Big 12/SEC champs to meet in bowl game

**calixtog** · #1 05-18-2012, 12:43 PM

This could be the Southern version of the Rose Bowl (Pac12 vs. B1G Champ). It also points to hurt feelings on both sides due to re-alignment starting to heal. Who knows, maybe this will open the door to the rebirth of the Lonestar Challenge somewhere down the line.

Big 12 interim commissioner Chuck Neinas today announced the Big 12 champion and SEC champion will play in a new bowl game beginning Jan. 1, 2015.

Of course, that's providing the winner of those conferences is not in the national title game. If that happens, the Big 12 and SEC would send their No. 2 finisher.

The site of the game has not yet been selected. The conferences will accept bids for what they hope will be "a long-term location for the game," according to Neinas.

(You can bet Jerry Jones and Jerryworld - Cowboys Stadium will be a bidder after losing the contract with the Big 12 for its title game when the league went from 12 to 10 teams.)

The Big 12 and SEC will be equal partners in terms of sharing revenue and managing the game.

Even after two Big 12 teams left to join the SEC, Neinas said there is no animosity. (Me: RRRRIIIIIIIIGGGGGGHHHHHTTTT!)

"We think we have a very strong conference with the admission of TCU and West Virginia," Neinas said. "The Big 12 is in good position going forward, and we look forward to some good competition on the field with our partners from the SEC."

**TheGoose** · #2 05-18-2012, 01:21 PM

Excellent. Sounds like a good match-up.

My guess is that if the Ags/Horns happen to meet up it will draw very high ratings.

**MikeV** · #3 05-18-2012, 01:31 PM

I don't think it has anything to do with hurt feelings starting to heal. No one in the SEC is likely to have cared much at all about the Aggie/Horn rivalry, and in the Big 12 most of the hurt feelings were the Aggies, the Horns, and the Bears (the latter because they felt they were about to be on the outside looking in).

This Bowl game is all about money and it should generate a lot of it. I would guess though that it is likely to feature the number 2 team from one of the two conferences which will lessen the appeal a great deal.

It could be that the new bowl game never gets played. I suspect with realignment happenings by 1/1/15, and who knows what variation of a playoff system will be in place by then, this is one that might never happen.

**bluefin** · #4 05-18-2012, 01:45 PM

'In a new Bowl Game'.

Would this be something the Cotton Bowl could eventually have or would there be a 5th major?

Whatever bowl is decided on this would be the biggest outside of the championship by far.

**calixtog** · #5 05-18-2012, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeV

It could be that the new bowl game never gets played. I suspect with realignment happenings by 1/1/15, and who knows what variation of a playoff system will be in place by then, this is one that might never happen.

No, I think they've thought beyond that. Any school leaving the Big 12 would lose their tier 1 television rights for the duration of the current contract (which is 13 years). That is a huge, huge wad of cash. Even if there is a playoff system, or the league champion from one or the other is in the MNC title game, the matchup remaining matchup would be more attractive than anything else out there (in 2008, for example, the game would have been 11-2 'Bama vs. 11-1 Texas--the next year's MNC game). The year before would have been 11-2 Georgia vs. 9-3 Tech. Not bad at all.

I would love if this became the Cotton Bowl Classic matchup in Cowboys Stadium moving forward. Could you imagine LSU-Texas? Or 'Bama-OU? If it ever came to pass, Longhorn-Aggie in this game would easily draw a 12 share and probably closer to a 20 share in the Southeast and Southwest.

Cg

**TheGoose** · #6 05-18-2012, 03:14 PM

It was a shame that the Cotton Bowl lost it's stature to games like the Fiesta Bowl and Sugar Bowl. Now that there is a new stadium J.Jones needs to step it up and make it a BCS-type pay-out, and therefore a BCS game.

I'm all for the new bowl game, bring it on!!

**Ernest** · #7 05-18-2012, 04:12 PM

Huge news. Makes a 4 team play off almost inevitable.

Plus, N. Dame needs to rethink their plans. They better join a conference or they are going to be on the outside looking in many/most years. Unless they are undefeated, how are they going to get into a 4 team playoff ahead of a one loss Pac/SEC/B12/B10 team? Then, they will potentially be excluded from a Rose/Jerry Bowl. Bet this forces them into the B10.

Additionally, this likely means expansion for the B12. FSU/Clemson/Louisville/Miami are going to face the same basic problem as N. Dame. Consider the B12 grabbing all four, and sending KSU, KS, and WVigins to play in the east division. Maybe grab UofH and Tulsa as well, and have two 8 team divisions. 14 or 16 gives us a conference championship as well $$$$$. KSU and KU will likely jump at the chance to not have to play the Sooners and the Horns every single freakin year.

All in all, great news for the Big12.

**MikeV** · #8 05-18-2012, 04:28 PM

Thought the Horns didn't want a conference championship game?

**Ernest** · #9 05-18-2012, 05:32 PM

The "real" conference championship game will still be held most years in October in Dallas. Then, most years, the winner of that will gladly kick the chit out of some patsy from the other division.

The good news for the Horns in all this is that now when they lose in October, they can still potentially play a big time SEC match up in a big game come Jan. 1. Given the virtual dominance of the Sooners of the Big12, the Horns will benefit from this as they rebuild.

Have I mentioned yet that the Horns really need to stick with a rotating combination of Ash and McCoy? They also need to throw alot more. That whole ground game thing is vastly over rated.

**calixtog** · #10 05-18-2012, 09:54 PM

Whati I really love is that Nebraska is aced out. I got so tired of hearing that idiot Osborne talk about going to the best conference when the jumped to the B1G Joke. Everyone knows they left because their Big 12 record against Texas and Oklahoma was a combined 3-16, including 1-9 against my 'Horns, including getting fisted twice in their final season.

Oh, and Ernest, you can take the bragging and swallow it. The record stands at 4-4 over the last eight years. You guys had five in a row early in the century, but we had four in a row before that. It's a pretty even rivalry, whether you want to admit it or not.

Cg