What to Expect from the Big 12 on Monday and When to Expect It
STILLWATER -- Let's get the when out of the way right off the bat. The Big 12 Board of Directors have met on every other Monday with Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Now they have met at other times too and sometimes more often, but that has been a standard arrangement throughout and my understanding is that is when they will meet on Aug. 3 to make the decision on the schedule and format for Big 12 football this fall.
The Big 12 was scheduled to have it's virtual football media day on Monday and cancelled. That was a wise move because the most important most often asked question of the day would have been unanswerable until after the meeting Monday night with the Big 12 board.
I would think that meeting would take a long time, but maybe not. The Board of Directors is made up of the top officer at each Big 12 school.
| University | President or Chancellor |
|---|---|
Baylor | Dr. Linda Livingstone |
Iowa State | Dr. Wendy Wintersteen |
Kansas | Douglas A. Girod MD |
Kansas State | Ret. General Richard Myers |
Oklahoma | Joseph Harroz, Jr. |
Oklahoma State | V. Burns Hargis |
Texas | Dr. Jay Hartzell |
TCU | Dr. Victor J. Boschini, Jr. |
Texas Tech | Dr. Lawrence Schovanec |
West Virginia | Dr. E. Gordon Gee |
A big part of the lifting on this issue has already been done by the leads taken by the Big Ten, Pac-12, ACC, and SEC. The other four power five conferences have set their parameters for football this fall. The Big 12 doesn't have to follow, but they at least have viewed the examples thus far. Within the conference, the athletic directors and head football coaches have put together, discussed, and show their preference for certain models.
This much we know, every school in the league has 11 games on their schedule right now and one, Iowa State, actually still has all 12 games set. The models we know of include:
| Model | Particulars |
|---|---|
#1 | Play all 12 games of the season as scheduled |
#2 | Play 11 games, two non conference and the nine conference games with a suggested start of Sept. 5 or 12 |
#3 | Play 10 games total, one non conference and the nine conference games with a suggested start of Sept. 12 or 19 |
#4 | Play the nine Big 12 Conference games with the start no earlier than Sept. 19 |
#5 | We plug this in as a wildcard |
In the case of all models, the Big 12 Championship Game orginally scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 5 at AT&T Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas could be floated back to Dec. 12 or 19.
We know this from the particulars. Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder and head football coach Mike Gundy have both openly supported playing all 12 games.
"Our (Big 12) intent is football and our focus is on playing 12 games (full regular season)," Holder said after a meeting of the Big 12 athletic directors earlier this month. "Until we're told by the health experts out there and forced to do something different, our focus is on playing 12, getting ready to play 12. That's our goal and I have my fingers crossed that we won't have to fall off on that commitment."
Gundy has not been quoted and has not been in front of the media in almost four months, but conversations we have had that were not official show he favors playing 12 games.
This is an issue where Bedlam brothers are on the same side as both University of Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione and head coach Lincoln Riley favor 12 games, Riley already has his team in fall camp with three practices in.
"We’ve talked about the idea of having the season start on time, playing 12 games, nine of which are conference games, of course, like we always do, but at the moment everybody is staying optimistic," the Oklahoma athletic director said earlier this summer, while also recognizing that they may have to accept an alternative.
Oklahoma State and Oklahoma on the same side. TCU, Kansas, and West Virginia are other schools where playing 12 has been thrown out in the public. If you are looking for an alternative or opposite viewpoint that might come most openly and emphatically from Texas.
head coach Tom Herman has said he favors the plus one model of 10 games total, but admits his job is not to answer that question but to have his team ready to play with the final answer.
"I get asked that question probably by my wife, my mom, by everybody in my life," Herman said recently at a luncheon put on by The Touchdown Club of Houston. "And the simple fact is, I don’t know. The good thing is there are people that are much, much more educated in all of this than I am that are making these decisions. So right now our marching orders are to prepare as if we kick the ball on September 5, and we’re going to do that to the best of our ability until they tell us to pivot."
We will find out what the Big 12 is telling us about the upcoming football season, but don't look for the news until sometime after the dinner hour on Monday evening.
