Massive 12 in Harmful CFP Spot; Which 4 Groups Can Save the Convention?

Is the Big 12 in danger of becoming a one-bid conference for the College Football Playoff again?

Saturday began on a hopeful note for the Big 12, but Week 2 ultimately took a turn for the worse. No. 12 Arizona State was upset by Mississippi State. Kansas blew a lead to Missouri. West Virginia and Kansas State both lost to non-power conference teams. And that’s all before mentioning the thrashing Oklahoma State took against Oregon. 

Now, the Big 12 sits in a challenging spot not just for this season, but beyond, FOX Sports lead college football analyst Joel Klatt argued.

“It puts the Big 12 as a conference behind the eight-ball,” Klatt said of the Big 12’s Week 2 performance on the most recent episode of his podcast. “Remember where we’re at now in the greater conversation of college football, which is that it’s not just that we’re always going to be in this 12-team playoff, where your champion gets in and then you’re searching for at-large bids. There is constant discussion about what the format of the playoff is going to be moving forward. 

“This is a big year for the Big 12 in order to argue that, ‘Hey, we need multiple spots as automatics,’” Klatt added. “[Big 12 Commissioner] Brett Yormark, I feel, is aware of that. To place it truthfully, that is a nasty Saturday for the Massive 12.”

From a convention narrative standpoint, Arizona State’s 24-20 loss to Mississippi State was arguably the worst of the Massive 12’s losses in Week 2. Not solely was it a ranked workforce shedding to an unranked workforce, however the Solar Devils are the reigning Massive 12 champions, whereas the Bulldogs completed in final place within the SEC with two wins in 2024. 

Kenny Dillingham coached Arizona State to a shock CFP look final season, however his workforce is in a troublesome spot after getting upset by Mississippi State in Week 2. (Picture by Andy Altenburger/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Photos)

Outcomes like that, Klatt argued, assist strengthen the narrative for the SEC, which he mentioned would nearly actually obtain a handful of bids on this 12 months’s Faculty Soccer Playoff. The Massive Ten had probably the most CFP berths amongst any convention final 12 months and seems prime to get just a few bids once more in 2025. As for the ACC, it obtained two bids final 12 months, and with Miami (Fla.)’s and Florida State’s Week 1 wins, it now put the convention in a powerful place to earn a number of CFP bids once more, in accordance with Klatt. 

So, after being the one energy convention to have only one workforce play within the CFP final season, the Massive 12 is watching the potential for that being the fact once more in 2025.

“[Week 2] goes to place an immense quantity of stress on the groups now that can be carrying the banner for the convention as a result of these groups cannot get eaten up by means of the schedule like they did a 12 months in the past with this league that has plenty of parity, which has plenty of groups which can be just like each other, and we at all times anticipate plenty of these video games on this convention which can be going to return down to at least one rating,” Klatt mentioned. “In the event you begin knocking off the upper-echelon groups and so they seize a loss right here or a second loss there, you simply aren’t going to have a number of groups which have an actual argument to get entry to the Faculty Soccer Playoff.”

There are nonetheless eight groups within the Massive 12 who’re undefeated getting into Week 3. However Klatt believes solely Iowa State, TCU, Texas Tech and Utah can carry the torch for the convention within the CFP race, saying that two groups from that group need to ultimately separate themselves from the pack. 

“These 4 groups are most likely the category of the Massive 12,” Klatt mentioned. “However once more, an immense quantity of stress, as a result of if they begin stumbling alongside the way in which, then you definitely’re not going to get two auto-bids [in future iterations of the CFP] or two bids total.”

Rocco Becht (left) has gotten Iowa State off to a 3-0 begin. (Picture by David Purdy/Getty Photos)

Whereas none of these groups at present rank within the high 10 of the AP Prime 25 Ballot, Klatt is fairly bullish about every of them. He believes Texas Tech has a “fairly good” roster after touchdown the second-best class within the switch portal this offseason (per 247Sports). He is additionally a fan of TCU quarterback Josh Hoover and thinks he might help the Horned Frogs contend within the convention.

Klatt appears significantly bullish about Iowa State and Utah, although, with the previous selecting up a key win over in-state rival Iowa this previous week.

“I have been an enormous believer in Utah,” Klatt mentioned. “I feel [quarterback Devon] Dampier is a hell of a participant. His short-area quickness could be very harmful. But it surely’s not simply the truth that they’ve a quarterback at Utah. We all know they will play stable protection, and I feel they have one of many higher offensive strains in the whole nation. 

“Iowa State … is a extremely sound workforce beneath Matt Campbell, and a troublesome workforce to beat, particularly with their quarterback, Rocco Becht. I am such a believer in Rocco Becht. The performs that he’s capable of make give that whole program a ton of confidence.”

Nonetheless, the Massive 12 has earned the popularity as a convention of chaos and parity in recent times. Final season, each workforce within the Massive 12 had no less than two losses in convention play. So, even the convention’s elite groups have not been proof against upset losses.

For the well being of the Massive 12, that may’t occur once more in 2025.

“They’ve to separate, and hopefully, for the Massive 12, two of these groups separate as a result of what you need now for that convention is that two of these groups can attain the Massive 12 championship sport with no a couple of loss,” Klatt mentioned. “What you’ll actually hope for is an undefeated workforce towards a workforce with perhaps at most one loss. That is what they’re hoping for, and it’ll be powerful.”

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