Editing Big 12 Conference (section)

== Football ==
{{Main|Big 12 Conference football}}

The first football game in conference play was Texas Tech vs. Kansas State in 1996, won by Kansas State, 21–14.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/coaching/alltime_coach_game_by_game.php?coachid=2190&year=1996|publisher=[[College Football Data Warehouse]]|first=David|last=DeLassus|title=Kansas State University football records—1996|access-date=September 4, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020111717/http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/coaching/alltime_coach_game_by_game.php?coachid=2190&year=1996|archive-date=October 20, 2012}}</ref>

From 1996 to 2010, Big 12 Conference teams played eight conference games a season. Each team faced all five opponents within its own division and three teams from the opposite division. Inter-divisional play was a "three-on, three-off" system, where teams would 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.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sommers|first=Michael A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iMJgEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA9|title=Football in the Big 12|date=2007-08-15|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc|isbn=978-1-4358-4432-2|pages=9–10|language=en}}</ref>

This format came under considerable criticism, especially from Nebraska and Oklahoma, who were denied a yearly match between two of college football's most storied programs.{{Citation needed|date=July 2011}} The [[Nebraska-Oklahoma rivalry]] was one of the most intense in college football history.{{Citation needed|date=July 2011}} (Until 2006, the teams had never met in the Big 12 Championship.) Due to the departure of Nebraska and Colorado in 2011, the Big 12 eliminated the divisions (and championship game) and instituted a nine-game round-robin format.{{citation needed|date=November 2011}} With the advent of the [[College Football Playoff]] committee looking at teams' strength of schedule for picking the four playoff teams, on December 8, 2015, the Big 12 announced an annual requirement for all Big 12 teams to schedule a non-conference game against a team from the four other Power Five conferences (plus Notre Dame).<ref name="non-conf schedule req">{{cite web|url=http://www.big12sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10410&ATCLID=210560102|title=Football Non-Conference Scheduling Requirement Announced|work=Big12Sports.com|date=8 December 2015}}</ref> Per Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby: "Schedule strength is a key component in CFP Selection Committee deliberations. This move will strengthen the resumes for all Big 12 teams. Coupled with the nine-game full round robin Conference schedule our teams play, it will not only benefit the teams at the top of our standings each season, but will impact the overall strength of the Conference."<ref name="non-conf schedule req" /> The Big 12 has made it to the Playoffs 6 times from 2014 to 2023. Four Big 12 participants have made it to the playoff: [[Oklahoma Sooners football|Oklahoma]] in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2019; [[Texas Longhorns football|Texas]] in 2023; [[TCU Horned Frogs football|TCU]] in 2022; and [[Arizona State Sun Devils football |Arizona State University]] in 2024.

=== Championship game ===

{{Main|Big 12 Championship Game}}

The Big 12 Championship Game game was approved by all members except Nebraska.<ref>{{cite news|title=Big 12 approves playoff format|location=Harlan, Kentucky|agency=Associated Press|date=June 16, 1995|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SS5BAAAAIBAJ&pg=6967,2386120&dq=big-12+kansas-city+headquarters+irving&hl=en}}</ref> It was held each year, commencing with the first match in the 1996 season at the [[The Dome at America's Center|Trans World Dome]] in [[St. Louis]]. It pitted the division champions against each other after the regular season was completed.

Following the 2008 game, the event was moved to the new [[AT&T Stadium|Cowboys Stadium]] in [[Arlington, Texas]], being played there in 2009 and 2010. In 2010, the Sooners defeated the Cornhuskers 23–20.<ref>{{cite news|title= OU defeats Nebraska 23–20, wins Big 12 title|first=John E|last=Hoover|work=Tulsa World|date=December 5, 2010|url=http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/OU/article.aspx?subjectid=92&articleid=20101204_92_0_Thelas604128}}</ref>

