Big 12’s challenge illustrated by the state of Deion’s Colorado Buffaloes & TCU v. UCF

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark has no problem telling you he’s a great salesman, and in his role he has taken on a sale that if he can close will put him in Jerry Jones territory.

Every time Yormark speaks he minds his ABCs: “Always Be Closing.”

When the league hired Yormark as commissioner, one of the job’s unwritten assignments is to convince America that the Big 12 is an elite football league without what TCU coach Sonny Dykes calls, “The logo schools.”

With Texas and Oklahoma gone to the SEC, Yormark’s task is a solo swim across the Pacific Ocean. One of the Big 12’s challenges is to sell the reality that its marquee games are worthy of that distinction, and carry national weight. Case in point: On Saturday night, 2-0 TCU hosts 2-0 Central Florida.

Not nearly enough people know, or respect, the reality that these programs have been, and are, good. This should be a great night of college football.

“Most casual football fans probably view UCF and TCU the same way; we’re not logo schools,” Dykes said this week during his weekly press conference. “We have not always been in big conferences. The logo schools get so much attention, that’s all they talk about.

“You turn on college sports and they’re going to be talking about the same three or four programs.”

This isn’t whining. He’s not complaining. He is right.

If this development makes you upset, aim the blame at the leaders of ESPN, Fox Sports, CBS, NBC, the Big 10 and the SEC. And, let us not forget the fathers at the University of Notre Dame.

We all suspected that when the Big 10 and SEC expanded over the summer it was going to be bad, and visually this new world is playing out “worse” than we feared. The top nine teams in the latest AP Top 25 are from The BigSEC10. No. 10 is Miami of the ACC (for now).

Fourteen of the Top 25 come from The BigSEC10. For a sport that loves to celebrate its “parity” this looks more like a monopoly worthy of a potential anti-trust lawsuit.

“They’re going to be talking about the same three or four programs in October, November, December and January, whether they’re really good or not,” Dykes said. “For a long time there are certain programs in our state that people just talked about. People just assumed that they would be good because they have 50,000 students at their school.”

Hey Siri, How do you say, “Texas and Texas A&M” without saying “Texas and Texas A&M?”

Until it ends, which is not coming any time within the next three centuries, college football will forever remain run by the “blue bloods.” When the SEC and Big 10 planned to expand, both leagues wanted “power,” state schools. If they happened to win at football, great.

Alumni base, fans and TV markets are the priority, not bowl wins.

(It’s been determined that Rutgers and Maryland both lied on their resumes to score an invitation to the party. Missouri may have fudged a few of its specifics, too).

Both leagues wanted more Big vs. Big matchups so it could sell out stadiums. If you aren’t one of those schools, that’s a you problem.

This development has left the Big 12 and ACC to figure out the best way to “keep up,” and at least remain as a solid No. 3 within eyesight of The BigSEC10.

The Big 12 has five schools ranked in the Top 25, with No. 11 Utah the highest. Colorado is not one of those five.

The league’s leadership, and those who run television, can’t publicly say it but if Colorado under coach Deion Sanders was a legit team rather than a series of slick Instagram posts, it would elevate the Big 12. The Buffs are 5-9 under Deion, and lost seven of their last eight games dating back to last season.

One year into his tenure in Boulder the fears and concerns about how this gamble may go are on the fringe of becoming a reality show that will be awkward, and uncomfortable, to watch.

Meanwhile, the rest of the league league features several good programs that exist simply right under the Blue Blood cut line.

The task for the new and old Big 12 teams is the same today as it was before Texas and Oklahoma left; beat the “logo schools” and hope that, eventually, the perception changes.

Yormark’s job is to sell not to just America but the TV networks that his league can hang with The BigSEC10, and the “logo schools” that will be discussed in “October, November, December and January, whether they’re really good or not.”