Much was made this week, whether in Dallas or off in Greensboro, North Carolina, or even Bristol, Connecticut, of the Big 12’s scheduling nuances. It has nine regular-season games, but that means it has the high visibility’s only true round robin format.

That, though, doesn’t matter to some as it relates to crowning a conference champion. The other four highly visible leagues play eight or nine games, and this avoid some teams, often to a benefit, but settle it all in a conference championship game.

It’s a vivid variable right now as we begin to fret about and fixate upon the College Football Playoff. The Big 12 knows it and can’t and won’t hide behind the “One True Champion” sloga it paraded around the media days. Even Bob Bowlsby more or less admitted there was a method to “why we are promoting the difference between how we determine a champion and how other leagues determine their champions.”

That’s posture.

He knows and we all know push and shove will meet at one point and the conversation will occur: What does the selection committee make of the Big 12’s format when compared to another league’s format?

“From our perspective, we don’t care,” Hancock said. “We just take the champions the conference gives us. Conferences through the years have been helped by having championship games and have been hurt by having championship games. The Big 12 was helped some years and hurt some other years. It’s a conference decision and we stay on the sideline. They give us the teams they give us.

“Having said that, you can make a case for a championship game because it gives two teams another game against a quality opponent and a chance to enhance the quality of schedule. But I just don’t see it as being a big factor for the committee one way or the other.”