After 2010, the game was moved to Arlington for 2011, 2012, and 2013.<ref>{{cite news|title=Football: Big 12 title game stays in Dallas|first=Lee|last=Barfknecht|date=June 4, 2010|work=Omaha World-Herald|url=http://www.omaha.com/article/20100604/SPORTS/306049864|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120908001204/http://www.omaha.com/article/20100604/SPORTS/306049864|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 8, 2012}}</ref> However, the decision became moot following the 2010 season because the league lacked sufficient members.<ref>{{cite news|title=Remaining Schools in Big 12 Close to Saving League|work=[[KBTX-TV]]|location=Bryan, Texas|date=June 14, 2011|first=Chip|last=Brown|url=http://www.kbtx.com/sports/headlines/96310899.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616082037/http://www.kbtx.com/sports/headlines/96310899.html|archive-date=June 16, 2010}}</ref>

In April 2015, the ACC and the Big 12 developed new rules for the NCAA to deregulate conference championship games. The measure passed on January 14, 2016, allowing a conference with fewer than 12 teams to stage a championship game that does not count against the FBS limit of 12 regular-season games under either of the following circumstances:
* The game involves the top two teams following a full round-robin conference schedule.
* The game involves two divisional winners, each having played a full round-robin schedule in its division.

Under the first criterion, the Big 12 championship game resumed at the conclusion of the 2017 regular season, and is played during the first weekend of December, the time all other FBS conference championship games are played.

=== Bowl affiliations ===
The following were bowl games for the Big 12 for the 2022 season.{{update inline|date=October 2024}}

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Pick
!Name<ref>{{cite web| url = https://big12sports.com/news/2019/5/23/211718886.aspx| title = 2022-2023 Bowl Selection Process | publisher = Big 12 Conference| date = July 18, 2022
}}</ref>
! Location
! Opposing conference
|-
| style="text-align: center;"| –
| [[College Football Playoff]]
| style="text-align: center;"|–
| style="text-align: center;"|–
|-
| style="text-align: center;"| 1
| [[Sugar Bowl]]†
| [[New Orleans|New Orleans, Louisiana]]
| [[Southeastern Conference|SEC]]
|-
| style="text-align: center;"| 2
| [[Alamo Bowl]]
| [[San Antonio|San Antonio, Texas]]
| [[Pac-12 Conference|Pac-12]]
|-
| style="text-align: center;"| 3
| [[Pop-Tarts Bowl|Cheez-It Bowl]]
| [[Orlando, Florida]]
| [[Atlantic Coast Conference|ACC]]
|-
| style="text-align: center;"| 4
| [[Texas Bowl]]
| [[Houston|Houston, Texas]]
| [[Southeastern Conference|SEC]]
|-
| style="text-align: center;"| 5
| [[Liberty Bowl]]
| [[Memphis, Tennessee]]
| [[Southeastern Conference|SEC]]
|-
| style="text-align: center;"| 6
| [[Guaranteed Rate Bowl]]
| [[Phoenix, Arizona]]
| [[Big Ten Conference|Big Ten]]
|-
| style="text-align: center;"| 7‡
| [[Armed Forces Bowl]]
| [[Fort Worth, Texas]]
| [[American Athletic Conference|AAC]]/[[Conference USA|C-USA]]
|-
| style="text-align: center;"| 7‡
| [[First Responder Bowl]]
| [[Dallas|Dallas, Texas]]
| [[American Athletic Conference|AAC]]/[[Atlantic Coast Conference|ACC]]/[[Conference USA|C-USA]]
|-
|colspan="4"|†The Big 12 champion will go to the Sugar Bowl unless selected for the College Football Playoff. In the event that the conference champion is selected for the playoff, the conference runner-up will go to the Sugar Bowl. In years in which the Sugar Bowl is a CFP semifinal, the Big 12 champion (runner-up if the champion is selected for the CFP) is slotted to the Cotton, Fiesta or Peach Bowls.
‡The seventh selection is a "flex pick."
|}