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          Big 12 Blog

          Big 12 morning links

          • Jake Trotter, ESPN Staff WriterOct 30, 2014, 08:00 AM ET
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              Jake Trotter covers the Cleveland Browns for ESPN. He joined ESPN in 2011 covering college football. Before that, he worked at The Oklahoman, Austin American-Statesman and Middletown (Ohio) Journal newspapers. You can follow him on Twitter @Jake_Trotter.
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          Madison Bumgarner is an absolute boss. Still, it was a great ride for K.C. And a great World Series.

          • The Oklahoman's Jenni Carlson caught up with Big 12 commish Bob Bowlsby while he was in OKC to speak at a luncheon. Sorry expansionists, but Bowlsby doesn't see the Big 12 adding schools anytime soon. "We’re distributing about $25 million per school through our distributable revenue, so anybody that would be considered for expansion in our league would have to bring at least pro-rata value," he said. "I don’t know that there are a lot of obvious candidates out there." BYU, possibly. But good luck finding anyone else available out there that meets that standard.

          • The Dallas Morning News' Kevin Sherrington thinks Baylor needs to start scheduling better in the nonconference. I couldn't agree more. Debuting at No. 13 in the College Football Playoff Rankings, the Bears were clearly penalized for a soft nonconference slate that included SMU, Northwestern State and Buffalo. With that schedule, Baylor left itself with almost no margin for a loss. And anymore in college football, it's very difficult to go through a season undefeated. The Bears have some work to do with their future scheduling. That is, if they want to be part of the playoff anytime soon.

          • The Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Jimmy Burch makes the interesting point that the Big 12 race could easily end in a multi-team logjam at the top of the standings. So much for "One True Champion." It's not unthinkable that TCU, Kansas State, Baylor, West Virginia and Oklahoma could all end up 7-2 in the conference. In that case, the highest-ranked Big 12 co-champion in the final playoff rankings would be sent to the highest-profile bowl, which in all likelihood would not include one of the playoff semifinals. While a 7-2 five-way tie would underscore the impressive depth of the conference, it would be much better for the league if TCU or Kansas State or Baylor or whoever ran the table and made the playoff.

          • Despite a disappointing 5-2 start, nothing is wrong with Oklahoma football, in the opinion of The Oklahoman's Berry Tramel. It's just that the Big 12 has gotten better. Berry is right about the latter. TCU and West Virginia have finally arrived in Year 3 in the league. Oklahoma State and Baylor have ascended in recent years. And Bill Snyder is still doing wizard-like things at Kansas State. That said, my opinion is that the Sooners are at a level as a program that they should seriously contend for the national title every five years. That doesn't mean win it. That doesn't even mean making the playoff. That just means being on the short list of contenders in November, which Oklahoma really hasn't been since 2008. To me, that should be the standard at Oklahoma. Regardless of how good the rest of the Big 12 is.

          • Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy admitted in an interview with Campus Insiders' Seth Davis that he once tried to trademark his legendary catch phrase, "I'm a man. I'm 40." Gundy probably could have made a lot of money, with bumper stickers, birthday cards and T-shirts.