At first glance, a report that a college football program is trying to find replacement games after two Power Five conferences backed out of nonconference games doesn’t seem like a huge story.
TCU was scheduled to play California on September 5 of this year, but when the Pac-12 moved to a conference-only game schedule, that game was canceled. Of course TCU would want to replace that game…
Well, in a normal situation, it would, but as we keep reminding ourselves, this is NOT a normal situation.
It’s a big deal that TCU, according to reports on Wednesday, is talking to Alabama (whose game against USC was canceled) and a few other schools about replacing the California game.
Why is it such an important story that TCU is at least entertaining the possibility of replacing this one game on its schedule, and talking to Texas A&M, BYU, and Liberty in addition to Bama?
Let’s realize that the Big 12 — whose schedule plans haven’t been revealed yet, and whose future we explored on Wednesday — shares a nine-game conference schedule with the Pac-12. If TCU is even CONSIDERING a replacement nonconference opponent for Sept. 5, that means, at the very least, the Horned Frogs are hoping to play at least 10 games this season.
TCU has a home date against Prairie View of the FCS plus its annual “Iron Skillet” rivalry game against SMU.
The mere EXISTENCE of rumors about TCU discussing a game with other nonconference opponents allows for the possibility that Big 12 teams are thinking about playing a full 12-game season. The mere existence of rumors of Alabama and Texas A&M being involved in talks with TCU similarly suggests that the SEC is thinking of going beyond a conference-only format and playing 10 or more games this season.
If you look at the bigger picture, it becomes apparent that a seemingly dry — and maybe, to some, utterly predictable — report about TCU exploring a replacement game with Alabama or Texas A&M is a really big story.
If the SEC and Big 12 aren’t just intent on playing nonconference games, but are intent on playing a FULL SEASON, while the Big Ten and Pac-12 have committed to conference-only schedules with reduced-length seasons, that has huge implications for many different issues:
- The College Football Playoff
- The way Group of Five schools view the different Power Five conferences as future scheduling partners
- The ways the different Power Five conferences relate (the ACC being removed from this discussion since it is the one conference which hasn’t been mentioned in this article).
No one knows if the Big 12 and SEC can in fact play a full season, but if TCU is talking to Bama and A&M, it certainly leaves that as a possibility, which creates a gulf between the Big 12 and SEC on one hand, and the Big Ten and Pac-12 on the other.
That could certainly shake up college football in the future, in ways we can’t even appreciate now.