The pessimist in me looks at the outcome as:
- we win and TTU gets mad at us and votes against us the next time it name is floated for CR
- we lose and TTU votes against us anyway saying we didn't belong as we didn't compete in a "tryout" match
Of course we could tie, then no bad feelings...?
i don't think anyone is that petty. Teams win and lose every week and actually I'd see this as an amazing opportunity to show the Big 12 we can hang with their own.
This CR thing is only about money. Texas and Oklahoma had an easier path to a conference championship in the Big 12, but conference championships dont' matter to them. the path to CFP is bigger in the SEC, and even if they never win the conference, they make oodles of cash just being in the club. So, i dont' think a win or loss is what would change TTU's vote for us. All that matters is , does UConn's addition put more money in my pocket. If yes, welcome home huskies. If no, there's the door, losers.
2nd, I wouldn't be surprised if TTU or any mid to better P4 club benched many of their starters if they got paired up against UConn. In which case, a UConn win is meaningless (except to us), cuz we only beat their scrubs. If that happens, we'd better not lose to them.
(for the record, I still think it's worth playing a P4 bowl team's scrubs, OVER a G5 team. As others point out, no one tracks who played in a game, only W/L. Having a P4 scrub win is still good optics, when folks look back at history books during next round of conf realignment)