Big 12 commish: 10 teams no disadvantage

“Relative to the playoff, I don’t think one year makes a trend”, Bowlsby said.

“We’re choosing to manage it rather than prohibit it”, Bowlsby said.

When reminded about Oklahoma’s president David Boren declaring in June that the Big 12 conference is disadvantaged in the new playoff system without 12 teams, Bowlsby disagreed. “We were very close to having two teams in past year”. “We need to play better”. The NCAA now allows teams to have two contact practice days in addition to game day.

The Pac-12 actually spearheaded the major conference limited contact movement in 2013 when it said it would limit its contact practices to twice a week, something only the Ivy League was doing at the time.

Bowlsby also noted that the Big 12 had previously enacted policy beyond current NCAA Autonomy legislation empowering institutional medical staff with autonomy and the unchallengeable authority to determine management and return to play of any ill/injured student-athlete, and ensure that no coach serve as the primary supervisor for any medical provider, nor have hiring, retention and/or dismissal authority over that provider. Missing out has led to much angst and even renewed discussion of expansion in some quarters.

Smith said the one-full-contact-practice-a-week plan is what he did with the Vikings, and that in college it was usually two. “It’s a model that I’ve been following for the past four years”, West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen said.

“The National Football League has a rule that they only have 11 days of contact after the completion of preseason camp, ” Bowlsby said.

We could see fresher bodies come the end of November because they haven’t been beating each other up all week in practice.

Some conferences have banned fans from storming the court or field after a big victory, with large fines imposed for lack of compliance.

However, the Big 12 had plenty of egg on its face when it declared TCU and Baylor co-champions last season.

“It is what it is”, Bowlsby said. “That is a daunting task. And I think that’s exactly where we’re at”.