The narrative separating college football’s powers, the SEC and Big Ten, from the Big 12 and ACC, has never been stronger. Texas Tech, heading into a Capital One Orange Bowl clash versus Oregon, has a grand opportunity to help change that narrative.
“Yeah, I can see how this will show how strong a conference the Big 12 is,” linebacker Ben Roberts said to the media Saturday. Roberts is coming off a Most Outstanding Player performance in the Big 12 Championship where he had two interceptions. “I believe that it is a strong conference. I think this is very important.”
Journeyman Texas Tech EDGE says “ball is ball”
Around the building, there’s possibly no one better to assess the talent across college football than edge rusher Romello Height. Having played in all the power conferences except the Big Ten, Height has been around good football his entire career.
“Yes sir, I’ve been seeing a lot of that,” Height said when asked if he feels Texas Tech can make a statement for the Big 12. “The Big 12 is good football. And I’ve played in the ACC, the SEC, Pac-12, I’ve been everywhere.”
Momentum is already riding high for the Big 12 following two resounding wins Saturday. Conference runner-up BYU mounted a come-from-behind win, 25-22, over Georgia Tech in the Pop-Tart Bowl. Houston found a way to squeak out a victory, 38-35, in the Texas Bowl over LSU.
At that, there’s still room for the rest of the conference to make some noise. Excluding the Orange Bowl, the Big 12 has five bowl games left with four coming against power conference opponents. There may be more politics and financial reasons that would hinder the narrative to flip entirely. However, it would certainly do the Big 12 more favors to keep winning these P4 matchups.
“I’ve done been in it all and this is good football. Football is football, everywhere,” Height added. “Like people try to knock the Canadian league or the XFL, but ball is ball. I just feel like football is football in any conference. Ball is ball. And the Big 12 plays good football.”
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