Did Big 12 Help or Hurt Missouri in Bowl Selection Process?

Missouri, 7-5, is heading to Shreveport, La., for the Independence Bowl. The Columbia Missourian suggests Tiger fans may not be happy with their bowl placement:

"The biggest injustice Missouri fans will claim is that 6-6 Iowa State, whom the Tigers throttled 52-17 on Oct. 15 for Homecoming, was chosen over Missouri for the Pinstripe Bowl, the Big 12’s final selection."

Texas, who also lost to Missouri, will be playing in the Holiday Bowl, another of the Big 12’s automatic bowl bids. With Missouri’s upcoming departure from the Big 12, it’s easy to speculate the Big 12 gave priority to its members that were staying. The Missourian‘s article quotes a Missouri official as saying otherwise:

"But Associate Athletic Director for Football Operations Mark Alnutt, who is responsible for the bulk of the work in negotiating with the bowls, praised the Big 12’s effort in helping Missouri finding a destination, even if it wasn’t one of the Big 12’s usual bowl tie-ins.“They didn’t work against us at all,” Alnutt said. “The Big 12 really took initiative and was proactive in searching for bowl games that the team that was going to be left out — whether it was us or Iowa State — would be in a position to go to.”"

If Missouri felt the Big 12 did not do enough to help the Tigers find a good bowl, it would be easy enough imply that publicly without outright saying it. Instead, Alnutt seemed to be more than happy with the Tigers’ bowl placement. Geographically, Alnutt has plenty of reason to be happy.

Missouri will be playing its bowl game right in the middle of SEC territory. A solid victory will build brand recognition for Missouri in the Louisiana area, an area in which Missouri will benefit from establishing a recruiting foothold. The perceived slight against Missouri of giving Texas and Iowa State a better bowl could actually be a gift in disguise.