Big 12 set to go with 10-game schedule
The Big 12 will play 10 football games during the coming season should teams be able to compete amid the ongoing corona virus pandemic, a person with direct knowledge of the decision told USA TODAY Sports Monday evening.
The person requested anonymity because the official announcement had not been made.
With the Big 12 now complete, every conference in the Power Five has agreed to schedules that lean heavily toward conference games, with all but two eliminating non-conference play altogether.
The Big 1 2 will play nine conference contests and joins the ACC in adding one non-conference game. While the A CC is restricting its non-conference games to instate schools, the Big 12 says its schools must play their
non-conference games at home.
In making this decision, the league can allow games to be played as early as Aug 29. Two teams, Oklahoma and Kansas, have games currently scheduled against Championship Subdivision opponents on the year's opening weekend.
The Big Ten was t he first to drop non- conference games from the regular-season schedule, doing so on July 9, citing the benefits of scheduling flexibility, the mitigation of risk that comes with travel and the ability to share testing protocols with
fellow conference members. The Pac-12 followed a day later.
For all five leagues, their
plans to play come under the caveat that the season can be played this fall.
Adding the Big 12 into the same group ensures this coming season will be different than any other in the modern history of the sport, hearkening instead to previous eras where national schedules were less common and most teams, even those at the very top of the sport, played primarily within their geographic footprint.
As with the other conferences, not playing non- conference games eliminates a number of high-profile match ups in September featuring members of the Big 12,
including games between West Virginia and Florida State, Baylor and Ole Miss, Oklahoma and Tennessee, and Texas and LSU.
The later two matchups, pitting teams set for the pres ea son Am way Coaches Poll, promised to play a profound role in the projected chase for the national championship. A year ago, LSU's win in September against Texas helped propel the Tigers to an unbeaten season.
Overall, marquee nonconference games can often play a significant role in determining the makeup of the College Football Playoff.
The executive director of
the playoff, Bill Hancock, said in July that the selection committee will use the same protocols to determine t he national semifinals and New Year's Six bowls even in the face of a different sort of regular season — one that would feature only conference games and likely a smaller number of games t han during a traditional year.
“This is why the committee has 13 football experts,” Hancock said. “Their duty, their task, is to select the best four teams based on the play on the field and the schedules the conferences establish.”
Contributing: Dan Wolken