Klatt Says The Big 12 Has a Committee Problem

The Big 12 has a college football playoff representation problem, says Joel Klatt of Fox Sports:

“There’s nine committee members that are 60 years or older. Okay, so nine of the twelve are 60 or older,” Klatt said of the committee.

Klatt suggests this older generation of committee members favors the pro-style, smash-mouth football of their youth.

Could the committee be biased to “pro style” offenses and naturally put the Big 12 at a disadvantage?

The Big 12, notoriously known for their up-tempo spread offenses, does not have a single team ranked higher in the CFP rankings than the AP poll. Meanwhile, the SEC, known for their traditional pro-style offense, is the only power five conference not to have a team ranked lower in the CFP rankings than the AP poll.

The Big 12 has just one representative on the committee in Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt.

“He’s sitting at the kids table,” Klatt said.

Eight of the 12 teams that run a pro-style, traditional offense are ranked higher in the CFP ranking than the AP Poll, Klatt says. Of the 13 teams ranked that run a modern offense, only three of those teams are ranked higher in the CFP rankings than the AP poll.

The Big 12 currently has four teams ranked in the CFP rankings with any sort of chance at reaching the playoff: No. 6 Oklahoma State, No. 7 Oklahoma, No. 10 Baylor and No. 18 TCU. The Cowboys lead the way with an undefeated record, while the Sooners, Bears and Horned Frogs each have one blemish on their resume.

Klatt sees the committee’s treatment of TCU over the last two years as further evidence to the committee’s mistreatment of the Big 12 conference as a whole:

TCU, a one-loss team, is ranked behind five two-loss teams in LSU, Florida State, Utah, Michigan and Stanford. Also ahead of TCU is one-loss Navy, a team outside of the “power five” conferences.

TCU once found themselves on the outside looking in as a member of the Mountain West Conference.

Despite the Frogs’ inclusion into a “big boy” conference, Mac Engel of the Fort Worth Star Telegram says nothing has really changed.

“No team has been punished more by the crooks who run the College Football Playoff selection process than TCU,” Engel wrote. “The Horned Frogs are in the Big 12, but they are treated as if they were still in the Mountain West Conference.”

And most, like Klatt and Engel, can agree injury-plagued TCU is not worthy of a top-four ranking or even a top-10 ranking at that. But the Horned Frogs No. 18 ranking, and dramatic drop from No.3 to No. 6 in the final week of 2014, perhaps represents a much larger issue for the Big 12 as a whole.

“No one thinks TCU is a top-10 team,” Engel wrote. “This is about the other slots, and the other bowl games that do have some effect on recruiting.”

And perhaps an effect on the Big 12’s perception and playoff chances.