WVU’s Path To The Big 12 Title Game
Sean Taylor
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With a Big 12 Championship Game this year it opens some doors for the Mountaineers. WVU’s path to the Big 12 title game isn’t as tough as you may think.
Adding the conference title game was a necessary step. The Big 12 champion has been left out of the College Football Playoffs two of the last three years. At the end of the 2014 season Baylor and TCU were both 11-1 and without the conference title game they were left out in the cold. Ohio State was able to crush Wisconsin in the Big 10 title game and propel themselves to the national title.
Let’s get into what the Mountaineers need to do to get to the Big 12 title game. The first thing is that winning out is a given. If WVU loses a game you can pretty much say goodbye to a chance at the conference title.
The first scenario involves a rematch between WVU and TCU in the Big 12 Championship Game. This scenario involves TCU going to Oklahoma and pulling out a win. The second condition is Iowa State getting it back together. A West Virginia win over Oklahoma gives them three losses and makes West Virginia tied with Iowa State who the Mountaineers own a tiebreaker over. TCU is in the driver’s seat with one loss.
The second scenario is much more complex. It involves four teams being tied with two losses. To get there the Sooners will defeat TCU and Iowa State will take down Oklahoma State. The four teams with two losses are Oklahoma, TCU, Iowa State and West Virginia.
This tie-breaking procedure will be put in place:
“If three or more teams are tied, steps 1 through 4 will be followed until a determination is made. If only two teams remain tied after any step, the winner of the regular season game between the two tied teams shall prevail.
1. The Conference records of the three or more teams will be compared against each other in a “mini round-robin” format.”
So West Virginia and Iowa State would have 2-1 records against the other three teams while Oklahoma and TCU will be 1-2, giving the chance for a rematch of the Riot Bowl in the Big 12 title game between West Virginia and Iowa State.
While it’s no walk in the park the Mountaineers are not left out in the cold yet. And don’t discount the chances of other major upsets to come along and shake things up.