Big 12 Championship Game

For the Big 12 men's basketball championship, see Big 12 men's basketball tournament.

The Big 12 Championship Game is a college football game held by the Big 12 Conference between the best and the second-best Big 12 team. The game was played each year since the conference's formation in 1996 until 2010 and returned during the 2017 season. From 1996 to 2010, the championship game pitted the Big 12 North Division champion against the South Division champion in a game held after the regular season was completed. From 2017 onward, the game features the two teams with the best conference records.

Big 12 Championship Game
Sport	Football
Conference	Big 12 Conference
Current stadium	AT&T Stadium
Current location	Arlington, Texas
Played	1996–2010; 2017–present
Last contest	2024
Current champion	Arizona State Sun Devils
Most championships	Oklahoma Sooners (11)
TV partner(s)	ABC[1]
Official website	Big12Sports.com – Football
Sponsors
Dr Pepper (1996–2010, 2018–present)[2] AT&T (2017) WWE (2023)
Host stadiums
Trans World Dome (1996, 1998) Alamodome (1997, 1999, 2007) Arrowhead Stadium (2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008) Texas Stadium (2001) Reliant Stadium (2002, 2005) AT&T Stadium (2009–2010, 2017–2030)
Host locations
St. Louis, Missouri (1996, 1998) San Antonio (1997, 1999, 2007) Kansas City, Missouri (2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008) Irving, Texas (2001) Houston, Texas (2002, 2005) Arlington, Texas (2009, 2010, 2017–2030)

Big 12 Conference Members

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Location of Big 12 members:

1

Arizona

2

Arizona State

3

Baylor

4

BYU

5

Cincinnati

6

Colorado

7

Houston

8

Iowa State

9

Kansas

10

Kansas State

11

Oklahoma State

12

Texas Tech

13

TCU

14

UCF

15

Utah

16

West Virginia

In the first eight Big 12 championship games, from 1996 to 2003, the divisions split four games each, with the north champion winning in every odd-numbered year and the south champion winning in every even-numbered year. However, the North division champion did not win after No. 13 Kansas State's 35–7 upset victory over No. 1 Oklahoma in 2003.

The Big 12 is under contract to play the game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas until 2030.

History

The first championship game was played after the 1996 regular season, the first year of play for the Big 12 (which was created from the merger of the Big Eight Conference and four teams from the Southwest Conference). Like the SEC Championship Game (which has been played since 1992), the game matched the winners of the conference's two six-team divisions. The championship game was held at several sites within the Big 12 states, with Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, hosting more often than any other venue.

The 2008 Big 12 Championship Game was notable for the controversy over choosing the South Division representative. The Oklahoma Sooners, Texas Longhorns, and Texas Tech Red Raiders all finished with identical records and had each recorded a win and loss among one another. The Sooners earned a berth to the title game because they had the highest Bowl Championship Series ranking of the three at the time of selection. Oklahoma defeated the Missouri Tigers and earned a berth in the 2009 BCS National Championship Game.

From 2009 through 2013, the game was scheduled to be played at Cowboys Stadium, now known as AT&T Stadium, in Arlington, Texas.^[3] During June 2010, however, Nebraska and Colorado announced that they would leave the Big 12 for other conferences (the Big Ten Conference and the Pac-12 Conference, respectively) in 2011. Because NCAA rules at the time required that a conference have 12 members in order to stage a football championship game that was exempt from NCAA limits on regular-season games, the conference dropped the championship game following the 2010 season. During this time, Oklahoma and Texas had expressed that a conference title game hurt the chances of the conference to have a representative in the BCS National Championship Game, and now the College Football Playoff, which started in 2014.^[4]

In December 2014 after completing the first season with the College Football Playoff, Baylor and TCU both finished the season with an 8–1 conference record and were declared co-champions by the conference despite Baylor's head-to-head win over TCU. When the selection committee met to set the teams for the first playoff, both Baylor and TCU were overlooked in favor of teams that competed in and won their conference's championship game, leaving the Big 12 out of the playoffs.^[5] This led to criticism of how the Big 12 determined its champion.

In April 2015, legislation was developed by the ACC and the Big 12 to deregulate conference championship games. It was announced by NCAA officials as being expected to pass in time for the start of the 2016 season.^[6] The legislation passed on January 14, 2016 allowing a conference with fewer than twelve teams to stage a championship game between the top two teams, so long as they play a round-robin schedule. In late 2016, the Big 12 decided to bring back the championship game in 2017 after a seven-year-long gap of having no conference championship game.

