Yahoo Thamel:
For the Big 12 to grow into a vibrant new league for the next generation, the league’s leaders need to resist all of the quick-trigger leadership instincts.
sports.yahoo.com
-> Here’s one man’s plan for the league.
Add eight schools — BYU, Boise State, Colorado State, San Diego State, Houston, UCF, USF and Cincinnati. (Memphis and Tulane could also be considered.) The bonus here: There are some pretty stout basketball programs.
Break those 16 teams into four pods to keep some of the league’s familiarity. The teams in the pods would play each other every year.
- West: Boise State, BYU, Colorado State and San Diego State
- Midwest: Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State and Oklahoma State
- Texas: Baylor, TCU, Texas Tech and Houston (Tulane could go here if the egos of the Texas schools foolishly block Houston.)
- East: Cincinnati, West Virginia, UCF and USF (Memphis could go here if two Florida schools aren't wanted.)
Going this big works out for the Big 12 in a few ways. First off, it kneecaps the AAC and Mountain West with such force that the Big 12 solidifies itself as the No. 5 league in the country. By a distance.
Pillaging the best programs from the two leagues below them — and adding a solid independent in BYU to pull in a streaming audience — creates a giant moat between the Big 12 and anyone else behind it. It also makes a loud statement to the College Football Playoff that the league has all the teams outside the Chosen 57 that would likely be considered for the CFP. <-