Texas’s FRISCO (KSL.com) Brett Yormark, the third-year commissioner of the Big 12, looked more at ease than he had in the past two years as he got ready to make his opening statement at football media days.
Even though college football is always changing, Yormark joked with the media with a sense of familiarity and assurance. During his prepared remarks and Q&A session, he continued to do so.
It was all about going forward with showcasing his conference’s strength and power in the world of collegiate sports in Year 3, while his first two seasons were consumed by a constantly shifting landscape and a danger to viability.
And one thing was for sure: Yormark is putting even more effort into the Big 12’s future.
According to Yormark, we are still focused on succeeding in this new era of collegiate athletics. Our football product still has to be strengthened. We’re determined to keep growing and investing. And once more, I think we’ll be America’s deepest football conference. We provide a more balanced competition environment than any other league.
Getting the conference ready for the College Football Playoff, which is anticipated to grow to 14 or 16 teams following the 2025 season, is one aspect of that. Yormark restated the conference’s preferred 5+11 model, which he referred to as the “right model” that allows teams to earn it on the field.
Speaking about a different approach that would ensure the conferences set auto-bids, Yormark stated, “We don’t need a professional model because we are not the NFL.” We have to behave like college football. Nothing compares to college football, and we must preserve its unique qualities while acting in the best interests of the game’s supporters.
The Big 12 might not always benefit from that 5+11 model. Even while Yormark acknowledged that it might not be the ideal option for the Big 12 right now, the team still wants to earn it on the field when considering the long-term effects of the adjustments.
Although he acknowledged that there is an ongoing audit to determine how they can modernize and contemporize, as well as how they use data and how certain metrics can be more heavily weighted, he stated that he has a lot of faith in the selection process and does not think the committee inherently puts the Big 12 at a disadvantage.
I am confident that the Big 12 will submit several bids for the College Football Playoffs this season and demonstrate once more that we are a formidable opponent. “Yormark said.”
The Big 12 has bragged about its parity in recent years, which Yormark thinks is beneficial for the conference, but he thinks it’s crucial that a few schools stand out as elites when discussing the nation’s best teams.
“I believe we are the best in the country when you think about how deep we are top to bottom,” Yormark said. “It starts with parity and being competitive top to bottom.” However, I do think that in the long run, some institutions must succeed, and I think we’re getting there.
In order to alleviate some of that, the league chose to eliminate the preseason media poll in order to avoid putting teams at a disadvantage in the age of high roster turnover.
According to Yormark, Arizona State was at a disadvantage last season because they were selected 16th and went on to win the conference.
Again, with roster management and the transfer site, nobody truly knows what they have until they get onto the field, so we don’t want to put any of our institutions at a disadvantage, he said. And I’m glad we made the choice because I believe it was the best one for us.