Results

Below are the results from all Big 12 Championship Games played. The winning team appears in bold font, on a background of their primary team color. Rankings are from the AP Poll released prior to the game. From 1996 to 2010, the Big 12 was divided into two divisions, North and South. Following the departures of two schools in 2010, the conference discontinued the championship game in favor of a round-robin format to determine the champion. When it resumed in 2017, the top two seeds would face off in the championship game.

Year	North Division		South Division		Site	Attendance	MVP
1996	3 Nebraska	27	Texas	37	Trans World Dome • St. Louis, MO	63,109	RB DeAngelo Evans, Nebraska
1997	2 Nebraska	54	14 Texas A&M	15	Alamodome • San Antonio, TX	64,824	RB Ahman Green, Nebraska
1998	2 Kansas State	33	10 Texas A&M	36	Trans World Dome • St. Louis, MO	60,798	QB Branndon Stewart, Texas A&M
1999	3 Nebraska	22	12 Texas	6	Alamodome • San Antonio, TX	65,035
2000	8 Kansas State	24	1 Oklahoma	27	Arrowhead Stadium • Kansas City, MO	79,655	QB Josh Heupel, Oklahoma
2001	9 Colorado	39	3 Texas	37	Texas Stadium • Irving, TX	65,675
2002	12 Colorado	7	8 Oklahoma	29	Reliant Stadium • Houston, TX	63,332	RB Quentin Griffin, Oklahoma
2003	13 Kansas State	35	1 Oklahoma	7	Arrowhead Stadium • Kansas City, MO	75,491	QB Ell Roberson, Kansas State
2004	Colorado	3	2 Oklahoma	42		62,310	WR Malcolm Kelly, Oklahoma
2005	Colorado	3	2 Texas	70	Reliant Stadium • Houston, TX	71,107	QB Vince Young, Texas
2006	19 Nebraska	7	8 Oklahoma	21	Arrowhead Stadium • Kansas City, MO	80,031	WR Malcolm Kelly, Oklahoma
2007	1 Missouri	17	9 Oklahoma	38	Alamodome • San Antonio, TX	62,585	QB Sam Bradford, Oklahoma
2008	19 Missouri	21	4 Oklahoma	62	Arrowhead Stadium • Kansas City, MO	71,004
2009	21 Nebraska	12	3 Texas	13	Cowboys Stadium • Arlington, TX	76,211	DT Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska
2010	13 Nebraska	20	10 Oklahoma	23		78,802	QB Landry Jones, Oklahoma
2011–2016: No championship game held
Year	1 Seed		2 Seed		Site	Attendance	MVP
2017	2 Oklahoma	41	10 TCU	17	AT&T Stadium • Arlington, TX	64,104	QB Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma
2018	5 Oklahoma	39	14 Texas	27		83,114	QB Kyler Murray, Oklahoma
2019	6 Oklahoma	30	7 Baylor	23		65,191	QB Jalen Hurts, Oklahoma
2020	8 Iowa State	21	12 Oklahoma	27		18,720*	QB Spencer Rattler, Oklahoma
2021	5 Oklahoma State	16	9 Baylor	21		65,771	QB Blake Shapen, Baylor
2022	3 TCU	28	10 Kansas State	31OT		69,335	RB Deuce Vaughn, Kansas State
2023	7 Texas	49	18 Oklahoma State	21		84,523	QB Quinn Ewers, Texas
2024	15 Arizona State	45	16 Iowa State	19		55,889	RB Cam Skattebo, Arizona State

*Limited attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Results by team

Eleven different teams have played in the Big 12 Championship Game, including all five former members. 29 conference championship game appearances are represented by the former members and 17 by current members. Of current members that have played at least one conference season:

Current members

Appearances	School	Wins	Losses	PCT.	Year(s) Won	Year(s) Lost
4	Kansas State Wildcats	2	2	.500	2003, 2022	1998, 2000
4	Colorado Buffaloes	1	3	.250	2001	2002, 2004, 2005
2	Baylor Bears	1	1	.500	2021	2019
2	TCU Horned Frogs	0	2	.000		2017, 2022
2	Oklahoma State Cowboys	0	2	.000		2021, 2023
2	Iowa State Cyclones	0	2	.000		2020, 2024
1	Arizona State Sun Devils	1	0	1.000	2024

• Arizona, BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, Kansas, Texas Tech, UCF, Utah, and West Virginia have not yet appeared in a Big 12 Championship Game. Of these, Kansas and Texas Tech joined the Big 12 in 1996, West Virginia in 2012, and the other six in 2023 or later.

