Big 12 STUMBLES in Bowls, Notre Dame EMBARRASSED & Chaos in Basketball
Heartland College Sports: The Big 12 Sports Podcast
Pete Mundo
4.8 • 870 Ratings
🗓️ 4 January 2026
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Big 12 is off to a rough start in the 2026, with bad bowl losses to stumble down the home stretch of bowl season, while coaching staffs are being upended, notably by Kyle Whittingham and Matt Campbell. Meanwhile, Notre Dame finds itself under fire after bowl game TV ratings surge, raising fresh questions about the Irish’s place in college football.
Plus, the Big 12 basketball season tips off with one of the wildest opening weekends in recent memory, delivering drama, dominance, and early statement wins across the conference.
Heartland College Sports’ Pete Mundo breaks it all down in this episode.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Well, if I'm being totally honest with you, which I obviously always am here at Heartland College Sports, we're only a few days in the 2026, but it could not be going worse for the Big 12 conference. |
| 0:12.4 | I'm Pete Mundo. |
| 0:13.1 | Heartland College Sports is, of course, where you find us covering the Big 12. |
| 0:17.8 | I am a Big 12 guy, a Big 12 homer, if you want to call me that through and through. |
| 0:24.7 | But I am never going to sugarcoat what's going on. I won't do it. And right now, we're only a few |
| 0:31.6 | days into the new year, but the new year could not be going worse for this league if it tried. |
| 0:38.9 | When it comes to the football field in particular, the Big 12, when 0 and 3 in bowl games |
| 0:44.4 | in the new year, Texas Tech got demolished. |
| 0:47.7 | We talked about that a lot, obviously, when that happened on New Year's Day. |
| 0:51.4 | You can go back and watch that on the show here on YouTube or listen on the podcast. You had Friday losses by Arizona to SMU in the Holiday Bowl. |
| 1:00.9 | You had Cincinnati get blown out by Navy in the Liberty Bowl, and you've got coaches getting |
| 1:07.1 | poached left and right from some of the best staffs in the entire league. |
| 1:11.8 | It's just not good. |
| 1:13.7 | Now, what does it all mean for next year? |
| 1:16.2 | That remains to be seen. |
| 1:18.2 | I'm not sitting here saying it's all doom and gloom. |
| 1:21.1 | I'm not saying it's all going to come to an end, the big 12s in the back seat. |
| 1:26.3 | But if you're having the power for a conversation right now and you're stacking up |
| 1:32.3 | these leagues and the quality at the top is a big part of the conversation, the ACC is looking |
| 1:40.0 | at the big 12 and saying, wait, you guys are telling me that we can't be the number three |
| 1:47.0 | conference right now in the power four? |
| 1:48.7 | They absolutely can be. |
... |
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