Big 12 commissioner: 'I'm not sure what I advise my members now'

For the second time in the three-year history of the CFP, the Big 12 is left without a team in the fight for the national championship.

While both Alabama and Clemson seemed like locks for the CFP, the inclusion of Ohio State and Washington have raised a few eyebrows, including the Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby.

Washington played the second-worst non-conference schedule in the country, while Ohio State failed to win its conference, both points that Bowlsby wants further clarification on.

"I'm not sure what I advise my members right now, because we've been telling them that non-conference schedules matter, and one of the four has an exceedingly weak non-conference schedule," Bowlsby told ESPN's Heather Dinich. "We've been telling them the 13th date point matters, and we added a conference championship game because of that. We've always heard that conference championships matter and division championships matter, and now it's confusing."

While he requires clarification, Bowlsby acknowledged that the Big 12 didn't have a team this season that should have been in the semifinals. He did reference the fact that TCU lost a potential spot in the final four of the first edition of the CFP, despite the fact they won their final game by 50-plus points.

"They (TCU) had a great year and had a Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback, and won by 50 points on the last day of the season," Bowlsby said. "We were told the reason they didn't get in, the reason they fell, was they didn't have a 13th data point and they didn't have a championship. Now I think it's reasonable to seek clarity on that."