Big 12 Conference: Go Big or GTFO!

By: Alex Burks

The Big 12 Conference has an identity opportunity. Michael Vick had the same opportunity after his release from prison and only one thing mattered. Not money, not size, not personality, not ego, not negative press, not angry fans. The one thing that mattered was talent, on-field performance. The Big 12 should take up this opportunity to forget everything like revenue sharing, television markets, egos, locations and rivalries. Put the best product on your Big 12 fields every week. This game of football is about winning, not whining. It's about beating, not bitching.

The Big 12 can become college football's version of the American League East. Get a commissioner who thinks he's Scott Boras. College Football teams, their regents and athletic directors are starting to look more like free agents wanting to be a part of a championship team. Right now, the Big 12 and the SEC are Championship conferences with a capital C (the Pacific 12 conference was a Championship conference before USC imploded upon itself like a time travel wormhole). And you know what? The Big 12, despite Nebraska's departure, is the premier conference right now. The Big 12 needs to own that distinction. Get the best teams in the country to fill out your conference and forget everything off the field.

Of course, it is more likely that the Big 12 will follow one of two trends (or try to work both into the league) going forward: revenue sharing and region strengthening. Texas has put up a major roadblock to revenue sharing, but the conference let it happen. They should embrace the Longhorn network. Would anyone in the Big 12 rather see the Longhorn network showing ACC matchups? NO. So open it up. Every team for itself and let the market decide how much your teams are worth paying advertising dollars and TV time for. The Baylor-TCU game early this season was one of the best five games so far this year. RG3 is an exciting player on an exciting team. That's your product. Let Texas keep its money from its network so the whole country can see the Bears maul the Longhorns. Iowa State has a huge following and they are in the top 5 in the conference in season ticket sales [they might even be number three behind Texas and OU... need a fact checker]. This is how you get Notre Dame, dummies.

Region strengthening is a much more intriguing, and much more feasible idea. Keep the conference teams in the plains and west of the Mississippi river. Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, and maybe even Wyoming, that's your region. There are a lot of haters of the defunct Southwest Conference out there, but it makes sense if you stick to it. Bring back Rice. Get TCU. Get Wyoming. Get SMU. Take a look at Houston and Tulsa. This is how you get Arkansas, dummies.

Both of these ideas, however, are limiting. Big 12, you are the best conference in the nation so why limit yourself? Tell all of your teams, "Go Big or Get The F*** Out." Win or go to the ACC (ahem... Texas). So if Kansas State starts bitching about revenue sharing, they can leave, and the Big 12 can bring in Boise State, the winningest team in the NCAA since 2006. No barriers but excellence. No barometers but wins. Would you rather see Texas and OU play Kansas State or Boise State every year? Don't answer that OU fans (ahem... Fiesta Bowl).

There is a reason GameDay decided not to showcase a TOP TEN BIG TWELVE match-up, instead favoring their first trip to West Virginia. That reason is not the on-field talent, but rather the off-field everything else.