Curt McKeever: Plethora of Big 12 teams still harbor bowl hopes
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In July, they’re obliged to tell you the goal is to win the conference. But this year — outside of Texas’ Mack Brown, Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops and maybe Nebraska’s Bill Callahan (because of the way his team finished in 2005) — if you’d offered a Big 12 coach a contract in July that guaranteed second place in their division, they would have asked what line they needed to sign.
If you can win a Big 12 title, you’re good enough (and likely will get the chance) to play for the national crown, as well. However, we all know that, at best, there’s only a couple of programs in a given year good enough to be in that elite category. The real fight among the participants is for bowl-game scraps.
Generally, teams with bowl tags affixed to them radiate an acceptable level of success. Or at least one that will keep the coaching staff employed.
With three weeks left in the regular season, seven Big 12 clubs have the six wins required to be bowl-eligible. The league has eight guaranteed slots, and it looks like it’ll fill all of them.
Only Iowa State and Colorado are out of the running.
Oklahoma State and Kansas have five wins, while Baylor still has hope with four.
The Cowboys could join the bowl-eligible group and also eliminate the Bears when the teams play in Stillwater, Okla., on Saturday. If the Cowboys don’t do it then, they’d have to either win at Texas Tech or knock off Oklahoma.
Baylor, in addition to needing a win Saturday, also would have to upset the Sooners. No wonder coach Guy Morriss would rather his Bears keep their bowl hopes to themselves. “Not that I don’t think it’s healthy, but let’s forget the big picture right now,” he said. “We just need to talk about trying to go win (on Saturday).”
As for Kansas? Mark Mangino’s team probably couldn’t have a better setup to becoming bowl-eligible. The Jayhawks, idle this Saturday, play host to Kansas State next week and finish at Missouri.
“The fact that we’re finishing the season with two teams that are considered rivals, we have a chance to set the tempo this week and carry that tempo throughout the remainder of the season,” Mangino said.
With his team’s win at Iowa State last Saturday — which marked KU’s second Big 12 road victory in 19 games in his tenure — Mangino now sits in good position to become the first coach to take Kansas to bowls in consecutive seasons.
That’s similar to Kansas State’s first-year coach Ron Prince getting the Wildcats eligible for a bowl for the first time since they were 2003 Big 12 champs.
K-State — which, along with Texas Tech, was one of 11 schools to become bowl-eligible last weekend — got its sixth win Saturday at Colorado, a place where it had lost 14 of the previous 16 times.
“I think this bowl situation is important every year,” Prince said. “If you take a look at those programs who are consistently in the top 20 and top 15, they don’t have the years where they fall out of bowl eligibility. It does a number of things for you. It really allows, on a national level, for TV execs, bowl people and future recruits to get a sense of who your team is and how they play.”
This year’s bowl lineup features 32 games. Right now, 49 teams have become eligible, and there are 17 sitting on five victories.
For bowls partnered with the Big 12, the pecking order requires that no six-win team be taken before one with more than six.
While it’s still too early to have a clear picture on how things will shake out, based on the current standings and remaining schedules, here are some scenarios that make the most sense:
Fiesta Bowl (non-title game): Texas
Cotton: Oklahoma or Nebraska
Holiday: Texas A&M-Nebraska winner (if Nebraska doesn’t win Big 12)
Gator: Texas A&M-Nebraska loser or Oklahoma
Alamo: Missouri
Insight: Texas Tech
Independence: Kansas State
Texas: Oklahoma State or Kansas
The Gator Bowl has an option to bypass the Big 12, and if that occurs, the Sun Bowl would be required to take a team from the league and follow the Alamo Bowl’s pick.
If the Huskers would win the Big 12 title game, a likely scenario would have Texas sliding to the Cotton Bowl.
Stay tuned. As Missouri’s Gary Pinkel said about his team following Saturday’s loss at Nebraska, “There is an awful lot out there.”
Like a lot of teams, his Tigers might not reach that July goal of winning the conference championship. But at least no one should be clamoring for his job.
“We’re very proud of what we’re doing,” Pinkel noted. “Missouri is going to go to three bowls in four years — that hasn’t been done for 23 years around here.”
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
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