A Comprehensive Look at the NCAA Football Big 12 Standings History

The Big 12 Conference, a collegiate athletic conference in the United States, has a rich and evolving history, especially in football. Founded in February 1994, the conference began athletic play in the fall of 1996. This article delves into the historical standings of the Big 12 in football, examining its structure, key moments, and the teams that have shaped its legacy.

Formation and Early Years (1996-2010)

The Big 12 Conference was formed in February 1994, and its teams began competing in the fall of 1996. From its inception until 2011, the conference comprised 12 members who competed in two divisions, typically referred to as the North and South divisions, in most sports.

Divisional Structure

From 1996 to 2010, the Big 12 was divided into two divisions: North and South.

Conference Games

During this period, Big 12 Conference teams played eight conference games each season. Each team faced all five opponents within its division and three teams from the opposite division. This format, however, faced considerable criticism.

Criticism of the Format

The divisional structure and scheduling format were criticized, particularly by Nebraska and Oklahoma. These programs were denied a yearly match, despite being two of college football's most storied programs. The Nebraska-Oklahoma rivalry was historically one of the most intense in college football. Notably, until 2006, the teams had never met in the Big 12 Championship.

Big 12 Championship Game (1996-2010)

From 1996 to 2010, divisional titles were awarded based on regular-season conference results. The teams with the best conference records from the North and South divisions then played in the Big 12 Championship Game. The Big 12 Championship Game was approved by all members except Nebraska and was held each year, commencing with the first match in the 1996 season at the Trans World Dome in St. Louis. Following the 2008 game, the event was moved to the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, where it was played in 2009 and 2010.

Conference Realignment and a New Era (2011-Present)

The landscape of the Big 12 Conference changed significantly in 2011 with the departure of Colorado and Nebraska, who joined the Pac-12 and Big Ten, respectively.

Elimination of Divisions

Due to the departure of Nebraska and Colorado in 2011, the Big 12 eliminated the divisions and the championship game. A nine-game round-robin format was instituted.

Requirement for Non-Conference Games

With the advent of the College Football Playoff (CFP) committee, which considers teams' strength of schedule for selecting playoff teams, the Big 12 announced a new requirement on December 8, 2015. All Big 12 teams were required to schedule a non-conference game against a team from one of the other four Power Five conferences (plus Notre Dame). According to Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby, this move was intended to strengthen the resumes of all Big 12 teams and benefit the teams at the top of the standings each season.

Return of the Championship Game

In April 2015, the ACC and the Big 12 developed new rules for the NCAA to deregulate conference championship games. The Big 12 Championship Game was reinstated in 2017.

Read also: Crafting Your NCAA Profile

Recent Expansion

On September 10, 2021, the Big 12 announced that invitations had been extended to and accepted by BYU and three members of the American Athletic Conference: Cincinnati, UCF, and Houston. All four schools began competing in Big 12 athletics beginning in the summer of 2023. On July 27, 2023, Colorado, a former member of the Big 12, announced it would rejoin the conference from the Pac-12 beginning in the 2024-25 academic year. Currently, the Big 12 consists of 16 full-member universities across multiple states.

Team Performance and Titles

Examining team performance and titles within the Big 12 provides insight into the conference's competitive landscape.

Regular Season Titles

From 1996 to 2011, standings in conference play were not split among divisions, although the schedule was structured as if they were. Teams played a home-and-home against teams within their divisions and a single game against teams from the opposite division for a total of 16 conference games. Kansas has the most Big 12 titles in men's basketball, winning or sharing the regular-season title 20 times in the league's 25 seasons, including 13 straight from 2004-05 to 2016-17. The 2002 Jayhawks were the first, and so far only, team to complete an undefeated Big 12 regular season, going 16-0.

Tiebreakers

The Big 12 has employed tiebreakers to determine tournament seeding in cases where teams have similar records. For example:

In 2004-05, Oklahoma won the Big 12 Tournament seeding tiebreaker over Kansas based on its 71-63 win over the Jayhawks in Norman, OK.
In 2005-06, Texas won the Big 12 Tournament seeding tiebreaker over Kansas based on its 80-55 win over the Jayhawks in Austin, TX.
In 2007-08, Texas won the Big 12 Tournament seeding tiebreaker over Kansas based on its 72-69 win over the Jayhawks in Austin, TX.
In 2012-13, Kansas won the Big 12 Tournament seeding tiebreaker over Kansas State based on winning 59-55 in Manhattan and 83-62 in Lawrence.

Vacated Titles

Due to the use of an ineligible player, Kansas was forced to vacate 15 victories from its 2017-18 season, including the Big 12 regular season and postseason championships the Jayhawks won that year.

National Championships

The following is a list of all NCAA, equestrian, and college football championships won by teams that were representing the Big 12 Conference in NCAA-recognized sports at the time of their championship. The most recent Big 12 team to win a national title is Oklahoma State men's golf in 2025. Only two years of the Big 12's existence has the conference not won at least one team National Title, 2007 and 2020. One former member of the conference did not win a National Championship while a member of the Big 12, Missouri. Original members Kansas State and Iowa State have not won a championship while representing the Big 12. The only national championships won by 2012 arrival West Virginia since joining the Big 12 have been in rifle, a sport that the conference has never sponsored.

