The Oklahoma Sooners are your 2015 Big 12 Champions, presumably. The Big 12 currently does not hold a conference championship matchup, and with that being the case, the team with the best in conference record is technically the “champion”. Of course, the question everyone wants to know is, does them not having this final game deter their teams’ chances at the College Football Playoff? The system is still very young, but in a way it does.
The championship game in any conference is the pinnacle point of the college football season. This game ultimately decides who deserves to represent the respective conference in a higher level of competition. There’s a point to the game, and that’s why every other conference in the Power Five holds this game. That is, except for the Big 12, who could’ve used this game last year, and this season as well. Don’t believe me, allow me to explain.
Last season all the talk heading into the first College Football Playoff seemed to be centered on two teams, Baylor and TCU. Who should be in? Baylor’s case had supposedly been made when they beat TCU 61-58, on a last second field goal, after a long, hard fought, shootout. However, even though the Bears’ had beaten TCU in their head-to-head matchup, many still believed TCU was the better overall team. So without one final game to end the debate, the committee was left with a platter of games to judge each team with. We all know what happened next, Baylor finished 5th and TCU 6th, and the Big 12 was left out of the playoff. What if there was a championship game to decide? One of them might have been in, having that extra feather of a win on their schedule.
We’ll never know, but with this being the conclusion of the 2014 season, hopes were high heading into 2015 for the Big 12. Yes, an announcement was made by Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby that the Big 12 would move towards adding a championship game. This never happened because the membership as a whole eventually turned this idea down. So the 2015 season unfolded without a championship, and here’s how it turned out.
2015 Big 12 Standings
| TEAM | CONF | OVR |
| Oklahoma | 8-1 | 11-1 |
| Oklahoma State | 7-2 | 10-2 |
| TCU | 7-2 | 10-2 |
| Baylor | 6-2 | 9-2 |
| West Virginia | 4-4 | 7-4 |
| Texas Tech | 4-5 | 7-5 |
| Texas | 3-5 | 4-7 |
| Kansas State | 2-6 | 5-6 |
| Iowa State | 2-7 | 3-9 |
| Kansas | 0-9 | 0-12 |
As you can see, Oklahoma finished on top, and only judging by the regular season, the best team in the Big 12.
Essentially, the Sooners are in the playoff without debate, no matter what happens this weekend in the other conference championship games. Now the question becomes, is this fair?
No, because every other team will have to solidify their spot in the playoff this weekend. For instance, Clemson, if put in the Big 12, would have won the conference outright with the best record. However they are in the ACC, and have to play North Carolina, who has a chance to beat the Tigers. If this happens, the Tar Heels will have just thrown themselves into the playoff conversation. If Oklahoma had to play in a championship game, let’s say against TCU, and lose, it shows the committee another team may need to be in instead. That, however, is not the case. Quite frankly, this is a joke and should be changed immediately. If you’re good enough to be crowned conference champion, prove it, in a championship setting.
