Big 12 Media Days 2016: Best Quotes and Reaction from Day 1

College football "talking season" continued Monday with the Big 12 Conference getting its turn at the podium. But for commissioner Bob Bowlsby, he might have been better off avoiding microphones altogether.

Bowlsby's opening press conference in Dallas went about as poorly as it could have, with a mix of flip-flopped responses to the Big 12's involvement in the Baylor sexual assault scandal, as well as the process the league will take to determine its championship-game participants when that returns to the schedule next year. The only thing that could have made things worse would have been further uncertainty about whether the Big 12 will or won't expand in the future, but that's not on the docket until Tuesday.

A time meant to promote his league and rave about its positives instead shed unwanted light on its blemishes, and how it's addressing them. While Bowlsby acknowledged on multiple occasions that the Big 12 has no legal standing to do anything about Baylor and its handling of sexual assaults, as detailed in the Pepper Hamilton report, he noted that the league's board of governors is "deeply concerned with the associational elements" of the issue because of how it makes the conference look.

"Certainly there are those among our board … that have felt the image of the Big 12 and the other members of the Big 12 have been sullied as a result of this incident," Bowlsby said, via Fox Sports 2's broadcast of Big 12 Media Days.

He also indicated that no written report from Baylor investigators Pepper Hamilton, beyond what has been released publicly, currently exists. However, Bowlsby made it seem like the conference had more information beyond that.

"We've already gotten more than the public on an oral basis," he said. "They're confidential discussions and I think they'll stay that way."

Bowlsby said the Big 12 board was set to meet with Baylor again on Tuesday, when individual board members will get a chance to ask what he expects will include some "hard questions." He said that's part of a league-wide effort toward "eradicating sexual assault on our campuses," though his way of qualifying the difficulty of doing that wasn't well received.

The path to a championship (game)

Earlier this year the Big 12 announced it would start holding a conference title game in 2017, bringing back a contest that went away in 2011 when conference realignment dropped the league to 10 schools. It will still be at that number next season, which leaves uncertainty as to how the Big 12 will select who plays for the title.

Bowlsby said the league will "probably end up playing divisions" but how those will be chosen is up in the air. Discussions could include using geography or an equity-based system, one where the divisions change every few years based on how teams have performed, with the goal of having that decided—along with when and where the title game would be held—by the "first of November, middle of November, by the end of the football season for sure."

With the Big 12 sticking to its nine-game round robin league schedule it guarantees a rematch in the championship game, and Bowlsby said a challenge will be avoiding having “late-season rematches” such as what the Pac-12 had in 2012 when Stanford and UCLA met in the regular-season finale and then played a week later for the conference title.

"Had we had a championship game last year it would have been Oklahoma against Oklahoma State," Bowlsby said.

TCU coach Gary Patterson, whose team's playoff snub (along with Baylor) in 2014 was part of the impetus to bring back the title game, said whatever route the Big 12 takes needs to be one that gives the league its best chance to earn a playoff bid. In one scenario, that might mean not having a championship at all.

"If you had an undefeated team, I'd say you don't need to have a championship game," Patterson said, via FS2. "If you have two tied teams then I think a championship game would help us. You can't have one that's 11-1 going in the championship game and the other be 7-4 because then in the computer rankings, you're going to hurt yourself."

TCU was picked by the Big 12 media to finish second, behind defending champion Oklahoma.

Taking the high road

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Baylor and TCU's burgeoning rivalry the last few years led to plenty of barbs back and forth between Art Briles and Gary Patterson. With Briles no longer at Baylor, having been fired in the wake of the school's sexual assault scandal, might that mean TCU is going to have the leg up?

Rather than take that route, Patterson praised interim coach Jim Grobe as having "done a great job every place he's ever been" and that he doesn't see much changing at Baylor with a new coach.

Patterson also didn't bite when asked whether Baylor made the right move by firing Briles.

"

"Baylor's not my problem. TCU is my problem." Gary Patterson Media Solutions Group is available for your branding needs.

— Steven Godfrey (@38Godfrey) July 18, 2016"

Breaking down the 'Baker Mayfield' rule

Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield's transfer from Texas Tech in 2014 was at the center of a change in conference rules that previously called for walk-ons who transferred within the Big 12 to lose a year of eligibility. In June the league first voted to uphold that rule but a day later passed a measure that exempted walk-ons who weren't transferring to a school that had extended a scholarship offer.

While Mayfield, who now is eligible to return in 2017, is the poster boy for this rule change, Bowlsby said the conference "took individuals out of the discussion" and tried to look ahead to other players that could be affected by the previous version of the rule.

LM Otero/Associated Press

Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury said his school voted in favor of the change, which passed 7-3. He said he loved having him as a player and how he played with a chip on his shoulder and he enjoys seeing Mayfield succeed most of the time.

"I've cheered him on every game he's played (at Oklahoma) except one," Kingsbury said, via FS2.

About that new hairdo, Coach …

Mike Gundy is heading into his 12th season at Oklahoma State, having won 10 games in 2015 but losing its final three. The Cowboys return a league-high 17 starters, including junior quarterback Mason Rudolph and junior receiver James Washington, and were picked to finish third this season. With five of six at home to start the year they have a chance to build some momentum before tackling a tough second half.

But as much as the media was interested in hearing about what Gundy and his team has in store for the business up front, it wasn't nearly as intriguing as the party he's got going on in the back.

Though Gundy wasn't asked any questions about his 'do on stage Big 12 Media Days, Washington was asked by FS2's Erin Hartigan to weigh in.

"He said he was going to go with the 60s look," Washington said. "I just went, 'alright, dude, you do what you want.' Honestly, I kind of like it. He's kinda rocking it."

Gundy later told Kyle Fredrickson of the Oklahoman that he doesn't consider it a real mullet because it has to be "at least shoulder length and you've got to have some curls in it."

Not surprisingly, it did become a much-discussed topic on the Internet and social media. SB Nation's Jason Kirk went in-depth into Gundy's hairstyle origins, which apparently began during Gundy's OK State playing days in the 1980s.

All recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports, unless otherwise noted. All statistics provided by CFBStats, unless otherwise noted.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.