Big 12 Keeps Championship Game

Conventional thinking says the Big 12 is faced with three options come time for Nebraska and Colorado to jump ship.

One: They could add two replacement schools, say, TCU and BYU, and keep the two-division, championship game format.

Two: They could expand to a nine-game round-robin schedule and have everyone play everyone in a single division, like the Pac-10 does now.

Three: They will keep the eight-game schedule and cycle a few games while teams keep a few key rivals annually.

While the NCAA will not allow teams to play a 13th game unless a conference of at least 12 teams is playing a championship game (or the team has played in Hawaii), there still is a way the Big 12 can match its top two teams in an early December slug fest.

Championship Saturday

Because the NCAA will not allow the Big 12 Championship to be a 13th game, it will be each team's 12th game.

In fact, all Big 12 teams will play 11 games before December and a 12th game on Championship Saturday.

Before this game, during the "regular season," teams will play four OOC matchups, the four teams in their division, and three out of the five teams in the other division.

Therefore, each team has at least two options (the two teams from the other division that they hadn't played) for who they will meet in December. Big 12 officials, coaches, and/or ADs will come to a consensus on which option will be acted out.

The venues for these games will be known years in advance. The two divisions will alternate hosting the regular season finales. In this manner, host schools will be able to package these tickets with season tickets.

Divisions? 

There will be two divisions of five and both divisions will play round-robins within themselves.

I tested a wide range of divisions where teams would rotate or switch among them to preserve certain rivalries and scheduling balances. Ultimately, the best decision is two permanent divisions.

North Division 

Missouri
Kansas
Kansas State
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State

South Division 

Texas
Texas A&M
Texas Tech
Baylor
Iowa State

Iowa State looks out of place in the South Division. I wanted to move Oklahoma to the North for competitive balance and to keep Texas and OK State in the South, but that would have put a huge scheduling strain on the Sooners' two biggest rivalries.

Kansas has strong rivalries with both Missouri and Kansas State, so the odd school out was Iowa State. Five team divisions, however, do not have the same travel implications as they do in 12-team leagues. Iowa State will still play every North team four times every five years.

The Texas-Oklahoma Red River Rivalry will be the only permanent cross-division rivalry in the conference. The conference can't suffer the deathof this game, and with two intimate divisions there is no need to guarantee any other schools a permanent cross-division rivalry.

Championship Rematches? 

Because teams play three of the five teams in the other division, there is a chance that the top teams from each division have already played against each other.

In such a case, conference leaders may elect to stage a rematch. All other Big 12 Finale matchups would then fall into place without more rematches.

However, it is important to note that while certain matchups will be obvious (ie. 7-0 Oklahoma vs. 7-0 Texas A&M), it is within the conference leaders' power to not declare one of the five Big 12 Finales a Championship. The champion would, of course, then be determined by the more traditional manner of conference record following these Finale matchups.

Such a decision may be made to preserve a team's National Championship chances or to prevent a team from being knocked out of a BCS at-large spot. The Big 12 may also determine that a certain set of Finale matchups would generate much more television or bowl revenue.

Example: 

11-0 (7-0) Oklahoma

8-3 (6-1) Texas

9-2 (6-1) Texas Tech

At the end of the regular season, these could be the top three teams in the conference. Texas has obviously lost their Red River Rivalry Game. Thus, Texas has also beaten Texas Tech and given them their only conference loss.

Conference leaders now have the choice of re-matching the two division winners: Oklahoma and Texas OR matching Oklahoma and divsion runner-up Texas Tech for the conference championship. It is a tough decision but an extra BCS spot and a National Championship appearance are on the line.

Future Scheduling

While teams will know that they will play four home and four away games every year, scheduling out of division opponents will probably not be done more than one or two years in advance.

While it is possible for two teams to consistently play each other in the Finale, even though they are left off the schedule at the beginning of every year; over the long-run, teams will play their extra division foes four out of every five years.

Conclusions 

Faced with the options of adding two teams or adding a conference game, this is how the Big 12 can best organize its schedule.

A schedule where teams pick their permanent rivals and cycle through the remaining teams leaves many opportunities for conference ties that head-to-head can't break. Introducing the flexibility to declare a game the conference's championship game helps remove the ambiguity.

While a championship game can garner loads of media attention, even if it is at one of the college's campuses, the underlining flexibility of this model allows the conference the means to pursue many goals. More bowl games, more television revenue, a BCS at-large spot, even the National Championship Game.

A flexible finale will feed power into the Big 12.

Addendum: Rules Governing Championship Matchups

There will always be five Finale matchups in December. One of these matchups may be declared the (winner-take-all) Big 12 Championship if the following three things fall into place:

One: The two teams are in opposite divisions (to preserve home game dates)

Two: The two teams are within a game of each other in the conference standings

Three: No team has a worse conference record than any third team

In some years, one of the choices will be a rematch of a regular season meeting. If chosen as the Conference Championship Game, the remining eight teams will be left with one option for thir Big 12 Finale. There will never be any rematches outside the Championship Game.

In some years, there will be no options for a Big 12 Championship game. In such a case, Big 12 leaders will choose one of two possible sets of Finale matchups (based on the two opponents teams have not yet played), and the championship will be determined in the traditional manner.

If a rematch is the only option for a Conference Championship Game, Big 12 leaders reserve the right to continue with a traditional finish instead of a rematch. This may be done, for example, to avoid a team playing twice in an opponents stadium in one year.