If I'm reading everything right, the Big 12 (of only 10 teams) is the only major conference with a true round robin schedule. They have 10 teams, and 9 conference games. Since you can't play yourself during the regular season (but it's perfectly fine in the spring), it works out nicely for this former championship game based conference.
Even with 9 conference games, the Big 12 is a slow burn conference, because they have an extra week of games, which leads to an extra bye. Since this is a year where everyone gets at least 2 byes already because of where Labor Day fell on the calendar, the Big 12 teams get three weeks off during the year.
Texas Tech currently leads the conference with a 4-0 conference record, which means that mathematically, no team is eliminated until they get at least 5 losses.
Baylor (3-0) and Texas (3-0) are also undefeated in conference play. However, Baylor doesn't play TTU until mid-November, and then Texas in December, so the conference battle could continue deep into the season.
Oklahoma (3-1) needs Texas to lose at least 1, preferably two. Their next two games are against TTU and Baylor, so they will know really soon if they have a chance in the conference.
Oklahoma State (2-1) has one loss from West Virginia. They have yet to play any of the teams ahead of them, so they still control their own destiny.
West Virginia and TCU (both 1-3) probably have a distant chance at the conference title, but a lot of other teams need to lose.
Kansas State, Kansas, and Iowa State are all 0-3, and we don't need to worry about them until they win one, if they do. Of course, two of them is guaranteed to get a win, since they play each other.
With these round robin conferences, it can become more of a situation where you play it by ear as you go along.
No comments:
Post a Comment