JOHN HARRIS' THOUGHTS ON THE CHASE FOR THE REMATCH IN THE BIG 12
Heading into the first Saturday in November, the Chase for The Rematch in the Big 12 is still hot and heavy. Chase for The Rematch? Well, of course. The Big 12 plays nine conference games, a true round robin, so no matter which two teams tangle in Arlington for the Big 12 Championship game, it’s going to be a rematch.
But, I digress.
The Big 12 squads have seemingly separated themselves amongst the ten team group. There’s Tier one - the top three teams, consisting of West Virginia, Oklahoma and Texas. There’s tier two - the bowl eligibles with a few upsets to their name - Iowa State, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Baylor. Finally, there’s tier three - there’s still a chance for a bowl - TCU, Kansas and Kansas State, all 3-5 on the season.
The top three team round robin continues with a matchup between West Virginia and Texas in Austin on Saturday. Round one of the round robin took place in Dallas earlier in October as the Texas Longhorns held on for a classic win over the Oklahoma Sooners. A West Virginia win over Texas could set up a weird situation for the Big 12. If the Sooners and Mountaineers win out heading into their Thanksgiving Friday November 23rd meeting, there’s a chance they could meet in back-to-back weeks - once in Oklahoma and the following week in the Big 12 Championship game in Arlington.
Now, West Virginia visits Texas this Saturday, then faces TCU (home) and Oklahoma State (away) before Oklahoma comes calling. The Sooners face Texas Tech (away), Oklahoma State (home) and Kansas (home) before heading to Morgantown. Two teams stand in the way of a rematch at the end of the Big 12 campaign IF West Virginia wins this weekend - Iowa State and Texas. If West Virginia wins out, loses to Oklahoma in the regular season finale, Iowa State will rematch with Oklahoma if ISU wins out (which would include a win over Texas in Austin). If Oklahoma wins out, loses to a 7-1 West Virginia squad, the Texas Longhorns will rematch with West Virginia if the Longhorns win out.
Now, Texas Tech plays both Oklahoma and Texas in back-to-back weeks IN LUBBOCK, so the Red Raiders can throw a serious monkey wrench into The Rematch. Tech lost to Iowa State and West Virginia already, but wins over Texas and Oklahoma could start us down a path of tiebreakers that I don’t even want to consider at this point.
At least we have the month of November to figure it all out.
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