Former members

Appearances	School	Wins	Losses	PCT.	Year(s) Won	Year(s) Lost
12	Oklahoma Sooners	11	1	.917	2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020	2003
7	Texas Longhorns	4	3	.571	1996, 2005, 2009, 2023	1999, 2001, 2018
6	Nebraska Cornhuskers	2	4	.333	1997, 1999	1996, 2006, 2009, 2010
2	Texas A&M Aggies	1	1	.500	1998	1997
2	Missouri Tigers	0	2	.000		2007, 2008

Common matchups

Matchups that have occurred more than once:

Division era

No. of Times	North Division	South Division	Record	Years Played
3	Nebraska	Texas	Texas, 2–1	1996, 1999, 2009
2	Nebraska	Oklahoma	Oklahoma, 2–0	2006, 2010
2	Missouri	Oklahoma	Oklahoma, 2–0	2007, 2008
2	Colorado	Oklahoma	Oklahoma, 2–0	2004, 2005
2	Kansas State	Oklahoma	Tied, 1–1	2003, 2000
2	Colorado	Texas	Tied, 1–1	2005, 2001

Game records

Team	Record, Team vs. Opponent	Year
Most points scored (one team)	70, Texas vs. Colorado	2005
Most points scored (losing team)	37, Texas vs. Colorado	2001
Fewest points scored (winning team)	13, Texas vs. Nebraska	2009
Fewest points scored	3, Colorado vs. Oklahoma Colorado vs. Texas	2004 2005
Most points scored (both teams)	83, Oklahoma (62) vs. Missouri (21)	2008
Fewest points scored (both teams)	25, Texas (13) vs. Nebraska (12)	2009
Most points scored in a half	42, Texas (1st half) vs. Colorado	2005
Most points scored in a half (both teams)	49, Oklahoma State vs. Texas (1st half)	2023
Largest margin of victory	67, Texas (70) vs. Colorado (3)	2005
Smallest margin of victory	1, Texas (13) vs. Nebraska (12)	2009
Total yards	662, Texas (464 passing, 198 rushing) vs. Oklahoma St	2023
Rushing yards	335, Nebraska vs. Texas A&M	1997
Passing yards	464, Texas vs. Oklahoma State	2023
First downs	39, Oklahoma vs. Missouri	2008
Fewest yards allowed	46, Oklahoma vs. Colorado (50 passing, -4 rushing)	2004
Fewest rushing yards allowed	−4, Oklahoma vs. Colorado	2004
Fewest passing yards allowed	39, Texas vs. Nebraska	2009
Individual	Record, Player, Team vs. Opponent	Year
Total Offense	458, Quinn Ewers, Texas vs. Oklahoma State	2023
Touchdowns responsible for	4, shared by: Ell Roberson, Kansas State vs. Oklahoma Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma vs. TCU Quinn Ewers, Oklahoma State vs. Texas Sam Leavitt, Arizona State vs. Iowa State	2003 2017 2023 2024
Rushing yards	235, Darren Sproles, Kansas State vs. Oklahoma	2003
Rushing touchdowns	3, shared by seven players, most recent: Mossis Madu, Oklahoma vs. Missouri	2008
Passing yards	452, Quinn Ewers, Oklahoma State vs. Texas	2023
Passing yards in a half	354, Quinn Ewers, Oklahoma State vs. Texas (1st half)	2023
Passing touchdowns	4, shared by: Ell Roberson, Kansas State vs. Oklahoma Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma vs. TCU Quinn Ewers, Texas vs. Oklahoma State	2003 2017 2023
Receiving yards	177, Collin Johnson, Texas vs. Oklahoma	2018
Receiving touchdowns	2, shared by eight players, most recent: Xavier Guillory, Arizona State vs. Iowa State	2024
Tackles	17, shared by: Dat Nguyen, Texas A&M vs. Kansas State Lavonte David, Nebraska vs. Oklahoma	1998 2010
Sacks	4.5, Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska vs. Texas	2009
Interceptions	1, shared by 44 players, most recent: Keith Abney II, Arizona State vs. Iowa State	2024
Long Plays	Record, Player, Team vs. Opponent	Year
Touchdown run	66, Roy Helu, Nebraska vs. Oklahoma	2010
Touchdown pass	81, Trestan Ebner from Jacob Zeno, Baylor vs. Oklahoma	2019
Kickoff return	69, Roderick Sneed, Colorado vs. Oklahoma	2003
Punt return	80, Jeremy Bloom, Colorado vs. Oklahoma	2002
Interception return	73, Aaron Killion, Colorado vs. Texas	2001
Fumble return	18, Caleb Kelly, Oklahoma vs. TCU	2017
Punt	67, Shane Lechler, Texas A&M vs. Nebraska	1997
Field goal	51, Kris Brown, Nebraska vs. Texas	1996
Miscellaneous	Record, Team vs. Team	Year
Game attendance	84,523, Oklahoma State vs. Texas	2023

See also

• List of NCAA Division I FBS conference championship games