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Big 12 Conference logo
The Big 12 Conference is a conference of 16 universities which participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision football. The conference formed in 1994 and begin conference play in the fall of 1996. The schools that compose the Big 12 Conference, except for Arizona, Arizona State, Brigham Young, Central Florida, Cincinnati, Utah, and West Virginia, were members of either the Big Eight Conference or the Southwest Conference, and have won 21 national titles including 3 titles since the inception of the Big 12 Conference.
Membership[]
Current[]
†Divisions existed from 1996 through 2010.
‡: The Big 12 Conference recognizes TCU and Baylor as co-champions in 2014
Former[]
| Institution | Team Name
(Mascot) |
Location
(Population) |
Team Started | Affiliation | Divisional Titles | Big 12 Titles | National Titles | Current Conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Missouri | Tigers(Truman the Tiger) | Columbia, Missouri(133,803) | 1890 | Public | 3 | 0 | 0 | SEC |
| University of Nebraska | Cornhuskers(Herbie Husker / Lil' Red) | Lincoln, Nebraska(277,348) | 1890 | Public | 6 | 2 | 5 | Big Ten |
| University of Oklahoma | Sooners(Sooner Schooner) | Norman, Oklahoma(128,026) | 1895 | Public | 8 | 14 | 7 | SEC |
| University of Texas | Longhorns(Bevo) | Austin, Texas(974,447) | 1893 | Public | 7 | 4 | 4 | SEC |
| Texas A&M University | Aggies(Reveille) | College Station, Texas(107,889) | 1894 | Public | 3 | 1 | 1 | SEC |
| Reference: | ||||||||
Divisions[]
There are many national football powerhouses in the Big 12 Conference, and when the league was formed, it was decided that the top team from the South Division would play the top team from the North Division at the end of the season to determine the conference champion.
Till the 2011 season, teams played eight conference games a season, facing all five opponents within its own division and three teams from the opposite division. Inter-divisional play is a "three-on, three-off" system, where teams will play three teams from the other division on a home-and-home basis for two seasons, and then play the other three foes from the opposite side for a two-year home-and-home.
This format came under considerable criticism, especially from fans at Nebraska and Oklahoma, who were denied a yearly matchup between two of college football's most storied programs. The Oklahoma–Nebraska rivalry was one of the most intense rivalries in college football history. (Until 2006, the teams had never met in the Big 12 Championship.)
Starting the with the 2011 season, after the departure of Nebraska and Colorado to the Big Ten and Pac-10 respectively, the divisions were merged and each team played all remaining nine teams from the conference. The Championship game was removed from the schedule. But in 2015 the Championship Game was restored in the Big 12 following the 2014 College football playoff debacle with TCU, and Baylor.
| North Division | South Division |
|---|---|
| Colorado | Baylor |
| Iowa State | Oklahoma |
| Kansas | Oklahoma State |
| Kansas State | Texas |
| Missouri | Texas A&M |
| Nebraska | Texas Tech |
*chart of the original Big 12 division forma
Championships by school[]
| School | Championships | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma Sooners‡ | 14 | 2000 • 2002 • 2004 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2010 • 2012† •2015 • 2016 • 2017 • 2018 • 2019 • 2020 |
| Texas Longhorns‡ | 4 | 1996 • 2005 • 2009 • 2023 |
| Baylor Bears | 3 | 2013 • 2014† • 2021 |
| Kansas State Wildcats | 3 | 2003 • 2012† • 2022 |
| Nebraska Cornhuskers‡ | 2 | 1997 • 1999 |
| TCU Horned Frogs | 1 | 2014† |
| Oklahoma State Cowboys | 1 | 2011 |
| Colorado Buffaloes‡ | 1 | 2001 |
| Texas A&M Aggies‡ | 1 | 1998 |
†: Denotes co-champion
‡: Denotes former member of the conference
Rivalries[]
Conference rivalries (primarily in football) 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. 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. Sports clubs sponsored by the two universities continued to play each other.
Current[]
| Rivalry | Name
(Trophy) |
Games
played† |
Began |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona–Arizona State | Duel in the Desert
(Territorial Cup) |
97 | 1899 |
| BYU-Arizona | 25 | 1936 | |
| Arizona-Texas Tech | The Old Border Batlle | 34 | 1932 |
| Baylor–TCU | The Bluebonnet Battle/The Revivalry | 118 | 1899 |
| Baylor–Texas Tech | Texas Farm Bureau Insurance Shootout | 81 | 1929 |
| BYU–Utah | Holy War
(Beehive Boot) |
101 | 1896 |
| Cincinnati–UCF | 9 | 2015 | |
| Cincinnati–West Virginia | 21 | 1921 | |
| Colorado–Kansas State | 66 | 1912 | |
| Colorado–Utah | Rumble in the Rockies | 70 | 1903 |
| Houston–Texas Tech | 34 | 1951 | |
| Iowa State–Kansas State | Farmageddon | 106 | 1917 |
| Kansas–Kansas State | Sunflower Showdown
(Governor's Cup) |
120 | 1902 |
| Oklahoma State-Texas Tech | The Dust Bowl | 47 | 1935 |
| TCU–Texas Tech | West Texas Championship
(Saddle Trophy) |
65 | 1926 |
| Reference:[citation needed] | |||
Former[]
| Rivalry | Name | Games
played† |
Began | Last Meeting Before Interruption |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baylor–Texas A&M | Battle of the Brazos | 108 | 1899 | 2011 |
| Colorado–Nebraska | 69 | 1898 | 2010 | |
| Iowa State–Missouri | (Telephone Trophy) | 104 | 1896 | 2011 |
| Kansas–Missouri | Border War
(Indian War Drum) |
120 | 1891 | 2011 |
| Kansas–Nebraska | 117 | 1892 | 2010 | |
| Missouri–Nebraska | (Victory Bell) | 104 | 1892 | 2010 |
| Missouri–Oklahoma | (Tiger–Sooner Peace Pipe) | 96 | 1902 | 2011 |
| Nebraska–Oklahoma | 86 | 1912 | 2010 | |
| Oklahoma–Oklahoma State | Bedlam
(Bedlam Bell) |
118 | 1904 | 2023 |
| Oklahoma–Texas | Red River Rivalry
(Golden Hat) |
119 | 1900 | 2023 |
| Texas A&M–Texas Tech | 70 | 1927 | 2011 | |
| Texas–Texas A&M | Lone Star Showdown
(Lone Star Showdown Trophy) |
118 | 1894 | 2011 |
| Reference:[citation needed] †Games played before interruption | ||||