Big 12 Notes

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Big 12 Notes – Postseason

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December 8th

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The Athletic: Bowls were already living precariously before Notre Dame snub

From The Athletic … But bowl games have been around for 123 years, and they’ve remained pretty darn resilient despite their decreasing relevance over the past dozen years. TV ratings were actually up for 21 of ESPN’s 30 pre-Playoff bowls in 2024, despite the now-customary rash of star players opting out of them, and as the CFP tripled in size.

The 2025 bowl season, on the other hand, may go down as a turning-point setback, much like when Stanford star Christian McCaffrey opted out of the Sun Bowl in 2016, spawning a trend that soon went from controversial to expected.

In addition to Notre Dame, two Big 12 schools in the midst of coaching changes, Iowa State and Kansas State, removed themselves from consideration, prompting $500,000 fines from their conference. Together, the three schools’ opt-outs left organizers short of enough six-win teams to fill 41 bowls, which opened the door for 5-7 squads.

While that’s not unusual, this was: More than a half-dozen of those teams, from Florida State to Rutgers, said “no thanks” to the last available bid in the ESPN-owned Birmingham Bowl, according to On3’s Brett McMurphy. Finally, nearly 10 hours after the CFP field was first revealed Sunday, organizers announced that the game would pit Sun Belt rivals Georgia Southern and Appalachian State, which faced each other Nov. 6.

All in all, not a fun year to be one of the guys in those ugly blazers.

Many bowls are already living precariously, like the Holiday Bowl, a nearly 50-year-old San Diego institution, which reported $1.4 million in negative net assets on its 2024 tax return. The tourism association that runs the bowl explored moving its 2025 game to Saudi Arabia. Or the ReliaQuest (formerly Outback) Bowl, whose operator, the Tampa Bay Bowl Association, ran a combined deficit of $1.6 million in 2023 and 2024. The bowl used to regularly fill 60,000-plus seats at Raymond James Stadium but drew in the 30,000s in those two seasons.

The majority are still doing quite well, but all of their futures are currently hanging in limbo. All 35 non-CFP bowls’ contracts with their conference partners are up after this season, but they’ve been unable to sign new ones because the commissioners still haven’t agreed whether to expand the Playoff field from 12 to 16.

And of course, if and when the CFP gets bigger, the other bowls will become even more marginalized. If the No. 11 team is too distraught to play in the Pop-Tarts Bowl today, good luck convincing teams 17-20 to fill the Citrus Bowl in 2029.

… Read full story here …

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CBS Sports: Does the Notre Dame opt-out prove bowls are on their way out?

From CBS Sports … On January 1, 1902, Michigan and Stanford met in the Tournament East-West Game. The game, which Michigan won 49-0, was the first of its kind: a postseason invitational game between two schools that played in different leagues. In other words, it was a bowl game. It was the first of its kind, and also the last of its kind, until 1916, when the game became an annual event. It’s now a tradition that has carried on for over 100 years. The Tournament East-West Game continues too. It changed its name to The Rose Bowl in 1923.

Bowls have been around nearly as long as the sport of college football itself, but it seems their time is nearing an end. It wasn’t long ago when players began opting out of bowl games to preserve their health and future value as athletes, but the first ones to do it were the players likely to be high draft picks. Then the mid-round players joined in.

Now teams are doing it.

Kansas State and Iowa State received $500,000 fines from the Big 12 for opting out of bowl games this year. Both teams felt that, in the wake of losing their coaches and transitioning to new leadership, they had better ways to spend their time than preparing for a bowl game with a makeshift coaching staff and a roster full of players uncertain about what their futures held for them at the college level.

Then Notre Dame joined in on the fun. The Fighting Irish, caught up in their feelings over being left out of the College Football Playoff, made the decision to end their season altogether. They took on the posture of righteous indignation, but who among us hasn’t been guilty of telling themselves anything they have to in order to justify their feelings?

Regardless of the motivation or how anybody feels about it, what matters is the precedent set by the schools. The first player to opt out of a game let other players know it was OK to do so, and more followed suit. More programs will too.

Now, to be clear, this won’t become the norm. I don’t think we’ll see a bunch of bowl-eligible teams opting out in the coming years, at least not the 10-2 ones. It will mostly be teams dealing with changes in leadership, but the more teams that skip out on bowls, the more we’ll realize how little the bowls matter now.

For many college football fans, bowls have always been part of the experience. Events as fundamental to the sport as bands playing fight songs, tailgates and rivalry trophies. But most of those traditions have been warped and chipped away at by the College Football Playoff. The desire to maximize revenue and create an enticing product has destroyed the conferences most of those same fans grew up with. Bowls are no different. The College Football Playoff has damaged the value of the bowl games more than players opting out of them ever could.

… Continue reading story here …

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December 7th

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Big 12/Pac-12 Bowl matchups set 

From ESPN … All times Eastern Time …

Thursday, Jan. 1

CFP Quarterfinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl
James Madison-Oregon winner vs. No. 4 Texas Tech
Hard Rock Stadium (Miami Gardens, Florida)
Noon, ESPN

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Bucked Up LA Bowl December 13th 

Boise State vs. Washington
SoFi Stadium (Inglewood, California)
8 p.m., ABC

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl – December 22nd 

Washington State vs. Utah State 
Albertsons Stadium (Boise, Idaho)
2 p.m., ESPN

Pop-Tarts Bowl – December 27th 

Georgia Tech vs. BYU
Camping World Stadium (Orlando, Florida)
3:30 p.m., ABC

Kinder’s Texas Bowl – December 27th 

LSU vs. Houston
NRG Stadium (Houston)
9:15 p.m., ESPN

Valero Alamo Bowl – December 30th 

USC vs. TCU
Alamodome (San Antonio)
9 p.m., ESPN

Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl – December 31st 

Arizona State vs. Duke
Sun Bowl Stadium (El Paso, Texas)
2 p.m., CBS

SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl – December 31st 

Nebraska vs. Utah
Allegiant Stadium (Las Vegas)
3:30 p.m., ESPN

AutoZone Liberty Bowl – January 2nd 

Navy vs. Cincinnati
Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium (Memphis, Tennessee)
4:30 p.m., ESPN

Trust & Will Holiday Bowl – January 2nd 

Arizona vs. SMU
Snapdragon Stadium (San Diego)
8 p.m., Fox

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Iowa State (8-4) and Kansas State (6-6) opt out of bowls; face $500,000 fines

From ESPN … The Big 12 is fining Iowa State and Kansas State $500,000 each for turning down bowl invitations. The two schools made their decisions following coaching changes last week.

