With four weeks still remaining in the 2014 college football season, there is officially a lot of football left to be played. Still, that hasn’t stopped those within the industry from prepping for official doomsday scenarios, like the possibility of Baylor and TCU finishing the season tied at 11-1 and 8-1 in the Big 12 standings.
TCU is currently fifth in both major polls, one spot ahead of Baylor. The Bears, of course, handed TCU its only defeat of the season in a 61-58 thriller back on Oct. 11. The chasm was even wider in the College Football Playoff poll, where the Frogs were sixth in last week’s rankings, while Baylor was 12th.
Baylor’s 48-14 smashing of then-No. 15 Oklahoma and TCU’s 41-20 dusting of then-No. 7 Kansas State raised the possibility of each squad finishing the season knotted at 8-1. It’s not like it hasn’t happened before in the Big 12’s round-robin era. In 2012, Kansas State and Oklahoma each finished 8-1 in league play and officially went down in Big 12 annals as co-champions, but the Wildcats won the conference’s BCS bid (where they lost to Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl) thanks to a 24-19 win in Norman.
And, of course, there was the classic instance of Oklahoma winning the Big 12 South championship over Texas, despite equal records and a 45-35 loss to the Longhorns.
On Sunday, College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock clarified the committee’s stance should each squad finish the season unscathed.Per Bill Hancock, the conferences advise the committee who their champs are, which is one of factors in selection process…
— Jake Trotter (@Jake_Trotter) November 9, 2014
Per Big 12, while league technically recognizes co-champs, winner of head-to-head would be submitted to playoff by Big 12 as champ
— Jake Trotter (@Jake_Trotter) November 9, 2014
In other words, if Baylor and TCU tied atop the Big 12 standings, the playoff committee would consider Baylor the champ because of h-to-h
— Jake Trotter (@Jake_Trotter) November 9, 2014
That doesn’t mean the committee would necessarily select Baylor over TCU. But that would be an edge Baylor would have in evaluation process
— Jake Trotter (@Jake_Trotter) November 9, 2014
Essentially, the Big 12 would prefer the committee choose Baylor as its top team, but the committee is still free to rank both teams how it sees fit.
Baylor is off this week before closing with Oklahoma State on Nov. 22, a date with Texas Tech at AT&T Stadium on Nov. 29, and then Kansas State in Waco on Dec. 6.
TCU visits Kansas on Saturday and Texas on Thanksgiving night, and then closes with Iowa State in Fort Worth on Dec. 6.