This is a list of yearly Big 12 Conference football champions. Champions are determined in a head to head matchup in the Big 12 Championship Game held at the end of the regular season. 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.[1]

Between 2011 and 2016, the championship was earned in round-robin regular-season play among all conference members.[2] Until 2014, the league did not employ tiebreaking procedures, such as head-to-head results, to determine a single champion, and thus it was not unusual for a season to end with "co-champions." However with the 2015 season, head-to-head results will decide if two teams finish tied.[3]

From 2017 onward, the championship game features the two teams with the best conference records.[4] The champion usually is invited to the Sugar Bowl unless selected to play in one of the national semifinals for the College Football Playoff.[5][6] Co-champions are listed in alphabetical order. Co-champions are no longer possible as the Big 12 Conference has switched to using a Conference Championship game to determine the winner.

Champions by year

Record Ranking
Year Champions[7] Conference [7] Overall[8] AP Coaches' Bowl result Head coach
1996 Texas 6–2 8–5 No. 23 No. 23 L Fiesta Bowl 15−38 vs. Penn State John Mackovic
1997 Nebraska 8−0 13−0 No. 2 No. 1 W Orange Bowl 42−17 vs. Tennessee Tom Osborne
1998 Texas A&M 7−1 11−3 No. 11 No. 13 L Sugar Bowl 14−24 vs. Ohio State R. C. Slocum
1999 Nebraska 7−1 12−1 No. 3 No. 2 W Fiesta Bowl 31−21 vs. Tennessee Frank Solich
2000 Oklahoma 8−0 13−0 No. 1 No. 1 W Orange Bowl 13−2 vs. Florida State Bob Stoops
2001 Colorado 7−1 10−3 No. 9 No. 9 L Fiesta Bowl 15−38 vs. Oregon Gary Barnett
2002 Oklahoma 6−2 12−2 No. 5 No. 5 W Rose Bowl 34−14 vs. Washington State Bob Stoops
2003 Kansas State 6−2 11−4 No. 14 No. 13 L Fiesta Bowl 28−35 vs. Ohio State Bill Snyder
2004 Oklahoma 8−0 12−1 No. 3 No. 3 L Orange Bowl 19−55 vs. USC Bob Stoops
2005 Texas 8−0 13−0 No. 1 No. 1 W Rose Bowl 41−38 vs. USC Mack Brown
2006 Oklahoma 7−1 11−3 No. 11 No. 11 L Fiesta Bowl 42−43 vs. Boise State Bob Stoops
2007 Oklahoma 6−2 11−3 No. 8 No. 8 L Fiesta Bowl 28−48 vs. West Virginia Bob Stoops
2008 Oklahoma 7−1 12−2 No. 5 No. 5 L BCS National Championship Game 14−24 vs. Florida Bob Stoops
2009 Texas 8−0 13−1 No. 2 No. 2 L BCS National Championship Game 21−37 vs. Alabama Mack Brown
2010 Oklahoma 6−2 12−2 No. 6 No. 6 W Fiesta Bowl 48−20 vs. Connecticut Bob Stoops
2011 Oklahoma State 8−1 12−1 No. 3 No. 3 W Fiesta Bowl 41−38 vs. Stanford Mike Gundy
2012 Kansas State 8−1 11−2 No. 12 No. 11 L Fiesta Bowl 17−35 vs. Oregon Bill Snyder
Oklahoma 8−1 11−2 No. 15 No. 15 L Cotton Bowl Classic 13−41 vs. Texas A&M Bob Stoops
2013 Baylor 8−1 11−2 No. 13 No. 13 L Fiesta Bowl 42−52 vs. UCF Art Briles
2014 Baylor 8−1 11−2 No. 7 No. 8 L Cotton Bowl Classic 41−42 vs. Michigan State Art Briles
TCU 8−1 12−1 No. 3 No. 3 W Peach Bowl 42−3 vs. Ole Miss Gary Patterson
2015 Oklahoma 8−1 11−2 No. 5 No. 5 L CFP Semifinal at Orange Bowl 17−37 vs. Clemson Bob Stoops
2016 Oklahoma 9−0 11−2 No. 5 No. 3 W Sugar Bowl 35−19 vs. Auburn Bob Stoops
2017 Oklahoma 8−1 12−2 No. 3 No. 3 L CFP Semifinal at Rose Bowl 48−54 vs. Georgia Lincoln Riley
2018 Oklahoma 8−1 12−2 No. 4 No. 4 L CFP Semifinal at Orange Bowl 34−45 vs. Alabama Lincoln Riley
2019 Oklahoma 8−1 12−2 No. 7 No. 6 L CFP Semifinal at Peach Bowl 28−63 vs. LSU Lincoln Riley
2020 Oklahoma 6−2 8−2 No. 6 No. 6 W Cotton Bowl Classic 55-20 vs. Florida Lincoln Riley
2021 Baylor 7−2 12−2 No. 5 No.6 W Sugar Bowl 21-7 vs. Ole Miss Dave Aranda
2022 Kansas State 7−2 10−3 No. 14 No. 14 L Sugar Bowl 45-20 vs. Alabama Chris Klieman
2023 Texas 8−1 12−1 No. 3 No. 4т CFP Semifinal at Sugar Bowl vs. Washington Steve Sarkisian
Bold indicates a national championship.

