Big 12 a football power, everywhere but bowls

KANSAS CITY, Mo. ?

Of the factors that shape football conferences reputation - NFL draft selections, individual awards and success in nonconference games and bowls - the Big 12 excels, right up until that last one.

Its teams collectively own a losing record in bowls in the Big 12's 15-year history, and the league is 2-5 in games that decided the national championship in the BCS era.

Bowl games are fickle things. Some teams are motivated by the opportunity, others not so much. With little on the line in these glorified exhibitions, some look ahead to next season with playing decisions.

Teams have been known to empty the playbook, take risks that wouldn't happen during the regular season.

Players get healthy. Teams lose their coach and staff, which can inspire or deflate. Some teams practice in warmth, others with snow pushed aside or in a bubble. The zebras have been imported from neutral conferences and haven't seen the teams play.

Betting-line upsets have defined the handful of games played so far, and underdog uprisings are not unusual. Give a team a month to hear how it's not supposed to win a game and that's a powerful force.

These circumstances have worked against the Big 12, which begins its bowl schedule today with Missouri's Independence Bowl meeting with North Carolina.

Some theories for the mediocrity seem plausible. The Big 12 is a pass-first conference, and the month or so layoff disrupts passing-game rhythm and timing. Makes sense.

Also, a week often isn't enough for opponents' scout teams to simulate Big 12 offenses. But give a defensive coordinator a month or more to prepare and the most complicated offenses can be solved. The best example was Oklahoma after the 2008 season. The Sooners scored at least 60 on their final five regular-season opponents. Against Florida in the BCS title game, Oklahoma mustered two touchdowns.

Still, the top scoring and yard producing teams in the Big 12 typically win in the postseason. Since 2000, the team that that led the conference in scoring is 8-3 in bowl games. The total yards leader is 9-2 and even the passing leader is 7-4. Oklahoma State leads this league in scoring and passing, Baylor in total offense.

With Big 12 teams favored in six of eight games, starting with the Tigers today, the prospect for a leaguewide letdown again exists. The league has gone into the postseason with this kind of expectation before and has posted a winning record in bowl games six times.

Let's not overthink this. Yes, bowl games are different, and Big 12 is offensive-minded. But the record is poor primarily for three reasons.

One, Texas A&M has been a horrible bowl team. In its final football game as a Big 12 member, the Aggies will try to break a five-game losing bowl losing streak, and the setup couldn't be more ideal. A&M is playing in nearby Houston, against a Northwestern team with an even longer bowl drought. The Wildcats have lost eight straight, losing them all since winning in its first bowl appearance in 1948.

A&M is a 10-point favorite in its last game before heading to the Southeastern Conference.

And that's the Big 12's second postseason problem: the SEC.

The Big 12 owns a winning or break-even record against the four other BCS automatic qualifier conferences. Against the SEC, it's 9-19.

This year, the only meeting between the conferences comes in the Cotton Bowl, where Kansas State takes on Arkansas, and the Wildcats could have their hands full with a Razorbacks team that lost only to the teams, LSU and Alabama, playing for the national championship.

Finally, that 2-5 record in national championship games is a killer. But the way the SEC gobbles up titles, there's little left for anybody else. The Big 12 is the only other conference with multiple national championships in the BCS era, but the five losses lead the pack.

Financially, the record doesn't matter. Conferences are contracted with bowls, and the payout is the same, win or lose.

And in the Big 12's revolving door of membership - four out, two in after this year and stay tuned - what is conference pride, anyway?

So perhaps that will be the league's final irony. In a year when it lost two more members and was on the brink of extinction for a second time in two years, the Big 12 will become a postseason power, for the first time.

Source: http://www.islandpacket.com/2011/12/25/1907294/big-12-a-football-power-everywhere.html

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