The Big 12 appears to be on the verge of proposing a tiebreaker in football to hold the conference their slogan, "One True Champion."
According to the Associated Press, the Big 12's athletic directors met in a Kansas City hotel recently amid the conference's basketball tournament. They did not conduct a formal vote, but they all reportedly expressed interest in adopting a head-to-head tiebreaker to avoid having football co-champions.
Last season, Baylor and TCU were named Big 12 co-champions and neither saw a bid to the inaugural College Football Playoff (CFP). Afterward, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby and coaches for both teams were outspoken about being passed over for the CFP.
"We haven't taken a formal action on it," Bowlsby told the Kansas City Star, "but that is the direction we are headed."
TCU went into the final week of the regular season ranked within the CFP's top four teams and beat a weak Iowa State team like they should have, by a large margin. But Baylor finished with the same conference record, but had beaten TCU earlier in the season.
If a tiebreaker had been in place, Baylor would have been named the Big 12's sole champion. Furthermore, Ohio State may not have leapfrogged their way into the CFP's top four, though the Buckeyes did validate the committee's decision.
"It would have helped one of our teams," Bowlsby said. "Part of their portfolio is they would have been the champion. Would it have made a difference? Everyone I have talked to on that committee said no, because they were impressed enough by Ohio State on the last day of the season and that would have carried the day. Who knows?"
