MIAMI GARDENS — As the sun shone brightly in the South Florida sky, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby stood on the sidelines at Sun Life Stadium watching the Oklahoma Sooners warm up before the start of last week's Orange Bowl.
The road to get to this College Football Playoff semifinal game was a long and arduous one for the Big 12 Conference, a journey not lost on Bowlsby.
"It was a long year since last year with us being the one that got left out," Bowlsby told the Sentinel before the start of the game.