Though the Big 12 and the fact that it only has ten teams remains a hot topic of conversation, what is about to be shared turn up the heat, even though it didn’t actually happen. In a report by Lee Barfknecht of the Omaha World-Herald, there was at one point talk of having Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Kansas and Iowa State depart for the Big Ten some years back and form an eight-team division along with Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Minnesota.
That ultimately didn’t happen, as Texas A&M left for the SEC with Missouri, with Nebraska and Colorado having departed the Big 12 the year before.
This isn’t the first time the Big 12 has had realignment drama, as Texas had its eyes on a move to the Pac-12 at one point, but the heat surrounding realignment is sky high now since both Baylor and TCU were kept out of the College Football Playoff picture last season due to the lack of a conference championship game in football. NCAA rules that in order for a conference to have such a game, it must have at least 12 schools.
Tie-breaker rules have since been put into effect, but the fact remains that the Big 12 is running out of reasons to not expand, especially since it nearly lost two conference staples in Oklahoma and Kansas to realignment.
Hopefully, Barfknecht’s piece serves as a wakeup call to conference commissioner Bob Bowlsby.
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*Feature Photo Credit (above) to USA TODAY Sports
