Ya gotta love that the two smallest enrollment programs in the conference -- private and church affiliated schools to boot --are grabbing ink by the barrels, air time by the hours, and interest across the national sports spectrum...while the Enormous State Universities are of secondary consideration.
When has this last happened, if ever? Does their ability to impact who wins the Big-12 look to be ephemeral? Nope, BU and/or TCU plan on being relevant for quite some time. That's the first of two main stories of the 2014 season (even if there were no further games to play beyond this point). These teams matter! And the CFP process has kept them and their relative merits at the forefront of national championship discussion for weeks on end.
What's the second development this year? (even if there were no further games to play beyond this point). We have put to rest the same question for both TCU and Baylor -- 'Who is your biggest rival?'. Call it 'mutual respect', 'common concern', 'intense fan interest' or simply 'hate' but both TCU's and Baylor's fan bases care very much indeed who wins when they play each other. There is no longer, even the pretense, that one program's success is beneath the other's concern. There now is national significance as to how each fares, both in direct play and beyond.
Sports fans, that's high cotton indeed, and long overdue. Let's enjoy it while we can.
