The Pac 12, ACC, SEC, and Big 10 have combined for a 8-6 record in the 2023-24 bowl season, while the Big 12 is sitting at 5-2, with one of their losses being Oklahoma losing to Arizona. Oklahoma is on their way out to the SEC and Arizona is on their way into the Big 12. The impressive record comes as the Big 12 continues to push to cement itself as the third-best conference in the nation behind the Big 10 and SEC.
A single good bowl season won’t be enough to push the needle in any direction significantly, but with everything under the microscope as Florida State tries to leave the ACC and changes continue to happen across the league, the Big 12 chose a great time to make themselves look really good.
Do Bowl Games Still Matter?
Sometimes fans will claim that bowl games don’t matter outside of the College Football Playoff. This argument holds a bit of truth when you consider the amount of player opt-outs and transfers. As an example, the Orange Bowl between Florida State and Georgia is expected to have more than 40 players opt out. The Orange Bowl, a game which historically would have been a huge opportunity and program defining matchup is being viewed and treated as a JV game between two teams who couldn’t care less about being there. Tickets for the game are going for as low as $49. To give perspective, tickets to the Florida State vs Florida game were going for $200+.
There is no doubt that bowl games do matter for G5 teams. Seeing Texas State storm the field was a huge highlight of the bowl season. Seeing bowl games embrace quirky and fun entertainment such as the Pop-Tart Bowl or Duke’s Mayo Bowl have brought in more interest and have gone viral on social media.
Here we are… the edible mascot in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.. pic.twitter.com/0XgKGoXseS
— PJ Green (@PJGreenTV) December 29, 2023
These side shows are fun, but do bowl games matter? The answer has to be yes. Only four teams get to play for the Championship. Next year, that number jumps to 12, but that is still only 8.9% of the teams in college football. A league can’t survive when 91% of their teams aren’t playing in “meaningful games”.
At some point, the rules will change to make more players care about the bowl games. Whether that is moving when the transfer portal opens, or changing the NIL rules to favor players who play in the postseason, there will be some kind of change. There needs to be some kind of change.
Big 12 Seems to Still Value Bowl Games
Looking at other teams around the nation, the amount of significant players opting out of bowl games seems significantly higher in the other P5 conferences than in the Big 12. Just as an example, only Kansas State and Oklahoma (who is moving on) had quarterbacks opt-out of their bowl games out of nine teams. Other leagues such as the Pac 12 had nearly half of their teams have QB’s opt out.
The Big 12 has also been very vocal on social media celebrating wins and in many ways the league has come together to cheer other teams on as the winning record continues to get better. If Iowa State and Texas are both able to win their bowl games, the league would end up with a 80% win rate. Even with Texas and Oklahoma moving on, the narrative going into the offseason will be that the Big 12 plays great football and deserves to be considered in the top-tier of the college football.