Another week has come and gone, and with it another smattering of CU-to-the-Big 12 rumors.
The noise emanating from the Boulder has gotten so loud that, coupled with near-total silence from the Pac-12, the Grading the Week staff can no longer bite its tongue.
CU to Big 12 — C-
For those Buffs fans who envision a return to the Big 12 as a resumption of the good old days, we have a message: This isn’t your father’s Big 12. Or even your slightly older sibling’s.
No, the Big 12 of the future is a sprawling collection of moderately like-minded institutions that, if commissioner Brett Yormark has his way, will cover four time zones, thousands of miles and one continental divide.
Many of the rivalries that once defined the conference have splintered. And its regional and cultural ties — outside of the plains states of Kansas, Iowa and Oklahoma — are tenuous at best.
There’s no Nebraska, no Oklahoma and no Texas. Only two of its members (Kansas and West Virginia) would be considered big brother within the borders of their own states. Yet every school currently signed on to Yormark’s grand vision is aligned in one very important way: They desperately want to be a part of whatever dystopian future big-time college sports is headed toward, and each has shown a willingness to do whatever it takes to get there.
Would that mean a better and brighter future for the Buffs than sticking with the Pac-12? Uh … maybe?
The Grading the Week staff is running out of fingers to count the number of hypothetical deadlines that have come and gone for Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff to cut a television deal that will keep his conference intact. Yet we still can’t come up with one legitimate reason for CU Chancellor Phil DiStefano to do anything other than wait to see what sort of deal George K. comes back with — whenever that might be.
Despite what you might hear out of some quarters, there is time left on the clock for CU.
The minute the Buffs join the Big 12, they bring the third-largest television market in the conference with them. And that’s if we pretend TCU (Dallas-Forth Worth) and Houston don’t play second fiddle to Texas and Texas A&M in their own backyards. You think Yormark is going to tell CU to kick rocks just because he had to wait a few extra months?
And while you consider the promise of those much-talked-about early kickoff times, also ponder this: Is that noon kick really that much better when the game is being played two time zones away at UCF? Or Cincinnati?
Think a game against Stanford is devoid of passion? Well, can I interest you in CU-West Virginia, Or Buffs-Cougars (Houston or BYU)?
That’s not to say those are unworthy adversaries. Compared to some of the dregs of the Pac-12, they’re juggernauts. They’re just not the massive step up that demands immediate action.
The real prize is an invitation from the Big Ten or SEC, neither of which is coming until CU re-establishes itself on the national stage. And in the brave new world of the 12-team College Football Playoff, where the Pac-12 champion will be included every season, the best place to make that happen is in a 10- or 12-team Pac-12. Not in the scattered 16-team Big 12 of Yormark’s dreams.
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