With three weeks left in the college football season, the Big 12 has pushed itself into a conversation that would have sounded sideways not long ago: is it actually the second-best conference in the sport this year?
Josh Pate thinks so.
On his show this week, the host of Josh Pate’s College Football Show and a contributor for ESPN made the case that the Big 12’s College Football Playoff profile has climbed high enough to pass the Big Ten in the current season. He pointed to No.
2 Utah, No. 10 BYU and No.
12 Texas Tech as the conference’s strongest playoff contenders, then leaned into the strange-looking reality of the rankings.
Pate said the Big 12 and Big Ten are flipped from where people would normally expect them to be.
"Reputationally for this year, the Big Ten and the Big 12 are totally inverted," Pate said on his podcast, "The Josh Pate's College Football Show."
He went even further, saying the idea would have sounded absurd not long ago.
"The crazier part of all that is if I were to go back a couple of years and tell you two Big Ten teams are going to be top 10, and it's going to be UCLA and Indiana, that's alternative universe stuff."
In Pate’s view, the conference hierarchy is already clear.
"They're the No. 2 conference in the country right now; it's SEC and Big 12, and then it's Big Ten No. 3 ... look at Brigham Young at No. 10; you kind of got to start having these conversations; there aren't several weeks left, there's just three weeks of games left."
He also floated a scenario where BYU could still be in line for an at-large spot even if the title race breaks a certain way.
"I have to start asking myself ... might Brigham Young just be sitting there thinking to themselves, 'I'm okay if Texas Tech wins out ... goes to the conference championship game and playing Utah because I think I can get myself an at-large bid.'"
Joel Klatt sees the committee rewarding what teams have actually done, not just the logo on the helmet. On the "Joel Klatt Show" via Fox Sports, he said BYU’s win over Notre Dame continues to carry real weight and helps explain why the Cougars stayed in the top 12 despite losing to Utah.
"I do think that the Big 12 is fascinating, though, because BYU is holding strong," Joel Klatt said on the "Joel Klatt Show" via Fox Sports. Remember, big wins, strength of schedule.
They beat Notre Dame. Notre Dame’s in the top five.
So BYU is still sitting there."
If the Big 12 really does land three teams in the 12-team playoff field, it would mark a major shift in how the sport is being judged. It would also raise questions about how athletic directors approach nonconference scheduling going forward, especially in a landscape where the SEC and Big Ten have long been viewed as the conferences with the most talent, the biggest TV money and the strongest brands.
The Big 12 was carved up by the SEC, and a three-team playoff haul would suggest that depth and parity beat brand power when the committee made its decisions.
It would also matter financially, since playoff teams are paid out on a per-team basis.
"You’re looking at a scenario where maybe the Big 12 could sneak three teams into the College Football Playoff. I think that would be pretty cool," Klatt said.
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