This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Being granted the option of staging a football championship game without expanding beyond 10 schools is a victory for the Big 12 Conference and a defeat for BYU.
A vote among the 10 conferences representing the Football Bowl Subdivision at the NCAA Convention in San Antonio "keeps us from being forced to expand," commissioner Bob Bowlsby told reporters Wednesday.
The timing of this issue seemed strange, with the vote coming soon after Big 12 member Oklahoma was included in the four-team College Football Playoff in 2015 — without the conference having held a championship game. Yet there is obviously some momentum within the conference for creating the extra game that would give the Big 12 a stronger presence and drive revenue for every school in the league.
In turn, BYU apparently was gaining favor as a potential expansion target if having 12 teams in two divisions was upheld as a requirement, via this week's vote. Who knows, the Big 12 may still choose to expand someday, anyway. But clearly, that won't happen right away.
So the Cougars will have to keep waiting for a Power 5 opportunity. Regardless of whether BYU is worthy of inclusion, the reality is that a conference would have to expand to create a spot for the Cougars. With no suggestion that the Pac-12 intends to expand, the Big 12 is the only other other option geographically.
Based on influential media opinions, there would have been a fair amount of support for the Big 12's adding BYU. But that was only if there were a driving force such as a 12-team minimum being enforced for any conference wanting to conduct a championship game.
BYU will enter its sixth season of football independence in 2016. The Cougars went 1-4 vs. Power 5 schools in 2015, including a loss to Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl. BYU is booked to meet six Power 5 opponents in the first eight games of 2016 — including Big 12 member West Virginia, at a neutral site in Landover, Md. The other Power 5 teams are Arizona, Utah and UCLA of the Pac-12, Michigan State of the Big Ten and Mississippi State of the Southeastern Conference.
The 2016 list is evidence that BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe has succeeded in booking high-level opponents. The Cougars' schedules always will be front-loaded, though, because fewer nonconference openings exist for other schools in November. And the bigger issue is trying to keep up financially with Power 5 schools.
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