Big 12 football coaches unanimously voted in favor of a 24-team College Football Playoff — doubling the current 12-team format — at the conference’s spring meetings in Frisco, Texas.
West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez, who is chair of the Big 12 coaches committee, said “everybody raised their hand” when asked if they were in favor of the CFP format expanding to 24 teams.
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“We voted and it was unanimous,” Rodriguez said on Thursday, May 28. “Who knows where that goes.”
Big 12 chief football officer Scott Draper noted a 24-team format for the College Football Playoff in 2025 would’ve had five Big 12 teams in the CFP hunt.
“I’m confident we’ll be well-represented in the 24-team playoff, and I believe that these men and others in this room will do everything they can to get their team in there, and we’ll do whatever we can to support them,” Draper said.
The proposed format would’ve included a team like BYU, which has a combined 23-4 record the last two seasons. The Cougars “should’ve been in the playoffs … and it’s been frustrating,” said Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire.
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BYU made a compelling case to be in the CFP over teams like James Madison and Tulane or even a three-loss Alabama team last season. The SEC had five teams in the College Football Playoff — the Big Ten had three. The Big 12 had one team in the CFP in Texas Tech.
Five Big 12 teams finished the season ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll. The Arizona Wildcats dropped out after losing to SMU in the Holiday Bowl. Arizona ended the regular season at No. 21 in the AP Top 25. Four Big 12 teams finished with double-digit wins last season: Texas Tech (12), BYU (12), Utah (11) and Houston (10).
“We’ve got a great conference from top to bottom and it’s a tough conference to play in,” McGuire said. “Just because you change the patch on your jersey, it doesn’t make you a better program. … I believe in this conference and I believe it’s a great conference. It’s unfortunate we were represented with a couple of teams last year and I think that’s one reason we believe 24 teams is a better spot for us.”
McGuire challenges Sarkisian, Texas
Be careful what you wish for.
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Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian recently told reporters, “There’s a team in our state that plays in another conference that has a schedule that I would argue if I played with our twos and our threes, we could go undefeated, and they’ll probably make the CFP this year.”
Texas Tech is assumed to be that team in the state of Texas.
“I said there’s no way they’re talking about us, because Sark’s a pretty tough guy,” McGuire said. “His teams are pretty tough. I would think if he were talking about us, he’d call us out. He wouldn’t just say kind of this comment of, ‘Well, there is another team in our state.’ I guess he was talking about us.”
Texas is scheduled to face Texas State in Austin Week 1 on Sept. 5, the same week Texas Tech is slated to face Abilene Christian in Lubbock.
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McGuire challenged Sarkisian and Texas to drop their Week 1 game and travel to Lubbock for the season opener. McGuire said the Red Raiders and booster Cody Campbell are willing to buy out their deal with ACU to open up a window to face TTU.
“Texas has a lot of money, they can buy their contract out,” McGuire said. “But I do know there are a lot of Red Raiders that will help them buy that contract out if they don’t want to, and they can come to Lubbock Week 1 and we can figure out if their twos and threes can win this conference.”
Texas Tech, after winning the Big 12 championship, was blanked by Oregon, 23-0, in the Orange Bowl and struggled offensively in the postseason.
“I know a lot of people are gonna say a lot of stuff about me or about us,” McGuire said. “We didn’t score in the playoff. That’s obvious. You can take a shot at us for that. The last time we played Texas (in 2023), we got beat 57-7, and (Sarkisian) played some of his twos and threes and they kicked the crap out of us.”
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Added McGuire: “I know he feels really good about his team if he’s making those comments, and we would love to play the University of Texas Week 1 in Lubbock. … So, if they want to play Week 1, then we’re ready. We would love to play the University of Texas.”
RichRod expects Cats to be ‘really good’
When Arizona faces West Virginia on Oct. 10 in Morgantown, it’ll be the first matchup between the Wildcats and Rodriguez since the two parted ways following the 2017 season.
Rodriguez went 43-25 at Arizona between 2012-17 and went 3-2 in bowl games and led the Wildcats to a Pac-12 South championship. The former Arizona head coach said the Wildcats are “going to be really good” entering Brennan’s third season at the helm and the final season with star quarterback Noah Fifita under center.
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“I wish they weren’t there (on the schedule),” Rodriguez joked. “They’ve got one of the best quarterbacks in the country and I’ve been really impressed with him, he’s going to be a veteran. They feel really good about their team, they got a lot of players back, the staff is intact, Brent has done a tremendous job. They’re coming to Morgantown, but I think they’re going to be probably ranked in the preseason Top 25 — they should be.”
Rodriguez said the Mountaineers are planning to do a “preliminary scouting report on everybody (this summer), and (Arizona is) one of the early ones in our league.”
“For me, personally, I’ll try to take the personal history out, even though I have a lot of friends in Tucson, Arizona, and a lot of people I’m still close to,” Rodriguez said. “It’s certainly not about me. I expect them to have a really good football team, and I think we’re going to be better, as well.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Big 12 coaches unanimously vote for new CFP format
