Earlier this week Baylor curmudgeon head coach Art Briles, still simmering in the bitterness of losing the Cotton Bowl being left out of the College Football Playoff said this:
Art Briles asked about his non-conf. scheduling philosophy. Said non-conf schedule had zero effect on Baylor getting left out last season
— Jake Trotter (@Jake_Trotter) April 21, 2015
Anyone who follows college football without Baylor blinders knows this isn't true, and today Arkansas AD Jeff Long - who chairs the selection committee - opened his mouth and confirmed it:
Long said the 13th game played by those in conference championship games was a factor for the selection committee. Baylor and TCU only played 12 games, with the Big 12 not holding a conference championship game.
A conference championship game is one more opponent of consequence in a game played at the most precarious time of the season, when everything matters. Let's take a look at Baylor's resume, which included downing TCU 61-58, and
The "lousy" VT team Ohio State lost to last season (40th in Sagarin) would be the strongest non-con opponent for Baylor since UConn in 2009.
— Ramzy Nasrallah (@ramzy) April 21, 2015
In fact, during the course of 15 Saturdays last season Baylor and TCU combined to either figuratively or literally play nobody, between their six (!) bye weeks and penchant for scheduling teams in the 100s or even 200s in Sagarin ratings. This isn't changing in 2015 either, so Briles is already getting an early start on making his case - and Long is getting it on the record that those title games still matter.
There are no current plans for a Big XII championship game in 2015, which is why that third bye week appears. While you may think a bye week isn't as challenging as playing a division winner in December with everything on the line, consider this: the only thing harder than beating a team twice in one season is beating it three times.
Bye ain't no joke. Baylor - and TCU's schedules - are a different story.
