Arizona State and Iowa State will play for the Big 12 title Dec. 7 in Arlington, Texas.
Coach Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes concluded the regular season tied for first place in the Big 12 Conference but will not participate in the Big 12 Championship Game next weekend due to earlier losses against Kansas and Kansas State.
This outcome is a result of the Big 12’s tiebreaker rules.
Instead, Arizona State (10-2) and Iowa State (10-2) will compete for the Big 12 football championship on December 7 in Arlington, Texas, as they also finished the regular season tied for first place alongside Colorado (9-3) and BYU (10-2), all with a 7-2 conference record.
Arizona State and Iowa State secured their spots in the championship game based on the league’s tiebreaker criteria, which prioritize records against common opponents and the overall strength of schedule within conference play.
Why are ASU, Iowa State playing for the Big 12 title, not CU, BYU?
None of the first-place teams faced each other this season, and none managed to defeat all the other tied teams. According to Big 12 tiebreaker rules, the next criterion is their records against common conference opponents.
For the four tied teams, the common Big 12 opponents included Kansas, Kansas State, Utah, and Central Florida. Arizona State finished 4-0 against these teams, while BYU and Iowa State both recorded 3-1 records. Colorado had a 2-2 record, losing to Kansas and Kansas State.
This result gave Arizona State the edge in the tiebreaker. The tie between BYU and Iowa State was more complex but was ultimately resolved based on the strength of each team’s schedule, measured by the overall win percentage of their opponents in conference play. Iowa State had a combined opponent’s league record of 36-45, compared to BYU’s 31-50. Ultimately, BYU’s chances were hurt by facing teams like Oklahoma State (0-9) and Arizona (2-7), which Iowa State did not encounter.
It still came down to the last game for Colorado
The same four teams entered the last weekend of the regular season tied for first place in the Big 12 with 6-2 conference records, and all four secured victories, resulting in a four-way tie.
- Colorado defeated Oklahoma State at home on Friday with a score of 52-0, wrapping up the season with a 9-3 record under head coach Deion Sanders.
- Arizona State won against Arizona on Saturday on the road with a score of 49-7.
- Iowa State beat Kansas State on Saturday at home, finishing 29-21.
- BYU claimed victory in a late Saturday night game at home against Houston, winning 30-18.
For Colorado to qualify for the championship, they needed two of the other top teams to lose, or a BYU loss along with a Texas Tech win against West Virginia. Tech did win, defeating West Virginia 52-15, leaving Colorado’s chances dependent on the late-night game of BYU that was broadcast on ESPN.
If BYU had lost, Colorado would have been in a three-way tie for first place with Arizona State and Iowa State. In that scenario, all three teams would have had 4-2 records against common Big 12 opponents. The next tiebreaker would have involved their records against the next highest-placed common opponents, which is second-place Texas Tech (6-3). Colorado defeated Tech this season, while Iowa State and Arizona State both lost to the Red Raiders, which would have given Colorado a spot in the Big 12 title game.
When and where is the Big 12 championship game?
The game will take place at noon ET on December 7 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and will be broadcast on ABC.
Will the winner qualify for the College Football Playoff?
Almost certainly. The 12-team playoff includes automatic berths for the five highest-ranked conference champions, along with seven at-large berths. To secure an automatic spot, the Big 12 champion would need to rank higher than at least one of the other five conference champions in the final playoff rankings on December 8. Currently, Arizona State is the highest-ranked Big 12 team at No. 16, just ahead of Tulane from the American Athletic Conference at No. 17, with Iowa State close behind at No. 18.
The positive news for the Big 12 is that Tulane lost to Memphis on Thanksgiving, which will likely place them below Arizona State and Iowa State in the rankings. To claim an automatic berth, the Big 12 champion needs to outrank the winner of the AAC championship game on Friday: Army (9-1) versus Tulane (9-3).
Where is Colorado likely to play in a bowl game?
It appears that Colorado will go to the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio on December 28. The Alamo Bowl pits a Big 12 team against a former Pac-12 team, based on agreements established prior to the Pac-12’s decline. The Alamo Bowl gets first dibs on non-playoff teams from those conferences, aiming to avoid rematches and maximize viewership and ticket sales.
If Arizona State makes the playoffs as the Big 12 champion, the Alamo Bowl might select Colorado as a former Pac-12 team to face BYU or Iowa State, even though all three teams are now part of the Big 12. Colorado hasn’t faced BYU since 1988 and hasn’t played Iowa State since 2010.
If Iowa State secures a playoff spot, the Alamo Bowl could still choose a 9-3 Colorado team over a 10-3 Arizona State team.
If Colorado is not selected for the Alamo Bowl, the Holiday Bowl in San Diego would be next in line to pick among former Pac-12 teams and is likely to select the Buffs to compete against an Atlantic Coast Conference team in the December 27 game.
What led to Colorado’s struggles this season?
The Buffaloes had a solid year, improving from a 4-8 record in Deion Sanders’ first season and a dismal 1-11 in 2022. However, if they had managed to defeat Kansas on November 23, they would have been the outright leaders and competing for the Big 12 title. Instead, they lost 37-21 after falling behind 17-0 early in the game.
The loss to Kansas State also hurt their chances, as it negatively impacted their tiebreaker situation. Colorado lost that matchup at home on October 12, 31-28, despite having a late lead in the fourth quarter.
What caused so many teams to tie for first place in the Big 12? The conference does not use a full round-robin schedule and is not divided into divisions, even with its expanded size of 16 teams following the addition of Colorado, Arizona State, Arizona, and Utah this season. Each team plays only nine league games during the regular season, which means that since not all teams face each other, it’s common for multiple teams to finish with the same records. This season, five Big 12 teams also entered the weekend tied for second place with 5-3 conference records.
Head-to-head results are the first tiebreaker between two teams that are tied.
For instance, Colorado did not play against BYU, Iowa State, or Arizona State during the regular season, but they could still end up facing BYU or Iowa State in the Alamo Bowl on December 28.
Leave a Reply