cracker Barrel. And now the question becomes, “Will the Big 12 learn from Cracker Barrel?”
Much has been made of the fact that Farmageddon (YES, we will call it that here on Heartland College Sports, despite the alleged wishes of some) is set to not be played in 2027, despite the fact that it has been played every single football season dating back to 1917.
Farmageddon has survived World Wars and multiple pandemics, but can it survive a self-inflicted wound by its handlers? Now, it’s on the Big 12 to learn from Cracker Barrel.
The Big 12 Can Course Correct, Easily
This is not something that really requires a lot of heavy lifting for the Big 12 Conference. The Big 12 needs to just make it so that this becomes a protected rivalry in the conference, just like BYU vs. Utah, Baylor vs. TCU, Arizona vs. Arizona State and Kansas vs. Kansas State.
Ideally, they would follow the SEC with its three protected rivalries for each team, and then rotate the other six conference games each season. It’s very easy to set up, with a Western Pod (Utah, BYU, Arizona and Arizona State), a Northern Pod (Colorado, Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State), Southern Pod (Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma State) and Eastern Pod (Houston, UCF, West Virginia and Cincinanti).
But that doesn’t even need to happen in order to keep Farmageddon going. The fans want it, the conference, which desperately needs to build up any rivalries it has, needs it. There’s absolutely no reason to not continue it.
What About the Farmageddon Moniker?
Right now, everyone is pointing the finger after ESPN’s Rece Davis alluded to the fact that the universities and the league did not want ESPN to call the Iowa State vs. Kansas State game, “Farmageddon”.
Davis said on his podcast, “You know, we got a directive that the powers that be, I guess for the institutions, and perhaps from the conference, they weren’t big fans of that moniker Farmageddon. And I don’t really understand why.”
Davis went on to correctly add, “It’s not meant to be derisive in any way.”
And he’s absolutely right. It’s a badge of honor. These are land grant universities. In fact, they were the first two. Upon passage of the federal land-grant law in 1862, Iowa was the first state legislature to accept its provisions, on September 11, 1862. Iowa designated the State Agricultural College (now Iowa State University) as the land-grant college on March 29, 1864. The first land-grant institution open under the Act was Kansas State University, which was established on February 16, 1863, and opened on September 2, 1863.
Farmageddon is not intended to be insulting towards those in the agriculture community. In fact, it’s the opposite. It’s celebrating it. And only those who have not familiarity with it would feel otherwise, or think it’s an embarrassing nickname. And that’s on them, and part of their own ignorance.
Conclusion
So will the Big 12 Conference and the universities learn their lesson here? Will they: 1) Embrace Farmageddon? And 2) Keep this incredible game and rivalry going in 2027?
We’ll see. If they learned from Cracker Barrel this week, they’ll do the right think, not dig in their heels and move on. And fans around the Big 12 will rejoice. Your move.
