Baylor battles its own conference for Playoff berth

WACO, Texas — At the front of the podium, Baylor's players were showing off the Big 12 championship trophy. But the fireworks were at the back, where Baylor coach Art Briles and Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby engaged in animated conversation. At one point, he jabbed a finger at the commissioner. And later, he was still jabbing.

"I'm not obligated to him," Briles said. "I'm obligated to Baylor University and our football team. We just happen to be a part of the Big 12."

After beating Kansas State 38-27 Saturday night, the Bears just happen to be the Big 12's champions, again, for the second consecutive season. Or they were co-champions with TCU. It depended on which side of the presentation you were on — and with a possible berth in the College Football Playoff on the line, it probably shouldn't have surprised anyone when the simmering controversy finally boiled over.

What does head-to-head mean? In a round-robin schedule, Why doesn't it determine the champion? And with a playoff berth potentially at stake, why wouldn't the league name one?

Moments earlier, when Bowlsby was introduced and presented the trophy to Briles, many fans booed, no doubt because earlier in the day, 90 miles north in Fort Worth, Bowlsby had presented an identical trophy to TCU. When he repeated the presentation at McLane Stadium, fans chanted: "One True Champion! One True Champion!" — a reference to the league's slogan, and to the Bears' 61-58 victory over the Horned Frogs on Oct. 11.

When Briles took the microphone, he sounded a similar message:

"As the Big 12 states, there's 'one true champion' — it's the Baylor Bears! It's the Baylor Bears!"

And then the coach found the commissioner on the backside of the celebration, and made his case once more. Asked for the gist of the conversation, Briles said:

"If you're gonna slogan around and say there's 'one true champion,' and then all of the sudden you're gonna go out the back door instead of going out the front?

"I mean, don't say one thing and do another. That's my whole deal."

In a phone interview, Bowlsby denied the conversation was heated, and said he had trouble hearing Briles above the din.

"First of all, it was crowded and noisy," Bowlsby told Paste BN Sports. "He was asking me if they were the sole champion in the Big 12. I said no, two teams were co-champions. I don't have the authority to change that. Our athletic directors voted (on the policy)."

But the reason Briles was exorcised went beyond symbolism. The competition isn't just within the Big 12. It's for a berth in the Playoff. And it now includes No. 5 Ohio State, which blew out Wisconsin to win the Big Ten Championship. There's a very real danger that the Big 12 might get shut out of the field.

Co-champions might mean no champions.

Briles said by not designating a champion, the Big 12 is hurting the Bears in the eyes of the selection committee.

"There's no question about it," Briles said. "It makes it easy on the committee people in there. Yeah, if Jeff Long is sitting there and he asks, 'Who's representing the Big 12? … And he says, 'We're sending Baylor, that's our representative.' They've got to look long and hard at that, because they know they've won one of the toughest leagues in the United States of America."

It could be true of TCU, too. Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw said it "would be extremely disappointing" if the Big 12 didn't get into the playoff — though he added: "I'm interested in one team."

At one point during his postgame interview session, Briles stopped, wondered aloud if he might get fined — presumably for violating the Big 12's sportsmanship code — and who might pay for it if he did. A voice boomed from the back of the room, where several of Baylor's big boosters are routinely invited guests for postgame new conferences.

Bob Simpson, proud graduate and billionaire co-owner of the Texas Rangers, yelled: "Let's get our money's worth!"

And Briles continued his passionate pitch for the Bears — and against the idea of co-champions. He brought a single sheet of typed talking points to the news conference, and suggested comparing the résumés of the College Football Playoff's current Top 10.

"Take the names off of 'em, all right?" Briles said. "Look at the résumés, and then find four that are better."

Briles made a direct pitch to selection committee members Tom Osborne, Barry Alvarez and Tyrone Willingham, all former coaches.

"My case would be coach Osborne, who is a Hall of Fame coach — if Nebraska had our résumé, would you have 'em in there? Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin, if Wisconsin had a résumé, would you have 'em in the final four? Tyrone Willingham, Stanford. Washington. Notre Dame.

"If they had our résumé, would you vote 'em in the final four? That would be my case."

With the advent of the Playoff, this might just be the first of an annual occurrence. This year, it's Baylor and TCU locked in competition that goes beyond the league, and extends to Ohio State.

The Bear's 11-1 record is the same as TCU, and it included the win against the Horned Frogs back in October at McLane Stadium.

"People say you did it this way or that way," Briles said. "You did it. If you play Tiger Woods and he beats you four strokes, he's four strokes better than you. I could say I double-bogeyed one, I hit one out of bounds, but it doesn't matter. You either win or you don't win.

"If you beat him by three strokes, he'll man up, take his hat off, shake your hand and say you beat him. I mean, that's just the way it is. It's not subjective."

In a quieter moment after the news conference was over, Briles admitted: "Oklahoma's loss (Saturday to Oklahoma State) hurt us. We'd have had a win over a Top 5 team (TCU), a Top 10 (Kansas State) and a Top 15 or 20 (Oklahoma). Now, they're going to drop out of the rankings."

Whatever you think of the respective résumés of the contenders, the Bears can't — or won't — get past the on-field results. Long after the game was over Saturday night, the video board at McLane Stadium read:

"SETTLED ON THE FIELD"

Below were listed the scores of Baylor's victories against TCU, Kansas State and Oklahoma.

If that's not good enough — and especially if TCU doesn't get into the field, either — McCaw suggested the Big 12 might discuss changing its procedures, saying conversations among the league's athletic directors about whether to add a conference championship game could start as soon as Monday, when they're all in New York for the annual National Football Foundation festivities.

All of that is for later, and who knows where, if anywhere, it goes. Before that, for the Bears and the other contenders for the Playoff, is the announcement Sunday of the field. Briles said he hadn't been watching the weekly rankings, and didn't plan to watch the final selection show.

"I'll get told what happens," he said. "Me watching is not gonna make a difference. We did what we had to do."

On the field. But it's going to be settled in a board room. Which is why Briles politicked in every available forum.

"I've kept my mouth shut," Briles said, "because there was no teeth in anything I was saying until we won tonight."