The Big 12's perception problem

[caption id="attachment_17768" align="alignleft" width="300"]Photo by Joe Nicola Photo by Joe Nicola[/caption] The Big 12 faces a problem of perception, as the AP's Stephen Hawkins lays out. The league lacks national brands at the top of its standings, putting more pressure on TCU and Baylor to go undefeated if either wants to play in the College Football Playoff. This is the issue when there are five major conferences and only four spots in the playoff. In 2014, TCU and Baylor lost one game and shared the Big 12 crown. The two were passed over by other conference champions, specifically an Ohio State team that lost to Virginia Tech early in the season before rebounding to win the Big 10 in a conference championship game over Wisconsin. Many attributed the Big 12 being left out of the playoffs as evidence the Big 12 needs a conference championship game, but the issue is bigger than that. The SEC champion had one loss entering the College Football Playoff. So did the Big 10 and Pac-12 champion. Not having a championship game definitely hurt, but the size of Baylor and TCU’s brand didn’t help at all. If it was Oklahoma or Texas sitting in the position of TCU and Baylor in 2014 it would’ve been much harder for the committee to jump those brands for Ohio State. The size, and lack of tradition, made the decision for the committee an easy one. One it could hide behind and blame the lack of a conference championship game for when really it was about money. The committee got lucky because Ohio State won it all and quieted most of the controversy, but a program like Ohio State makes more money than TCU or Baylor. The Big 12 suffers because two smallish private schools are the two best teams. That shouldn’t change in 2015, and the conference may be left out once again.