Upgrades?
It was a reasonable assumption on the field after the Big 12 replaced Texas A&M and Missouri with TCU and West Virginia.
Through two seasons, the Horned Frogs and Mountaineers had been anything but. Texas A&M captured a Heisman Trophy and a status as Texas' hottest program in its first two years as a member of the SEC West, highlighted by an upset of No. 1 Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
If you live in America, you either love or hate Johnny Football, but you know who he is. When was the last time you could say that about a player from Texas A&M.
Meanwhile, Missouri won the SEC East in 2013 and followed the Aggies' footsteps by making an appearance in the Cotton Bowl, a game it won as a Big 12 member to conclude the 2007 season.
Back in the Big 12, TCU and West Virginia floundered.
Texas A&M's 2012 campaign (11 wins) and Missouri's 2013 season (12 wins) equaled or surpassed TCU and West Virginia's identical win total (11) in their first two seasons as members of the Big 12.
Both new league members won four games in 2013. That ended an eight-year streak of consecutive bowl games for TCU and an 11-year run for West Virginia that spanned three coaching staffs.
This season? Call it revenge of the upgrades, and Saturday's game between the No. 10 TCU and No. 20 West Virginia will be its most hallowed night.
"It really is pretty neat to be able to have this matchup this weekend," West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said. "We're kind of settled in a little bit."
Meanwhile, unranked Texas A&M is 2-3 in SEC play, fresh off a 59-0 loss to Alabama and hosts Louisiana-Monroe this week. Missouri also hosts Kentucky in a battle of unranked teams.
Chuckles aside, reality is this: College football's middle class succeeds in cycles, but this year, the Big 12's new members are way up in that cycle and giving their new conference a big boost as the playoff arrives.
TCU won a Rose Bowl to close an undefeated 2010 season and West Virginia rode into the Big 12 as Orange Bowl champions, but after 4-8 seasons a year ago, return trips to major bowl games felt miles away. Just a half season later, it's well within reach of both programs.
"We've talked about being relevant. I use that word because I had a couple fans say 'Come back and talk to us when you finally become relevant' here in the last couple years of the Big 12," TCU coach Gary Patterson said. "Well, that's been our battle cry. How do we get to a point where we can become that? I think both programs are showing signs that we can be that now."
It couldn't have come at a better time.
That relevance boost has been especially needed in a year where both the Big 12's two marquee national programs, Oklahoma and Texas, currently sit outside the top half of the Big 12 standings with multiple early losses.
Both Holgorsen and Patterson have estimated the full adjustment to the Big 12 would take three to five years. The jump from the Big East and Mountain West Conference to the Big 12 was larger than the jump from the Big 12 to the SEC.
RichRod faced 7 AP Top 10 teams in regular season during his entire tenure at #WVU (2001-07). Holgorsen likely to face 5 this year alone.
— Patrick Southern (@patricksouthern) October 26, 2014
Both teams had first teams capable of winning games consistently in the Big 12 but both teams dealt with quarterback injuries and TCU's offensive line has been an ever-evolving game of musical chairs before this season.
"We played 58 total people (last week) against Oklahoma State. In those first couple years, we were lucky to have a backup that could go into the game, let alone a backup that can play at the level we've got these guys playing at right now," Holgorsen said. "When guys go down and you replace them with backups that were recruited for the Big East, you're not going to be successful."
Earlier this year, I talked with commissioner Bob Bowlsby about TCU and West Virginia' underwhelming debut and he called it a difficult "transition period."
"Their task is a little harder now than it was before. I think they've both seen it," he said.
It was a diplomatic way to say, "Yeah, they haven't been as good as we hoped."
Nobody will be saying that on Saturday.
