http://www.desmoinesregister.com/st...eding-10-team-league-randy-peterson/86029174/
AMES, Ia. —Don’t think for a moment the Big 12 Conference is on life support, that no one gets along, and that some schools can’t escape quick enough.
Actually, this 10-team league is stable — Texas still has its Longhorn Network, and Oklahoma gets to keep Baker Mayfield.
This Gang of Ten is so sure of themselves that they’re considering something that’s never been done in college football.
By now, you’ve heard of the re-seeding plan that’s been tossed about to determine combatants for the 2017 Big 12 Conference championship football game that’ll probably be played in Jerry World.
I brought up the idea three weeks ago. Last week, Iowa State president Steven Leath acknowledged it’s a possibility. But what’s in it for the university he governs, should the Big 12 adopt the format later this summer?
It’s everything a true college football fan could imagine — from being the only way to logically divide 10 football teams as equally as possible, to keeping intact the true round robin that makes this conference (in a competitive respect) second-to-none.
“It differentiates us as a league,” Leath said during a break at a recent Iowa Board of Regents meeting. “It keeps the league really vibrant, exciting and fresh.
“I think if we do that, other leagues will say, 'Wow, that’d bea really neat idea.'”
That quote made the rounds nationally, but will a conference divided as equally as possible actually happen?
It beats trying to make geographical sense out of a league that’s geographically (and numerically) challenged.
So let’s predict that re-seeding trumps everything else being thrown against the wall, and let’s assume we’re already into 2017. Here’s how it might work.
The process
Separating Big 12 football schools into two fairly equal groups is all about re-seeding prior sets of conference-only standings. For example, let's divide teams by placing odd-numbered seeds (Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9) in a division, leaving the even-numbered seeds (Nos. 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10) as the other set.
If we used the 2015 standings as a guide, league-champion Oklahoma, TCU, West Virginia, Texas and Iowa State would make up one division. No. 2 seed Oklahoma State, Baylor, Texas Tech, Kansas State and Kansas would comprise the other.
Sooners and Horns, the conference’s major powerbrokers, in the same division? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
It’s all about the conference-only standings, remember, which removes any notion that executives would purposely separate schools with the most clout.
And do you really want nonconference games such as Baylor vs. Northwestern State, Kansas-Rhode Island, Kansas State against Missouri State, Oklahoma-Louisiana Monroe, and Oklahoma State against Southeast Louisiana helping to determine who’s in which division?
I think not.
Translated: Big 12 vs. Big 12 is the fairest way to seed teams.
The plan is so unique that it actually makes sense in a conference that doesn’t play by college football’s traditional handbook. Ten teams. Round-robin scheduling. Significant emphasis on third-tier networks such as the Longhorn Network and Cyclones.tv.
This league isn’t the SEC and the Big Ten, and Big 12 administrators know it. Copycatting isn’t in their DNA. Remember, the Big 12 still allows football teams to schedule FCS opponents such as Northern Iowa, if they want.
Whether the Big 12 model is good or bad, I don’t know. Each school is getting $30.4 million from the conference, and that doesn't include third-tier TV money and without a championship game. That doesn’t seem bad to me.
“The storyline way too long has been that the Big 12 is suffering and lagging behind,” Iowa State athletics director Jamie Pollard told me a couple weeks ago. “We aren’t lagging behind; we’re where we need to be. You just have to look at it individually.
“We’re extremely excited about the (financial) distribution and about the collegiality of our schools.”
In other words, as long as Texas can have its network, there’s collegiality. Oklahoma is happy, now that the Big 12 re-voted to allow the Big 12’s best quarterback to finish his career as a Sooner.
And if they end up in the same re-seeded division sometimes? Oh well.
Two-year scheduling blocks
The league can’t re-seed after each season; that arrangement wouldn’t be fair to fans who like seeing their favorite teams and coaches play in their stadium every other fall.
Can you imagine Sooners coach Bob Stoops not coming to Ames at least once during a two-year cycle? And Texas, too. Those are big-ticket games for the athletics department and must-see entertainment for the fans.
More than a pipe dream
The re-seeding is real; it's on the table. It’s on athletic directors’ minds, and for Iowa State, it’s a best-of-both-worlds scenario.
Each team plays in Jack Trice Stadium every other season, and, who knows, maybe the Cyclones will find themselves in a division with Kansas, Kansas State, West Virginia, and Baylor.
But what happened to expansion? Will the Big 12 still include 10 schools in 10 years?
“I would be surprised,” Leath said, insinuating that 10 eventually could become 12 or even 14. “We’re looking into the future. There’s a lot going on. A lot could potentially change when these grants of rights expire in some conferences and things shift and TV contracts shift.
“That’s what we’re trying to figure through right now. It’s kind of a dynamic time.”
