Berry Tramel wrote this today. LINK
You would hope that coming off a season in which a dubious non-conference schedule likely cost the Big 12 a spot in the College Football Playoff, the conference would man up a little better. But no.
Typical weak slate, especially for two contenders. Neither Baylor nor Oklahoma State play a major-conference opponent. Baylor is Lone Star State-centric, with games against SMU, Lamar and Rice. OSU is Central-centric, with games against Central Michigan, Central Arkansas and Texas-San Antonio. At least Baylor goes to SMU and OSU goes to Central Michigan.
But those are typical of the Big 12's problems. Out of 30 Big 12 non-conference games this season, only eight are against fellow power-conference schools. That's the same number of Big 12 games against Division I-AA opponents.
Only OU and Texas have no games against lower-division teams. Only Texas has two games against power-conference opponents. No great surprise who ranks 1-2 in the Big 12 for non-conference schedules:
1. Texas: at Notre Dame, Rice, California. Great schedule. Criticize the Longhorns for many things, but they don't run from competition. I don't know that Cal is going to be anything special, but it's always special to play in South Bend.
2. Oklahoma: Akron, at Tennessee, Tulsa. Playing in Neyland Stadium would earn the Sooners a free pass for a I-AA game. But OU didn't use it.
3. Texas Tech: Sam Houston State, Texas-El Paso, at Arkansas. You want to drive yourself batty? Try ranking these next five Big 12 schedules. All have one game against a power conference foes and one game against a I-AA team. None of the power league opponents are heavyweights. So I basically gave extra credit for road games. Playing in Fayetteville is a solid game for the Red Raiders.
4. Kansas: South Dakota State, Memphis, at Rutgers. The Memphis game gives the Jayhawks a boost. Memphis won Conference USA last season.
5. TCU: at Minnesota, Stephen F. Austin, SMU. The Gophers were pretty good last season, giving TCU a boost in its bid to make the Football Four. It would help a bunch if Minnesota could be even better than its 8-5 record from 2014.
6. West Virginia: Georgia Southern, Liberty, Maryland. Sounds more like some kind of Union Army marching chant than a decent schedule. But Georgia Southern did win the Sun Belt last season, its first year in Division I-A.
7. Iowa State: Northern Iowa, Iowa, at Toledo. For the Cyclones, this isn't a terrible schedule. Toledo's not bad in the Mid-American, and Northern Iowa always plays the Cyclones tough.
8. Oklahoma State: at Central Michigan, Central Arkansas, Texas-San Antonio. Wonder if we could get UTSA to change its name to Central Texas University? Then it would be a clean sweep for the Cowboys.
9. Baylor: at SMU, Lamar, Rice. Where in the name of Texas pride is North Texas on this schedule? Or Texas State? The Bears would add them if the NCAA would approve a 14-game schedule.
10. Kansas State: South Dakota, Texas-San Antonio, Louisiana Tech. Bill Snyder, you know I love you, but this is ridiculous.
You would hope that coming off a season in which a dubious non-conference schedule likely cost the Big 12 a spot in the College Football Playoff, the conference would man up a little better. But no.
Typical weak slate, especially for two contenders. Neither Baylor nor Oklahoma State play a major-conference opponent. Baylor is Lone Star State-centric, with games against SMU, Lamar and Rice. OSU is Central-centric, with games against Central Michigan, Central Arkansas and Texas-San Antonio. At least Baylor goes to SMU and OSU goes to Central Michigan.
But those are typical of the Big 12's problems. Out of 30 Big 12 non-conference games this season, only eight are against fellow power-conference schools. That's the same number of Big 12 games against Division I-AA opponents.
Only OU and Texas have no games against lower-division teams. Only Texas has two games against power-conference opponents. No great surprise who ranks 1-2 in the Big 12 for non-conference schedules:
1. Texas: at Notre Dame, Rice, California. Great schedule. Criticize the Longhorns for many things, but they don't run from competition. I don't know that Cal is going to be anything special, but it's always special to play in South Bend.
2. Oklahoma: Akron, at Tennessee, Tulsa. Playing in Neyland Stadium would earn the Sooners a free pass for a I-AA game. But OU didn't use it.
3. Texas Tech: Sam Houston State, Texas-El Paso, at Arkansas. You want to drive yourself batty? Try ranking these next five Big 12 schedules. All have one game against a power conference foes and one game against a I-AA team. None of the power league opponents are heavyweights. So I basically gave extra credit for road games. Playing in Fayetteville is a solid game for the Red Raiders.
4. Kansas: South Dakota State, Memphis, at Rutgers. The Memphis game gives the Jayhawks a boost. Memphis won Conference USA last season.
5. TCU: at Minnesota, Stephen F. Austin, SMU. The Gophers were pretty good last season, giving TCU a boost in its bid to make the Football Four. It would help a bunch if Minnesota could be even better than its 8-5 record from 2014.
6. West Virginia: Georgia Southern, Liberty, Maryland. Sounds more like some kind of Union Army marching chant than a decent schedule. But Georgia Southern did win the Sun Belt last season, its first year in Division I-A.
7. Iowa State: Northern Iowa, Iowa, at Toledo. For the Cyclones, this isn't a terrible schedule. Toledo's not bad in the Mid-American, and Northern Iowa always plays the Cyclones tough.
8. Oklahoma State: at Central Michigan, Central Arkansas, Texas-San Antonio. Wonder if we could get UTSA to change its name to Central Texas University? Then it would be a clean sweep for the Cowboys.
9. Baylor: at SMU, Lamar, Rice. Where in the name of Texas pride is North Texas on this schedule? Or Texas State? The Bears would add them if the NCAA would approve a 14-game schedule.
10. Kansas State: South Dakota, Texas-San Antonio, Louisiana Tech. Bill Snyder, you know I love you, but this is ridiculous.
