RC1936, St. Robert (11/7/2009 6:30:27 AM)

A 12-team conference is too big to manage correctly and fairly snd I've been against that move since Day One. Even a 10-team conference is bulky, but it's better. It's my contention that you can't have a true conference champion unless each team plays each team head to head each and every year. Having a so-called conference championship game between winners of divisions just doesn't cut it. Ever since the inception of the Big12 the northern teams have not been strong, though on occasions one will upset the southern team and come away with the "championship." But nobody asked me because nobody cares what I (nor you) think about it. They know we'll still follow our team no matter what situation they put our team into. I still don't like it and wish OU had the same rivalry with NU that they once had.

Kat Hat, Owasso (11/7/2009 7:04:48 AM)

Ummmm... Dumb premise for not playing Nebbish every year... Did OU not play UT and NU every year prior to the inception of the Big XII? Why is it such a big deal now that the Big XII is a reality, when it wasn't when it was the Big 8 and the SWC? Yes, I realize that the big difference is if the OU/NU game counted as a conference game (rather than the "non-con" game that was suggested during the "off years"), there would be 2 difficult conference games against 2 heated rivals as opposed to 1 conference game and 1 non-conference game, as in the pre-Big XII days. But seriously... Using that as an excuse, Duncan makes OU sound like a bunch of scared little babies afraid to play the big boys of college football. If you hope to compete for conference and national championships, you should be able to play with the big boys and BEAT the big boys on a yearly basis. If not, why didn't OU just move to C-USA or something. It'd be a cake walk most weeks that way. Oh yeah... And I'm an OU grad/fan... And I mourned the loss of the OU/NU post-Thanksgiving Day games... Even though the last few we were handed our rears by Osborne...

lovethemsooners, Fayetteville (11/7/2009 9:25:31 AM)

Exactly. We played Texas for about 90 years without being in the same conference. Maybe we should bolt for the SEC and play both Nebraska and Texas in our non-conference every year. That schedule wouldn't be too suicidal would it.

HVJ, (11/7/2009 10:18:07 AM)

Drop the divisions, play 10 conference games, drop the championship game, and, to rake in some cash, have a pre-season kick-off game in Dallas matching up a top Big XII team with a top one from another BCS conference. The last place finisher each season wouldn't have to face the champ in the next year. When a thirteen game season arrives, play everyone. The conference championship game is a farce, and the cupcake nonconference teams now scheduled rip off the fans big time.

jasheldon, (11/7/2009 10:18:16 AM)

Go back to the BIG 8! But kick out I-State and keep Texas. Or at least make it ten teams and snub out the two usual basement teams of each Big 12 division (Baylor & I-State). Seriously, Baylor should have gone to Conference USA and Arkansas should have chose the Big 12 instead of the SEC.

Imagine what the south would have been like since '96 if Arkansas had been in place of Baylor. That would have been pretty cool.

But yah I don't really like the way the Big 12 is formatted. Something needs changing. I miss OU-Neb every year. Kat Hat is correct, in the Big 8 days OU-Neb & OU-Tex happened EVERY year!

jasheldon, (11/7/2009 10:32:56 AM)

I like HVJ's idea. Why not even an 11 game conference schedule and only 1 or two non-conference match ups a year? 3 and 4 non-con foes is WAY too many in one season! Who cares about them really? I mean every year when OU is going into a game against Nobody St aren't we all wishing that it was a conference weekend instead? I can never wait until the Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, and Tech weekends arrive. I think every conference team should be played every year, cause other wise, what's the point? And at the end of the season and the conference champion is determined, our top two teams earn play-off spots for the NC.

jasheldon, (11/7/2009 10:44:54 AM)

I like HVJ's idea. Why not even an 11 game conference schedule and only 1 or two non-conference match ups a year? 3 and 4 non-con foes is WAY too many in one season! Who cares about them really? I mean every year when OU is going into a game against Nobody St aren't we all wishing that it was a conference weekend instead? I can never wait until the Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, and Tech weekends arrive. I think every conference team should be played every year, cause other wise, what's the point? And at the end of the season and the conference champion is determined, our top two teams earn play-off spots for the NC.

KansasSooner, Prefer the country (11/7/2009 5:04:39 PM)

Why are Big 12 ADs meeting in NYC? Now, there are several good ideas already posted here on the scheduling format. I've personally never liked the 2 year rotation between divisional matchups, preferring a 1 year rotation. I would also love to see NU on the schedule every year. As far as Arkansas being a member of the Big 12 South really wouldn't be a boost to the conference either although the thought does make more sense than Baylor. How about dropping the conference championship game and one out-of-conference game so that one or two additional cross divisional games could be scheduled every year?

Commish, Tulsa (11/7/2009 7:44:03 PM)

I like the idea of a 10-team conference. Get rid of 2 teams, I suppose Baylor/Iowa St. Iowa St could join Iowa to complete a 12-team Big 10. Baylor...I don't know...Sun Belt? How weird is that? The Big 10 would have 12 and the Big 12 would have 10. Flip flop the names? If the 'Big 12' had 10 teams they could do what the Pac-10 recently started doing, having a 9-game conference season. You would play everyone in your conference and there'd be no need for a 'championship' game.

Commish, Tulsa (11/7/2009 7:49:40 PM)

The Sun Belt makes sense for Baylor. There are currently 9 teams in that conference and geographically it works. We fans have it all figured out. I wish the suits would listen to us.

Phred_53, Stillwater (11/8/2009 10:06:41 AM)

So Mr Sittler, we will NEVER again see an article from you or the TW that is critical of scheduling "cupcakes"? OU was offered the chance to play NU as a non-conference game in the off rotation years. OU declined. It was in their best interest? That was in the Blake/Gibbs years and OU was down. NU was up. Now just think how many victories over storied NU OU would have had in the past 12 years. TRUE Champions want to play the BEST teams possible. They Don't want to WEASEL their way in.

Commish, Tulsa (11/8/2009 7:19:04 PM)

OU was offered the chance to play NU as a non-conference game...and declined? That's news to me. First of all, it wouldn't be a non-conference game and second, I'm not sure OU had/has the 'power' to arrange that. They need to drop to 10 teams and play every team (9) in the conference. That way, OU, Neb, and Texas would play each other every season.

KGListon, BA (11/9/2009 1:42:19 AM)

If I were commissioner of college football. Iowa state would join the big 10 giving them 12. Colorado and Boise state move to the Pac 10. OU and OSU to Big 12 north. Tcu and Houston to Big 12 South. That would make everybody (BCS schools) play a conference championship game. I would also Play the top two non-BCS teams in a game the same week as everybody elses conf championship game, with the winner getting a BCS bid. Ou and texas can schedule a game every year like they did before the big 12. This would put the three best "mid majors" in bcs conf. and give the rest of the mid majors a chance to play into the BCS.

Commish, Tulsa (11/9/2009 7:15:11 PM)

KGListon, that's a very good idea. I think that would solve a lot of problems. 8 of the 11 conferences would have a championship game, OU & Nebraska would play each other every season, and I think OU/Texas can be played every season. Instead of playing all 5 division teams, I think it could be scheduled 4 & 4 every season. Now, if only the NCAA would implement a 16-team playoff we'd have it made.