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Latest football playoff news good for Tulsa
Published: 11/14/2012 5:43 PM
Last Modified: 11/14/2012 5:43 PM

The loud exhale you heard emanate earlier this week from the University of Tulsa campus was a sigh of relief over the latest news from the new college football playoff.

On Monday, the BCS commissioners and Presidential Oversight Committee reached agreement on several details of the college football playoff.

The most important, as it relates to Tulsa, is that the highest ranked champion among the "Little 5" conferences -- Conference USA, the Big East, Mid-American, Mountain West and Sun Belt -- will get an automatic berth into one of the six bowl games that are part of the playoff format.

So, after months of conference realignment shuffling, something good finally happened to Tulsa. The Hurricane just climbed up the national college football pecking order.

It's not exactly an invitation to the Big 12 -- or even the Big East -- but it is a start.

If the playoff, still two years removed, was to begin right now, current Big East member Louisville and future C-USA member Louisiana Tech would be the leading contenders to earn the small conferences' automatic big bowl berth.

If La. Tech survives an all-but-certain coaching change at the end of the year -- Sonny Dykes will be mentioned for numerous high-profile jobs -- the Bulldogs could be one of the best things to happen to the new C-USA.

Tulsa needs as much competition as possible in its new conference if the Hurricane have national aspirations.

Beyond having one or two competitive league opponents, the next step is non-conference scheduling.

TU athletic director Ross Parmley talked about football scheduling at his luncheon last week, mentioning that the new playoff alignment would impact how he managed the Hurricane's schedule.

With the news that teams like Boise State, Toledo and Tulsa can earn their way into a major bowl game, the Hurricane must schedule accordingly.

This year's schedule seems to be the perfect mix -- one high profile BCS game (Arkansas), one secondary BCS game (Iowa State), a good non-BCS game (Fresno State) and a gimme (Nicholls State).

A year ago, with Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Boise State all on the schedule, the Hurricane were a little too ambitious.

But once you get the schedule right, there's one more thing left to do -- win a few non-conference games.

Tulsa was getting some national buzz during its seven-game winning streak, considered by some the best non-BCS school in the country. A win at Arkansas would have cemented that talk. The loss ended it.

Tulsa coach Bill Blankenship says the right things about the Hurricane keeping its focus on a C-USA crown. At some point, though, TU needs to raise its aspirations.

Even with Houston, SMU and Central Florida moving on to seemingly greener pastures in the Big East, Tulsa is still on the same footing when it comes to the new playoff system.

Now it's up to Tulsa to take advantage.

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103648 (3 months ago)

Yes Bill. Outside the Big East may now be
the smart money. Very insightful comments.

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Tulsa World Sports Editor Michael Peters has nearly 20 years of daily newspaper experience. A 1993 graduate of Texas A&M, he worked at papers in Bryan-College Station, Texas, Beaumont, Texas, and Galveston, Texas, before joining the Houston Chronicle as High School Sports Editor in 2008. While in Houston, he coordinated coverage of the 2008 Texas Class 5A state football championships and the 2011 NCAA Men's Final Four.

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