I’m not a Big 12 homer, but do agree that BIG 12, top to bottom, is much tougher than Big Ten. However, I have no complaints about Ohio State receiving the final spot. Valid arguments can be made for tOSU, TCU, and Baylor. College football will always be surrounded with controversy until it adopts a NFL/NBA style playoff system. Granted, it’ll be much tougher to organize/align conferences due to abundance of D1 teams but with player stipends and programs like UAB folding, I can see this happening sooner than later. The question is, how soon. IMO, at the end of the day, this controversial 4 team playoff is much better than the 2 team BCS system.
As for the BIG 12, the lack of CCG killed TCU/Baylor’s chances at CFP. But I also believe tOSU was elevated to #4 because of their history as traditional power and brand. Personally, because I’m a college football snob, I prefer watching Alabama vs Ohio State over TCU/Baylor.
The way I see it, the ACC, SEC, and BIG TEN are safe if conferences were to survive. The problem with PAC 12 and BIG 12 are lack quality teams regionally to expand. PAC 12 is essentially landlocked due to lack of brand name teams they could add from the West and BIG 12 are relegated to tier 2/3 regional programs.
We already said BIG 12 was probably one of the top 2 conferences in football and basketball. No problem with competition right? So, let’s take OU and move to PAC 12, ACC, or B1G.