Big 12 Football 2017 schedule released: 3 takeaways
By Jack Crosby
The 2017 Big 12 Football schedule was released on Tuesday, and three things really stand out the most
We haven’t even closed out this 2016 college football season, with a full slate of bowl games and the College Football Playoff still in front of us, but it’s never too early to take a look ahead to what we have coming next season in 2017. This was a message clearly received by the folks at the Big 12 Conference.
On Tuesday, the full conference slate of football games was released, and of course it has a lot of folks out there talking. If there is one thing that we know about the Big 12 it’s that, for better or worse, they find a way to get people to talk.
With the release just taking place on Tuesday afternoon, what are some points from the 2017 Big 12 college football schedule that stand out the most?
Tom Herman has a pretty rough stretch there
Without question, one of the biggest stories heading into the 2017 college football season will be the debut of new Texas Longhorns head football coach Tom Herman. After three sub-par years, Texas decided that Charlie Strong was not cutting the mustard and a change was in order. After two overall impressive seasons with the Houston Cougars that included a Peach Bowl win over Florida State following the 2015 season, Herman showed he just might be the man for this difficult job.
In his first season with Texas, Herman will have a six-game stretch where he’ll give a good indication as to whether or not he is indeed the savior that Longhorns fans perceive him to be. Have a look, via FBSchedules.com.
Sure, you can laugh right off the bat at Iowa State there, but we have seen time and time again that Jack Trice Stadium is a difficult place to play at times. And you never know which Iowa State team you’re going to see on any give date there. So, don’t just go ahead and assume it’s a gimme for Herman and the Longhorns.
Following that, they face three consistently good teams in Kansas State, Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry and Oklahoma State, then have two straight road trips to Waco and Fort Worth. How Herman and the Longhorns come out of this will say a lot about this team and where they’re headed in the future.
Bedlam Series not closing out the season?
We are creatures of habit when it comes to college football, as we see some of the same games during the same time period each year. One of these games is the annual Bedlam Series between the Oklahoma Sooners and Oklahoma State Cowboys. Each college football campaign, these two close out the regular season against one another, and for the last two seasons, it has been a de facto Big 12 title game. You know that when the end of the regular season hits, these two will battle it out, just as they did two weeks ago in Norman.
Well, that won’t be the case in 2017. When you take a look at the 2017 Big 12 schedule, that’s one of the things that immediately jumps out of the screen at you. Oklahoma vs Oklahoma State on Nov. 4? What … WHY?!?!
In case you’re wondering, the last time this game was played even earlier than the month of November was back in 2004, when the Sooners came out with a 38-35 win on October 30.
But, college football is a constantly changing and ever-evolving sport, so some traditions have to take a backseat sooner or later. With the conference probably not wanting a rematch between the two within a week of the regular season meeting, you can certainly see where the conference is coming from in a sense.
Still, doesn’t mean we have to like it!
Hey, welcome back, Big 12 Championship Game!
Now of course, we can’t sit here and talk about the 2017 Big 12 Football schedule without glaring directly at that one game slated for December 2 — the Big 12 Championship Game inside AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
While it was evident before, when the Big 12 –specifically one-loss Baylor and one-loss TCU– was left out of the inaugural College Football Playoff back in 2014, it was made crystal clear that the conference needed to bring back an annual title game. The last time the Big 12 had a football title game was in 2010 before Nebraska and Colorado bolted for the Big Ten and Pac-12 respectively.
But this past fall the conference announced that they would be bringing back an annual championship game, however, they would not be expanding the conference as well. While some believe that it would be a necessity to expand, the conference chose to stick with the 10-team format they currently have. Furthermore, the conference was not split into divisions, rather the two teams that make it to Arlington beginning in 2017 will be the two programs who finish 1-2 when all is said and done in the regular season.
Will the Big 12’s cause be helped significantly by the addition of this game? That can’t be answered yet, but it will be in 2017 more than likely when this Big 12 schedule that was released on Tuesday is complete.