Big 12 must win title to stay among elite
ARLINGTON, Texas – When the question came, as you knew it would, Les Miles answered as only he can. Had he seen how Novak Djokovic celebrated his Wimbledon victory on Sunday, plucking a couple of sprigs of grass from the hallowed court, popping them into his mouth and chewing happily? Kansas’ new football coach just grinned.
“I recommend those people that enjoy a relationship with green grass to take a nibble now and then,” said Miles, who has been known to do the same. “I don’t think you need a big bite, but take a nibble now and then. If it happens to coincide with a championship, so be it.”
Everyone laughed along with Miles. But there in one moment was the conundrum.
The Big 12 kicked off its annual football media days inside a huge football stadium with a bunch of glitz and some unsubtle messaging about the Five years into the College Football Playoff, the Big 12 is the only Power Five conference not to win a semifinal game.
league’s recent accomplishments, starting with the opening comments from commissioner Bob Bowlsby and reinforced all day long on the giant video board hanging over the playing surface.
And Miles, as you knew he would, supplied a heaping side of zany.
But on his right hand, Miles wore
the national championship ring he won at LSU way back in the 2007 season. And never mind that he’s now coaching at a place where the improbable dream is getting back to a bowl game. At least for now, Kansas is relevant on media day – much less once the season kicks off – solely because of its head coach.
The point is, Miles is the only coach in the Big 12 who has one of those rings. For all the Big 12 has to brag about these days, that’s what’s missing.
“The Big 12 needs to win a national championship,” Texas Tech athletics director Kirby Hocutt said. “That’s our goal. That’s what we want.”
It’s what everybody wants, of course. And maybe, in this time when college football is currently dominated by twin dynasties Clemson and Alabama, it’s a difficult assignment. Also, it’s easy to compare the Big 12 now to the Big 12 not so long ago and recognize how far it has come.
Remember when the Big 12 was supposedly “psychologically disadvantaged” – this from Oklahoma’s president, a very prominent voice – and considered expanding at least in part to feel better about itself? Bob Bowlsby talked Monday not of realignment but of alignment, saying the league’s presidents and chancellors are more unified than he’d seen in his seven-year tenure. The league’s financial position also screams stability: When schools’ third-tier media rights are added to the average of about $40 million distributed by the Big 12, they’re in very good shape when compared to other Power Five conferences.
Oklahoma reached the College Football Playoff for the third time in four years. For the second consecutive year, the Sooners’ quarterback won the Heisman Trophy and was picked No. 1 overall in the NFL draft.
When Bowlsby said in summation, “We have had a tremendous year,” he was including all of the above as well as superlatives in other sports. And if he’s not wrong, he’s also not saying something unique. The message will be echoed in some form or fashion by his peers. Each conference intends its conference media day as a showcase. Hubris is on the menu everywhere this week.
But if it feels like the Big 12 is trying a little too hard, it might be.
Having media days at JerryWorld is fine to kick off the season this week and then finish it in the same location with the Big 12 championship game in December. Likewise, the league should tout its accomplishments. That’s what media days are for.
The Big 12’s nine-game, round-robin schedule is great. Everybody plays everybody. That part is true and that’s before we get to the part about how there’s a guaranteed rematch in the conference championship game between the top two teams in the league standings.
If those two are Oklahoma and Texas, so much the better. Under Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma doesn’t seem likely to slip much anytime soon. Texas is on the way up under Tom Herman. And after an infusion of four new coaches (side note: yeah, we know: Kansas State’s Chris Klieman has FCS national championship rings from North Dakota State), there’s even hope at Kansas that Miles will bring entertainment on the field as well as off.
Put it all together, and the Big 12 is in a much better place than a few years ago.
But Bowlsby also made a point to suggest that reporters should make note of a favorable defensive statistic.
“I want to see pencils moving and fingers tapping on this,” he said, and he went on to tout how in six of the Big 12’s seven bowl games last season (the league went 4-3), opponents were held below their season offensive averages.
“Contrary to popular belief,” Bowlsby said, “there are kids that tackle in the Big 12.”
But Bowlsby’s comments simply led to the inevitable snark from elsewhere about how the Big 12 plays no defense. We’ve all heard it. We’ve all thought it. Texas Tech coach Matt Wells is new to the league. But here was his word association on Big 12 football: “Offense. And no defense.”
He went on, of course: “That ‘lack of defense’ in this league is a misconception. … To defend the combination of quarterbacks, receivers and play-callers every single Saturday in the Big 12 is the challenge that’s as good as any league in the country.”
Wells might be right about that. And it’s easy to understand Oklahoma receiver CeeDee Lamb’s frustration about the “no-defense” rap.
“I’m kind of confused as to why,” Lamb said. “They just think because we put up so many offensive numbers that we don’t play defense. I just don’t get it.”
But while the Big 12 bristles, everyone else snickers. And the answer to what ails the Big 12 is pretty simple.
With Oklahoma’s recent rise, it’s much better to be in the College Football Playoff than not to be. But you need to win it. Or win at least a game once you’re in it.
Five years into the Playoff era, the Big 12 is the only Power Five conference that has not won a semifinal and reached the championship game.
Even with that powerful offense, the Sooners – and stop us if you’ve heard this before – haven’t been able to get enough stops to get into the championship game.
You can tout bowl records forever. Insist there’s defense being played. Talk up the money that is fueling it all and the stability and so much more. The messages can be mostly true – and yet the snickering will continue.
The narrative changes when the Big 12 wins in the Playoff. If it happens to coincide with a national championship, so be it.