named OU or Texas:
Baylor - 2 (ESPN vs TCU, ABC vs Texas)
Iowa St - 2 (ABC vs TAMU, ESPN2 vs OSU)
KU - 1 (ESPN vs OU)
KSU - 3 (ESPNU vs Miami, ESPN vs Baylor, ABC vs Mizzou)
Mizzou - 2 (ABC vs KSU, ESPN vs ASU)
OkState - 5 (ESPN vs AZ, ESPN2 vs TAMU, ABC vs Texas, ESPN2 vs ISU, ABC vs OU)
TAMU - 4 (ESPN2 vs OSU, ESPN vs Ark, ABC vs ISU, ESPN vs Texas)
TT - 1 (ABC vs OU)
anyone notice a trend? Texas and OU rule this conference. THey are on ABC/ESPN almost every week. when the rest of the conference plays them that's great exposure, when they don't it's pretty bad. bottom line only ONE team in the mighty big-12 will be on ABC/ESPN/2/U more than BYU's MINIMUM contract and it's TOP TEN Ok State. as currently scheduled BYU will be on ESPN/2/U TEN times during the regular season that is MORE THAN top ten OkState AND #21 TAMU COMBINED. in fact our coverage is rivaled only by OU and Texas themselves.
i'm not saying the big-12 is bad and i realize we won't have 10 games on ESPN every year if we keep playing like this. i get it. but going to the big 12 will mean we are on ABC/ESPN when we play OU and/or Texas and then maybe one or two other times max during the year.
we also need to separate "theory" vs. "reality". in "theory" an 8-4 team can win the Big12 championship game (let's assume they go back to 12 and have one) and get to the Fiesta Bowl. in "reality" the big-12 has NEVER sent a team with more than 2 losses to a BCS bowl game. is BYU ready to go 10-2 in the big 12 and then win a CCG? is that really easier than going 12-0 or 11-1 as an Indy and trying to get in? if BYU was in big-12 during the last 5 seasons we would be in the same place we are now...no BCS bowl games. period. i hope that changes but i'm not willing to jump into the big-12 so i can be on ABC once during the year when we play UT and then sit on FX or FX regional the rest of the year, go 7-5 and go to some other non-BCS bowl that may or may not be slightly better than whatever we have lined up as Indy.