The Cyclones finished at 8-4, while the Wildcats ended at 6-6. Iowa State coach Matt Campbell left last week for the same role at Penn State, while Kansas State coach Chris Klieman retired. Both schools have named replacements in Jimmy Rogers (Iowa State) and Collin Klein (Kansas State) but will not pursue postseason opportunities.

“While the Conference acknowledges the difficult timing around coaching changes, the Big 12 is responsible for fulfilling its contractual obligations to its bowl partners,” the conference said in a statement Sunday.

The bowl replacements will be determined according to the 5-7 teams with the highest Academic Progress Rates. Rice, Auburn and Florida State are among the replacement possibilities.

Iowa State players met Sunday with administrators and elected not to play.

“The administrative staff and coaches respect and support the players’ decision,” Cyclones athletic director Jamie Pollard said in a statement. “Our student-athletes have had an incredible season and we are grateful for their leadership as we worked through this process with them today.”

Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor said he made the decision after speaking with the team’s leadership council and Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark.

“This decision was not taken lightly, but with our coaching staff transition and several uncertainties regarding player availability, I felt it was not in our best interest to try to field a team that was not representative of Kansas State University,” Taylor said in a statement. “We applaud this group for fighting back from a 2-4 record to lead us to bowl eligibility yet again, and we are happy that our seniors were able to go out on top with a victory inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium.”

Iowa State has appeared in bowl games in seven of the past eight seasons under Campbell. Kansas State will not participate in the postseason for the first time since 2020.

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December 6th

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Texas Tech wins first conference title since 1955: “If we are gonna buy a team, why not the best?”

From ESPN … Once again, Jacob Rodriguez and Texas Tech were asked questions about all the money invested in their team this season.

The Red Raiders so far have gotten quite a return on those millions of dollars spent in the transfer portal. They have their first Big 12 Conference title and are going to the College Football Playoff for the first time, almost certainly with a first-round bye.

“If we are gonna buy a team, why not be the best,” Rodriguez said after No. 5 Tech’s 34-7 win over 11th-ranked BYU in the Big 12 championship game Saturday.

“Man, I can’t wait to see where the CFP is going to put us,” fourth-year Tech coach Joey McGuire said. “We’re looking forward to the bye. You know, we’re hoping and expecting that’s where we’ll be.”

Rodriguez had 13 tackles and Ben Roberts overcame an early injury scare with two interceptions in the second half when Tech (12-1, No. 4 CFP) forced four turnovers while holding BYU to a season-low 200 total yards. The two linebackers have both played more than 40 games for a defense transformed by additions in the transfer portal.

Behren Morton, who made his 35th start but didn’t play in Tech’s only loss this year at Arizona State, threw two TDs to Coy Eakin and Stone Harrington kicked four field goals.

Texas Tech, one of only six schools that have been part of all 30 Big 12 seasons, likely prevented the league from getting a second team in the playoff.

“You can’t make a lot of mistakes like we did. We’ve learned it again. That’s the second time this year,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “I’ve said it before, I think they’re the best team in the country and I’m confirming it. They’re the best team in the country. It just so happens that we had to play the best team in the country twice.”

The only losses by BYU (11-2, No. 11 CFP) are to the Red Raiders, including 29-7 in Lubbock four weeks ago. The Cougars, who likely needed to be in the top 10 for a playoff spot, won’t move up when the final CFP rankings come out Sunday.

… Continue reading story here …

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December 5th 

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Iowa State loses head coach Matt Campbell to Penn State; Iowa State hires Washington State head coach Jimmy Rogers

From CBS Sports … After whiffing on numerous candidates, Penn State has finally completed its long, winding coaching search by landing on a prominent name in the Big 12. The Nittany Lions have reached an agreement to hire Iowa State’s Matt Campbell pending board approval, sources confirmed to CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello and Matt Zenitz on Friday evening.

Campbell has achieved unprecedented success, posting a 72-55 record throughout a decade-long tenure at Iowa State and has been tied to various coaching searches across the Big Ten on numerous occasions. Each time his name popped up as a candidate for a premier job, though, Campbell elected to remain with the Cyclones. Prior to his stint at Iowa State, Campbell made a name for himself as a head coach by going 35-15 across five seasons leading Toledo in the MAC.

Campbell’s track record of maximizing his program’s potential indicates he could thrive with the Nittany Lions. Campbell inherited a perennial middling operation when he took the Iowa State job in 2016, and he quickly turned his program into one of the Big 12’s most consistent winners. After a three-win debut, the Cyclones posted just one losing season from 2017 onward. They racked up five consecutive bowl appearances for the first time in school history and reached their first conference championship game in an 11-win 2024 campaign.

Sources told CBS Sports that Campbell is expected to retain interim coach Terry Smith on the staff. Smith has been at Penn State since 2014. Iowa State wasted little time in finding Campbell’s successor by hiring Washington State’s Jimmy Rogers as its next head coach later Friday.

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