81 Days Until Kansas Football: The Argument Against Big 12 Divisions
Yesterday on the countdown, we talked about the news that all 4 new Big 12 members will be joining the conference for the 2023 season. So this week we will be looking at what life will be like in the new Big 12. Kyle will get started this week on a series that will look at each of the members joining the conference, to help you get better acquainted with our new conference-mates.
But today we are looking at the future conference schedule. The last time the Big 12 Conference had 12 members, they had a North and South division. Kansas benefitted greatly in 2007 from getting to play a schedule full of mostly down teams. And early indications are that multiple schools want to move back to a divisional format.
But despite that, the Big 12 should NOT go to divisions next season. Here are three main reasons why:
Other Conferences
The first reason is the move away from divisions for the other Power 5 conferences. The PAC12 has already removed their divisions. The SEC hasn't announced an official scheduling model, but they are not expected to retain divisions. The Big Ten is actively exploring scheduling changes, and the ACC is expected to eliminate their divisions as well.
With the NCAA changing their rules to no longer require conferences of 12 or more members to split into divisions in order to hold a conference title game, it seems that everyone is moving away from divisions. Thus, it seems that the Big 12 would be moving backwards by reintroducing them to their conference at the first opportunity.
Conference Championship Participants
One of the biggest issues with the divisional format is easy to predict. Since college football programs go through lulls and highs, it's only natural that there will be times where one division is significantly better than the other. The easiest example is the Big 12 North for quite a long time. But we've also seen plenty of examples in the other conferences. I can't count the number of times I've heard about Auburn/Alabama or Ohio State/Michigan being a de facto conference championship game.
With divisions come artificial champions. A team that outplays a weak division doesn't necessarily deserve to make it to the championship game. Putting the two best teams into the conference championship game has been one of the biggest selling points for the Big 12 since the game returned. And it would be a shame to lose that now.
Maintaining Rivalries
As conference realignment has changed the landscape of college athletics, one of the biggest complaints has been the loss of many traditional rivalries. As conferences have gotten bigger, it has been harder to maintain many of the traditional "lesser" rivalries. With 12 conference members and a 9-game conference schedule, it isn't too bad. You play 5 division games and 4 cross-division games. You don't play everyone every year, but you can play them 2 out of every 3 years.
But that only works if you don't protect any cross-division games. Protect even one game and that means you play the others less. And with some rumors about potential further expansion by the Big 12 in 2025 floating around, it gets even harder to play everybody on a semi-reasonable frequency. It's gotten so bad in other conferences that some schools have taken to scheduling non-conference games against their in-conference regional rivals. North Carolina and Wake Forest did it in 2019 and 2021, just so they would be able to play each other.
No Clear Way To Split
One of the biggest reasons to NOT split into divisions is the lack of a clear way to split the teams in the conference. If you try to go North/South, then you have BYU and West Virginia in a division, which is a LONG way to travel annually. If you go East/West, then it gets difficult to figure out who goes in each direction, especially the Texas schools. Theoretically, that could even put Kansas and Kansas State in opposite divisions if you just go by geography.
And if you try to find some other creative way to divide them into divisions, there just isn't anything that makes sense. You wouldn't want to put all the Texas schools in the same division, because everyone else in the conference would want to have multiple opportunities to play in the state. And we definitely don't want a repeat of the Leaders & Legends scenario that was a nightmare for the Big Ten a while back.
No matter how you look at it, divisions just don't seem like a good idea for the conference. Hopefully the conference leaders (especially the new commissioner once he is hired) will agree.
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