No College GameDay for Big 12 in 2016

For the first time since 1997, the Big 12 will not be part of the marquee match-up of the week. Every marquee match-up gets a visit from ESPN’s College GameDay, but this year, the Big 12 was not the recipient of such a visit.

Many thought this week’s Bedlam matchup, which is also the de facto Big 12 Championship Game for the second year in a row, would be enough to entice Lee Corso and the rest of the GameDay crew to Norman. It was announced today that Bedlam was not enough to travel to Oklahoma.

So, where has GameDay been this season? Let’s look.

• September 3: Wisconsin vs. #5 LSU in Green Bay, Wisconsin
• September 10: Virginia Tech vs. #17 Tennessee (Battle at Bristol) in Bristol, Tennessee
• September 17: #2 Florida State at #10 Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky
• September 24: #19 Florida at #14 Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee
• October 1: #3 Louisville at #5 Clemson in Clemson, South Carolina
• October 8: #9 Tennessee at #8 Texas A&M in College Station, Texas
• October 15: #2 Ohio State at #8 Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin
• October 22: #6 Texas A&M at #1 Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
• October 29: #4 Washington at #17 Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah
• November 5: #1 Alabama at #15 LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
• November 12: USC at #4 Washington in Seattle, Washington
• November 19: Buffalo at #14 Western Michigan in Kalamazoo, Michigan
• November 26: #3 Michigan at #2 Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio

Let’s break it down by conference:

SEC: 10
Big 10: 5
ACC: 5
Pac-12: 4
MAC: 2

Yup....that is right....College GameDay has visited ZERO Big 12 schools in 2016. How is that possible? Is it due to all the negative publicity from the expansion fiasco that hurt our already less-than-stellar reputation? How does a team like Tennessee get GameDay three more times than an entire Power 5 conference?

So, what do you think is the reason? Let us know your conspiracy theories in the comments.