Big 12 schedule backloaded — but not intentionally

It has made for an interesting story, the idea that the Big 12 intentionally backloaded this season’s schedule to feature games of its best teams in November. And it has cranked up a fascinating debate about whether the move would help or hurt the league’s chances of sending a team to the College Football Playoff. There’s only one problem. “There was no backloading,” Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby told USA TODAY Sports in a text message.

Bowlsby was only reiterating what he’d said several times, including last Thursday while talking with reporters during halftime of the Baylor- Kansas State game. His point:

The schedule is, in fact, backloaded — but it was not intentional and certainly not a reaction to getting left out of the playoff.

The Big 12’ s 2015 conference schedule was delivered to member schools during the 2014 season, well before Baylor and TCU finished tied atop the league’s standings and ranked Nos. 5 and 6 in the final playoff top 25, just outside the four- team bracket.

The schedule was officially released Nov. 19. That means working drafts of the 2015 schedule had been under consideration well before the 2014 season even began; drafts were circulated to schools in September and October. And it means the schedule was largely developed before anyone knew TCU, for example, would develop into a power. Baylor was clearly on the rise; the Bears had won the Big 12 in 2013. But the Horned Frogs were coming off seasons of 7- 6 in 2012 and 4- 8 in 2013, their first two years in the Big 12, before catching fire last season to go 12- 1.

Beyond that, when the 2015 schedule was developed and released, Oklahoma State appeared to be headed toward a losing season. The Cowboys didn’t become bowl- eligible until beating Oklahoma in the final regular- season game.

Two games were intentionally scheduled late for TV purposes: Baylor- TCU ( Nov. 27) and the Bedlam Series clash between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State ( Nov. 28).

But Bedlam has been set late on the schedule since the Big 12 went to 10 teams. And Baylor and TCU playing late isn’t unprecedented. The Big 12 schedule in 2015 resembles the conference schedule in 2013, when Baylor and TCU played Nov. 30 — before TCU was playing at a high level.

The other November games between the Big 12’ s contenders — TCU at Oklahoma State, Baylor at Oklahoma State, Oklahoma at Baylor, TCU at Oklahoma — were a function of the schedule.

Like Bowlsby, several athletics directors scoffed at the idea the league had reacted to getting left out of the playoff.

“The ‘ intentionally backloaded’ theory as some sort of specific strategy to respond to last year’s final CFP ranking is total folly,” Oklahoma athletics director Joe Castiglione told USA TODAY Sports in a text message. “We all play each other every year regardless. Some of those matchups toward the end of the year are scheduled for reasons of late- season buildup ( e. g. Bedlam) or are naturally going to happen, but not all of them.

“We’re not obtuse. Before this season started we obviously noted how it could possibly evolve, but this season was approved well before the end of the 2014 season.”

The Big 12’ s November slate might provide the perfect springboard into the Playoff for the Big 12’ s champion, which would have beaten three top- 15 teams in the final month of the season. It’s just as possible that it would backfire — that, despite the selection committee’s charge to evaluate a team’s entire body of work, a loss taken in November might loom larger than one that occurred in, say, September.

So while there’s debate over the impact of a backloaded schedule — it’s either a high- profile résumé- booster or a brutal gantlet that will kill the league’s chances — it wasn’t an intentional attempt to create a psychological advantage.