More proof the Big 12 needs to add us!!

[nolte50uc]

Hopefully this quiets some of the silly people on here talking about the Big 12.

...and the mac

[swilsonsp4]

Until such time that the NCAA decides whether to allow a championship game for a conference with fewer than twelve teams, don't expect Bowlsby to hint that the B12 is wavering in expansion. He would be negotiating against himself. If the other conferences and the NCAA brass get the idea that Bowlsby is flexible on the idea, they would be much more likely to stand firm on the current requirement.

As far as the MAC goes ... No thank you! UC will NEVER rejoin that dead end conglomeration of mediocrity. Occasionally, a Northern Illinois comes along with a competitive team, but those squads are the exception. I can't see myself plunking down hard-earned cash to watch any of the directional Michigan schools, or Akron or Kent State if such show up at refurbished Nippert week after week. What corporations would buy club boxes for that?

The AAC is better in basketball than the MAC, and probably in most minor sports as well. But, even our current station isn't where we desire to be. UC is the second largest university in the state, with a world-class campus and well-developed academic programs.

You get what you aim for, if your target is low. The MAC fits that description, except for Miami's hockey team, a sport that perhaps no AAC school would consider.

[bearcatbret]

^Agree. I would add one thing. I agree with the Big12 at this point. Why have a championship game when they all play each other throughout the season. Why would you force the season champion to play another game and subject them to a possible embarrassing lose.

[CincyBearcat95]

^Agree. I would add one thing. I agree with the Big12 at this point. Why have a championship game when they all play each other throughout the season. Why would you force the season champion to play another game and subject them to a possible embarrassing lose.

Not really - it's a weak argument. If k-state beats Texas, Texas beats Baylor and Baylor beats k-state then they have the same issue.

It's the same argument as saying they r not interested in expanding - until they hear from NCAA. It's posturing.

[bobestes]

I think it is funny that Pres Ono is giving so much love to K State on twitter. Could they be our biggest supporter in the big 12?

[Binturong05]

I think it is funny that Pres Ono is giving so much love to K State on twitter. Could they be our biggest supporter in the big 12?

Biggest supporter? Who knows. However, they are the closest thing to UC's clone in the Big XII from a budgetary and success stand point. I think for the last two years in a row UC and KSU have been #1 and #2 most bang-for-the-buck according to Forbes Magazine whereby the metric most heavily weighted is wins per dollar spent on football.

[bobestes]

I would think that Iowa St, WVU and K State are probably pushing hard for expansion because if the Big 12 breaks up, they are toast. Texas and OU are probably against it.

[bearcattom]

Bowlsby: No expansion for Big 12

ICYMI...I think this puts a bullet in the B12 expansion talk for at least a while..

http://espn.go.com/college-football/...ing-10-schools

[Lobot]

I would think that Iowa St, WVU and K State are probably pushing hard for expansion because if the Big 12 breaks up, they are toast. Texas and OU are probably against it.

Iowa St is most definitely not pushing for expansion. They are quite happy sucking in $20M a year and spending nothing to improve their terrible program. They have no incentive to change their culture as long as they can subsist on the backs of the other schools. They are in the group of schools that doesn't want their TV money diluted by additional teams. Fairly pathetic really.

[RedRocker]

ICYMI...I think this puts a bullet in the B12 expansion talk for at least a while..

http://espn.go.com/college-football/...ing-10-schools

They are not getting their waiver. The PAC12, B1G and SEC will never approve it and surely the G-5 conferences won't go for it.

They can either stay at 10 and push for an 8 team playoff, expand or possibly continue to get shut out of the 4 team playoff. I don't believe a word he says.

[blackattack]

They are not getting their waiver. The PAC12, B1G and SEC will never approve it and surely the G-5 conferences won't go for it.

They can either stay at 10 and push for an 8 team playoff, expand or possibly continue to get shut out of the 4 team playoff. I don't believe a word he says.

Yep, spot on. In a way, Bowlsby is in a tough spot trying to represent a conference that's as dysfunctional as the Big12 is. And now a number of things have happened recently that have the deck stacked against the Big12 even though Bowlsby could never admit it publicly. Consider:
1) The Big12's old marque name programs (Oklahoma & Texas) are down right now and don't have the national relevance they used to.
2) Some high profile P5 coaches (like Mark Dantonio) have made public statements that "a team should have to win their conference championship game to get into the playoffs". I'm guessing he's not the only one that feels that way.
3) The resurgence of the Big10 (O$U, Mich, etc) along with Notre Dame being loaded has got to be a nightmare scenario for the Big12. The possibility of the Big10 having several high profile teams again is problematic for the Big12.
Having said that, i don't look for the Big 12 to do anything rational. Like I said, it's a dysfunctional conference run by a Texas administration that's living in the past.

[Bearcat Otto]

You forgot to mention that if TCU had played and won a Conference Championship game rather than beating a bottom of the conference team like Iowa State, they would have definitely been in the playoffs instead of someone.

[CincyEngGrad02]

You forgot to mention that if TCU had played and won a Conference Championship game rather than beating a bottom of the conference team like Iowa State, they would have definitely been in the playoffs instead of someone.

Link?
......

[Bearcat Otto]

There is no link. TCU was definitely bashed and dropped from third in the polls to sixth after they beat Iowa State 55-3. I contend that if the Big 12 would have had a 13th game and TCU beat a Baylor team or even Kansas State that they would have never dropped out of the top four. If any team got jobbed, it was TCU.

[red_n_black_attack]

4 Super Conferences

They are not getting their waiver. The PAC12, B1G and SEC will never approve it and surely the G-5 conferences won't go for it.

They can either stay at 10 and push for an 8 team playoff, expand or possibly continue to get shut out of the 4 team playoff. I don't believe a word he says.

Glad you added possibly. Had any of the playoff teams lost their conference championship game, the Big 12 gets at least one team into the playoff. Bowlsby has said a few times that expansion is complicated because we're not talking about just adding a football team.

My reasoning for the Big 12 expanding (or the ACC for that matter) is there will ultimately be 4 super conferences with their own NCAA Tourney too! Grant of Rights or not, the battle to be the fourth conference is down to the ACC or the Big 12 as the SEC and B!G are secure. I don't think the PAC-12 will go anywhere either because their teams don't make sense geographically for any of the other four.

If the Big 12 gets to 14 teams, then one of two things will happen:
1. either the ACC will aggressively woo two Big-12 teams or
2. the ACC will vote to dissolve, thus ending the GOR and freeing top
teams to pursue SEC, B!G or Big 12 membership.

Once one of these scenarios play out, the PAC-12 will go after Texas and OU, and probably Boise St and BYU or Boise, BYU, SDSU, and Hawaii (for the fun trips to paradise if no other reason)