Cyclones columnist Randy Peterson has been reporting on ISU during the past five
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/st...prepare-action-filled-big-12-summer/85482282/
AMES, Ia. —Don’t think for a moment the Big 12 Conference is on life support, that no one gets along, and that some schools can’t escape quick enough.
Actually, this 10-team league is stable — Texas still has its Longhorn Network, and Oklahoma gets to keep Baker Mayfield.
This Gang of Ten is so sure of themselves that they’re considering something that’s never been done in college football.
By now, you’ve heard of the re-seeding plan that’s been tossed about to determine combatants for the 2017 Big 12 Conference championship football game that’ll probably be played in Jerry World.
I brought up the idea three weeks ago. Last week, Iowa State president Steven Leath acknowledged it’s a possibility. But what’s in it for the university he governs, should the Big 12 adopt the format later this summer?
It’s everything a true college football fan could imagine — from being the only way to logically divide 10 football teams as equally as possible, to keeping intact the true round robin that makes this conference (in a competitive respect) second-to-none.
“It differentiates us as a league,” Leath said during a break at a recent Iowa Board of Regents meeting. “It keeps the league really vibrant, exciting and fresh.
“I think if we do that, other leagues will say, 'Wow, that’d bea really neat idea.'”
That quote made the rounds nationally, but will a conference divided as equally as possible actually happen?
It beats trying to make geographical sense out of a league that’s geographically (and numerically) challenged.
So let’s predict that re-seeding trumps everything else being thrown against the wall, and let’s assume we’re already into 2017. Here’s how it might work.
The process
Separating Big 12 football schools into two fairly equal groups is all about re-seeding prior sets of conference-only standings. For example, let's divide teams by placing odd-numbered seeds (Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9) in a division, leaving the even-numbered seeds (Nos. 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10) as the other set.
If we used the 2015 standings as a guide, league-champion Oklahoma, TCU, West Virginia, Texas and Iowa State would make up one division. No. 2 seed Oklahoma State, Baylor, Texas Tech, Kansas State and Kansas would comprise the other.
Sooners and Horns, the conference’s major powerbrokers, in the same division? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
It’s all about the conference-only standings, remember, which removes any notion that executives would purposely separate schools with the most clout.
And do you really want nonconference games such as Baylor vs. Northwestern State, Kansas-Rhode Island, Kansas State against Missouri State, Oklahoma-Louisiana Monroe, and Oklahoma State against Southeast Louisiana helping to determine who’s in which division?
I think not.
Translated: Big 12 vs. Big 12 is the fairest way to seed teams.
The plan is so unique that it actually makes sense in a conference that doesn’t play by college football’s traditional handbook. Ten teams. Round-robin scheduling. Significant emphasis on third-tier networks such as the Longhorn Network and Cyclones.tv.
This league isn’t the SEC and the Big Ten, and Big 12 administrators know it. Copycatting isn’t in their DNA. Remember, the Big 12 still allows football teams to schedule FCS opponents such as Northern Iowa, if they want.
Whether the Big 12 model is good or bad, I don’t know. Each school is getting $30.4 million from the conference, and that doesn't include third-tier TV money and without a championship game. That doesn’t seem bad to me.
“The storyline way too long has been that the Big 12 is suffering and lagging behind,” Iowa State athletics director Jamie Pollard told me a couple weeks ago. “We aren’t lagging behind; we’re where we need to be. You just have to look at it individually.
“We’re extremely excited about the (financial) distribution and about the collegiality of our schools.”
In other words, as long as Texas can have its network, there’s collegiality. Oklahoma is happy, now that the Big 12 re-voted to allow the Big 12’s best quarterback to finish his career as a Sooner.
And if they end up in the same re-seeded division sometimes? Oh well.
Two-year scheduling blocks
The league can’t re-seed after each season; that arrangement wouldn’t be fair to fans who like seeing their favorite teams and coaches play in their stadium every other fall.
Can you imagine Sooners coach Bob Stoops not coming to Ames at least once during a two-year cycle? And Texas, too. Those are big-ticket games for the athletics department and must-see entertainment for the fans.
More than a pipe dream
The re-seeding is real; it's on the table. It’s on athletic directors’ minds, and for Iowa State, it’s a best-of-both-worlds scenario.
Each team plays in Jack Trice Stadium every other season, and, who knows, maybe the Cyclones will find themselves in a division with Kansas, Kansas State, West Virginia, and Baylor.
But what happened to expansion? Will the Big 12 still include 10 schools in 10 years?
“I would be surprised,” Leath said, insinuating that 10 eventually could become 12 or even 14. “We’re looking into the future. There’s a lot going on. A lot could potentially change when these grants of rights expire in some conferences and things shift and TV contracts shift.
“That’s what we’re trying to figure through right now. It’s kind of a dynamic time.”
Cyclones columnist Randy Peterson has been reporting on ISU during the past five
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/st...prepare-action-filled-big-12-summer/85482282/
