Matt Rhule sent a campaign message Monday to the College Football Playoff.

The Baylor coach was lobbying on behalf of the Big 12 and not his team – although the two could be one and the same depending on the outcome of the conference title game Saturday at AT&T Stadium. CFP No. 9 Baylor (11-1) will face No. 7 Oklahoma (11-1) with a league title and possibly much more on the line.

“I personally would like to see the Big 12 champion go to the College Football Playoff year in and year out,” Rhule said Monday on a teleconference. "I think the Big 12 champion should be in it. How that works out, I don’t know. I just think if you win this league and you play nine league games, plus a 10th game when you play a rematch, I think that you should go have a chance to play.

“What good is having a national championship if it’s not national?”

Currently the Big 12 is in danger missing the CFP. Things got far more plausible for the Big 12 the past two weeks, though.

Oregon suffered its second loss and then Auburn took out CFP No. 5 Alabama, removing the Crimson Tide from consideration. Both Oklahoma and Baylor should move up at least one spot in when the penultimate CFP rankings are released Tuesday.

The Big 12 will have a good idea of where it stands by late Saturday afternoon.

CFP No. 5 Utah plays Oregon in the Pac-12 championship game on Friday. And No. 4 Georgia faces No. 2 LSU in the SEC title game.

Assuming No. 1 Ohio State takes care of business in the Big Ten championship game and that No. 3 Clemson does the same in the ACC title contest, then things are pretty clear.

If both Utah and Georgia lose, then the door is open for the Big 12 champ to claim the fourth spot in the playoff on Sunday. Should Utah win and Georgia lose, then it would be a one-on-one matchup in the CFP meeting room in Grapevine between the resumes of the Pac-12 and Big 12 champs.

And if Georgia upsets LSU, it could set the stage for two SEC teams in the playoffs, with no room for the Big 12. Alabama and Georgia each made the CFP in 2017 and played for the title.

It wouldn’t be the first time the Big 12 would have been shutout of the CFP. The snub of Baylor and TCU in 2014 set off months of angst, debate and internal study by the conference, which led to the return of conference title game in 2017 as the best way for securing a bid.

Oklahoma has reached the CFP in three of the last four years, although the Sooners have gone 0-3 in the semifinals.

OU coach Lincoln Riley told Fox Sports after beating Oklahoma State this past weekend the Sooners’ formula has been “winning big games in November,” whether by one point or 40.

“In my core, I think every Power 5 conference champion should play. But that’s neither here nor there,” Riley said on the teleconference, aware that playoff expansion isn’t happening in the near future.

“Now, our current system, do I believe us playing every team in our league and every championship game being one versus two should hold more weight? I do. So, as far as what happens in the future, we’ll see.”

While Oklahoma has a national brand, Baylor does not, which could be a problem if the Bears emerge as the winner Saturday.

“I trust the people on the committee to do their job,” Rhule said. “It doesn’t seem like an easy job. To me, it’s not really about Baylor. It’s about the Big 12.

“If any team wins the Big 12 and doesn’t get proper consideration, then to me they’re not recognizing what the league is all about.”