Big 12 in the College Football Playoffs

The Big 12 has made it to the Playoffs 6 times from 2014 to 2023.

Revenue and Finances

The financial aspects of the Big 12 Conference play a crucial role in its operations and competitiveness.

Revenue Sources

Conference revenue comes from media rights contracts, bowl games, the NCAA, merchandise, licensing, and conference-hosted sporting events. Most of the Big 12's revenue comes from its media rights contracts.

Media Rights Deals

In 2012, the Big 12 announced a media rights agreement with Fox and ESPN, replacing an ABC/ESPN deal, estimated to be worth $2.6 billion through the 2025 expiration. The two deals pushed the conference per-university payout to approximately $20 million per year, while separating third-tier media rights into separate deals for each university; such contracts secured an additional $6 million to $20 million per university annually. In 2022, the conference renewed its media rights with ESPN and Fox Sports for six seasons starting in 2025-26, with an estimated US$380 million average annual fee, equating to about $31.7 million per school. The contract included a pro-rata clause that increased the conference's fee proportionately if Power conference schools were added.

Postseason Revenue

Significant additional revenue is generated from postseason play by Big 12 teams, including the college football playoff, football bowl games, and NCAA basketball tournament revenue. For the 2023-24 football season, the Big 12 received $79.4 million for participating in the college football playoff. Bowl game revenues vary yearly with team selections; the 2024 Alamo Bowl between BYU, representing the Big 12, and Colorado, who took a Pac-12's spot, paid the conference $9.8 million.

Creative Sponsorships

In the era of Name-Image-Likeness (NIL) payments to student-athletes and revenue sharing directly from school athletic department budgets, the Big 12 has also maximized creative sponsorships.

Rivalries

The Big 12 is known for rivalries that mostly predate the conference. The Kansas-Missouri rivalry was the longest-running, the longest west of the Mississippi, and the second-longest in college football, dating back to the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association before evolving into the Big Eight. It was played 119 times before Missouri left the Big 12. As of October 2012, the University of Kansas' athletic department had not accepted Missouri's invitations to play inter-conference rivalry games, putting the rivalry on hold. The rivalry between TCU and Baylor, known as the Revivalry is also one of the longest running in college football, with the two universities having played each other - largely as Southwest Conference members - 120 times since 1899.

Other Sports

The Big 12 Conference sponsors a variety of sports, although participation levels vary.

Men's Sports

The only men's sports with full participation by the entire conference are basketball, football, and golf. The Big 12 fields 14 teams for wrestling. Before the conference's 2023 expansion, it had the most competing schools of any Big 12 sport, with 13 members at that time.

Women's Sports

The only women's sports with full participation by the entire conference are basketball, cross country, soccer, tennis, indoor track, and outdoor track.

Sports with Limited Participation

Beach volleyball and equestrian have the lowest participation, each with 4 total members. With Utah dropping beach volleyball after the spring 2025 season, future Big 12 sponsorship of beach volleyball is uncertain. Lacrosse and rowing follow with 6 total members.

Co-Ed Sports

Rifle is often categorized as a men's sport because the NCAA bylaws that establish scholarship limits for each sport list rifle as a men's sport. Nonetheless, it is an open coed sport in NCAA college athletics, with men's, women's, and coed teams in all NCAA divisions competing against each other. TCU and West Virginia both field coed teams. Through 2018, West Virginia with 19 national titles and TCU with two, together have won over half of the NCAA titles awarded since the inaugural NCAA championship in 1980.

Corporate Partnerships and Events

The Big 12 has established numerous corporate partnerships and events to enhance its brand and generate revenue.

Corporate Partners

The Big 12 has 11 official corporate partners: Allstate, Children’s Health, Dr Pepper, Gatorade, Grand Caliber, Old Trapper, On Location, Phillips 66, Sonic Hard Seltzer, Sprouts Farmers Market, and Tickets For Less.

Conference-Wide Pro Day

On March 15, 2023, before the NFL Draft, the Big 12 announced the first of its kind across all college conferences, being a conference-wide Pro Day. Instead of schools hosting separate pro days for their football players, there will be only one conference-wide scouting event before the 2024 NFL draft. The event will be held at the Dallas Cowboys training complex, Ford Center at The Star.

Community Engagement

In March, the Big 12 Conference announced a partnership with the legendary Rucker Park for a community engagement event. In June the event was officially announced as "Big 12 Hoops in the Park", to host men's and women's summer exhibition games. Throughout the event, the Big 12 is also preparing a number of entertainment activities and community engagements.

Business Advisor Board

November 14, 2022 Big 12 formed a comprehensive business advisor board composed of over three dozen entrepreneurial icons and respective industry leaders.

Partnership with A Bathing Ape (BAPE)

Soon after Big 12 Conference made a deal with A Bathing Ape (BAPE) for Championship games.

Global Content and Commercial Strategy

The Big 12 announced on September 9, 2022, that it appointed WME Sports and IMG Media, Endeavor companies, to facilitate its global content and commercial strategy. Commissioner Brett Yormark stated "We have aligned with a best-in-class team to build a best-in-class business strategy for the Conference".

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