Ten summers ago, Nebraska and Colorado left the Big 12 conference. A year later, Missouri and Texas A-M fled.
The convention is shattered. In the beginning, the 12 grand had the same prestige plan as the SoutheastErn Conference. But ten years ago, the Big 12’s long-term threatened and its prestige had collapsed.
Fast forward until last week, when the presidents of the big 12 met the fate of school football in their hands. The Big Ten and Pac-12 had left the fall season. The SEC and the CCA had stated their goal of moving forward. The Big 12 was the swing league. If the Big 12 had packed the puddles, some say all school football has gone to the coronavirus.
It’s a complicated concept to consider. I think the SEC would locate a way to play in the nuclear winter. But the most productive minds in school football than mine have had the season among the 12 big hands.
If three of the Power Five meetings had set sail for spring football, the SEC and CCA could have agreed. Both for appearances and for everything. The Pac-12 and Big Ten are the great eyebrows of primary meetings; If they had been joined through a league outside their circle, the pressure on the SEC and the CCA would have been powerful.
The big 12 voted to leave to play. It doesn’t stick. The virus may spread to campuses where even Alabama won’t notice. Crimson Tide’s sporting director Greg Byrne tweeted a photo of Bama’s academics collecting in mass, without a mask, last weekend.
“Who needs school sports this fall?” He wrote. “Obviously those people don’t!! We want to do more than that for others and for our university community…
But Alabama and the SEC have a chance in a season, because the big 12 said, come on.
What a transformation. A dead league has not only stabilized, but has surpassed pac-12 and CCA in terms of gains and status of convention, achieving a position of influence. Clemson has the only partner from Alabama and carries the entire ACC, but the Roar of the Tigers is offset by a variety of schools that have a limited interest in football.
Power Five meetings showed some solidarity at the start of the pandemic, but much later. However, it would be difficult for them to only play one or two leagues while other sports and college titles have said no.
“Whenever someone at any time makes a decision that he’s not going to play or do something different, it affects us,” said Bob Bowlsby, Commissioner of Big 12. “I don’t know if we should be the only school football convention to play.”
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said the same thing when asked to play only as a Power Five league.
“I don’t think that’s the right direction, really, ” said Sankey. “Could we? Certainly. (But) there’s a difference between you can do anything and do anything in life.”
The SEC is the undisputed king of school football. The reinstallation of the Big 12 in the extensive care unit was facilitated through its arrangement with the convention that robbed Mizzou and A-M. The Big 12 and SEC teamed up at the Sugar Bowl in 2012. It’s a status signal. The big 12 hanging out with the cool kids.
The growing importance of the big 12 has been hampered by a lack of good luck in the school football playoffs. The league qualified for four of the six playoffs, all through the Sooners, but Oklahoma lost all four trips to the semi-finals. That has to replace the Big 12 to make it bigger.
But the convention that has almost burned itself is standing. To the point that he could only have stored the school football season.