MORGANTOWN — At a time when we all probably should have been looking at the world of college athletics through our bifocals, we have been peering through a monocle.

That monocle in these parts was centered upon only the Big 12, its role and place in the rapidly changing sports scene, which has become a scene dominated by the SEC and Big Ten.

The truth is the Big 12 does not operate as a single entity and the end game for the major sports played by the major conferences which end in major tournaments is that must grow out of an entity encompassing the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC along with Notre Dame and with the Group of 5 very much a part of it.

Conference expansion and realignment have changed the face of college sports far more than any application of Plexaderm can erase and while the Big 12 has actively made adjustments on its own under the now nearly three-year-old leadership of Commissioner Brett Yormark, it would seem that it must move to some kind of partnership or alliance with the ACC to actively assure its place in the power structure.

The college football scene, which has been dominated by the SEC and Big Ten, is moving toward a new format that would include an expanded playoff structure and seems ready to adopt for 2026 a 16-team field instead of the 12-team field now in place.

There is a conflict over this with the SEC and Big Ten trying to exert their power to bring about a structure for the CFP that would give them more automatic qualifiers at the expense of other conferences while the Big 12 and SEC are pushing for a format that is known as the 5+11 model which would give the five highest rated conference champions AQs and then add 11 at-large spots.

That way, each of the four Power Four conferences would have one AE with the highest rated Group of 5 conference getting the other spot.

This is developing into a battle and Yormark, who maintains he’s “incredibly bullish on the future of the Big 12,” understands that but strongly believes in the 5+11 model.

“I think there is real momentum for 5+11, certainly the public is voting for it, which I think is critically important,” Yormark said during a media ZOOM call out of the Big 12 business meetings in Orlando, Fla., on Friday. “Yes, the Big Ten and SEC are leading the discussions, but with leading the discussions there’s a great responsibility that goes with it to do what’s right for college football and not to do anything that benefits just two conferences.

“I have a lot of faith in the process and I think we will end in the right place.”

His vision, as he has stated previously, is the 5+11 format is about more than just being favorable to his league.

“I like 16. More access is better for the Big 12, for sure. But it’s also about fairness. There’s been a lot of conversation out there about AQs. I know I speak on behalf of our coaches and athletic directors, we want to earn it on the field,” Yormark said.

“I’m adamant about that and I think a 5+11 format does that. It’s fair. It’s what our fans want. They don’t want an invitational. They want a true playoff system. We have that right now. I thought last year the 12-team format was fantastic. It played out exactly as people had hoped.

“It was very dramatic. It created a lot of interest. Going to 16 teams I think there’s more of that. I think we need to take these multiple AQs out of the conversation and concentrate on what’s right for college football and I think 5+11 does that.”

Earlier, Yormark and ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips made statements about the motivation of the SEC and Big Ten standing against the 5+11 format that were taken by SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey making that seem like a self-serving position rather than one for the good of all college football.

“I don’t lecture others about good of the game and coordinating press releases about good of the game, OK. You can issue your press statement, but I’m actually looking for ideas to move us forward,” Sankey said.

Asked about that on Friday, Yormark shot back:

“I agree with Greg’s follow-up statement, that I would be entertained by it and I was. The neat thing about our relationship between the commissioners is we’re going to battle; that’s part of life. We’re going to agree to disagree. We’re kind of in that mode right now, but I have a lot of respect for my peers and we’ll wind up in the right place.”

The Big 12 a year ago showed itself more dominant in basketball than in football and March Madness seems destined to grow to 72 teams as soon as they can get it through.

“We got better. Expansion in general made us better,” Yormark said of basketball. “I don’t want to just reference the Four Corner schools (Arizona, Arizona State, BYU and Utah). Expansion before that, where we brought in a Cincinnati, Houston, BYU and UCF. We’ve gotten stronger across the board in all sports … Olympic sports, women’s and men’s basketball and football.

“But as we focus on basketball — specifically, the men — we got considerably better. We brought in Arizona, obviously, and Houston over the past two years. We know what Houston did last year, going to the NCAA Championship.

“I look forward to a great season of basketball. I talked to our coaches, both women’s and men’s, and they are very excited. They’ve been very active in the portal. They have invested in all the right ways. They know basketball is very important to this conference.”

But pushing things forward that will benefit Big 12 teams such as West Virginia, it would seem to make sense that as the Big Ten and SEC seem to move toward working in concert, especially in scheduling where they would play their non-conference games against each other, the Big 12 should find a way to do likewise with the ACC.

The truth is the Big 12 and ACC are far more alike than the Big Ten and SEC with the schools far more similar.

To see WVU able to work its schedule with games against Virginia Tech, Pitt, even Duke or North Carolina in a companion league that would stretch everyone’s reach from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts would create a powerful media presence and recruiting field reach that would allow member teams in both conferences to compete more evenly with the SEC and Big Ten.

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