Championships by team

Team Big 12
Championships		 Years
Oklahoma* 14 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
Texas* 4 1996, 2005, 2009, 2023
Baylor 3 2013, 2014, 2021
Kansas State 3 2003, 2012, 2022
Nebraska* 2 1997, 1999
Colorado* 1 2001
Oklahoma State 1 2011
TCU 1 2014
Texas A&M* 1 1998
BYU 0
Cincinnati 0
Houston 0
Iowa State 0
Kansas 0
Missouri* 0
Texas Tech 0
UCF 0
West Virginia 0

Italics indicate a shared title.
* indicates a school no longer competing in the Big 12.

Big 12 Championship Game

Main article: Big 12 Championship Game

Since 2017, the championship game has determined the conference champion. The game features the two teams with the best conference records. From the inaugural championship game in 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 2011 to 2016, a round-robin would determine the champion.

Year North Division South Division
1996 No. 3 Nebraska 27 Texas 37
1997 No. 2 Nebraska 54 No. 14 Texas A&M 15
1998 No. 2 Kansas State 33 No. 10 Texas A&M 36
1999 No. 3 Nebraska 22 No. 12 Texas 6
2000 No. 8 Kansas State 24 No. 1 Oklahoma 27
2001 No. 9 Colorado 39 No. 3 Texas 37
2002 No. 12 Colorado 7 No. 8 Oklahoma 29
2003 No. 13 Kansas State 35 No. 1 Oklahoma 7
2004 Colorado 3 No. 2 Oklahoma 42
2005 Colorado 3 No. 2 Texas 70
2006 No. 19 Nebraska 7 No. 8 Oklahoma 21
2007 No. 1 Missouri 17 No. 9 Oklahoma 38
2008 No. 19 Missouri 21 No. 4 Oklahoma 62
2009 21 Nebraska 12 No. 3 Texas 13
2010 No. 13 Nebraska 20 No. 10 Oklahoma 23
Year No. 1 Seed No. 2 Seed
2017 No. 2 Oklahoma 41 No. 10 TCU 17
2018 No. 5 Oklahoma 39 No. 14 Texas 27
2019 No. 6 Oklahoma 30 No. 7 Baylor 23
2020 No. 6 Iowa State 21 No. 10 Oklahoma 27
2021 No. 5 Oklahoma State 16 No. 9 Baylor 21
2022 No. 3 TCU 28 No. 10 Kansas State 31
2023 No. 7 Texas 49 No. 18 Oklahoma State 21

Championships by head coach

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Head Coach School Big 12
Championships
Bob Stoops Oklahoma 10 [9]
Lincoln Riley Oklahoma 4 [10]
Art Briles Baylor 2 [11][12]
Bill Snyder Kansas State 2 [13]
Mack Brown Texas 2 [14]
Steve Sarkisian Texas 1
Dave Aranda Baylor 1
Frank Solich Nebraska 1 [15]
Gary Barnett Colorado 1 [16]
Gary Patterson TCU 1 [17]
John Mackovic Texas 1 [18]
Mike Gundy Oklahoma State 1 [19]
R. C. Slocum Texas A&M 1 [20]
Tom Osborne Nebraska 1 [21]
Chris Klieman Kansas State 1

Active coaches are in bold

References

  1. ^ "Staying at 10, Big 12 now has to decide divisions _ or not". Associated Press. 19 October 2016.
  2. ^ "Big 12 releases 2011 Football Schedules and Future Scheduling Format". 30 September 2010.
  3. ^ "Big 12 will actually have 'One True Champion' with new tiebreakers".
  4. ^ "WVSports - What is WVU's path to the Big 12 title game?".
  5. ^ "Big 12 Bowl Ties, Affiliations 2020-2021". College Football News. 2020-01-31. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  6. ^ Kelley, Kevin (2019-06-04). "Big 12 announces bowl lineup through 2025". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  7. ^ a b "College Football Poll.com". www.collegefootballpoll.com. December 21, 2016. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  8. ^ "All-Time Big 12 Standings/Bowl Games" (PDF).
  9. ^ Vardeman, Brady (2017-06-07). "5 highlights of Bob Stoops' tenure at Oklahoma, from a national title to Big 12-SEC smack talk". Retrieved 2020-11-29.
  10. ^ Shradar, Kristopher (2020-11-13). "Falcons Head Coach Search: Lincoln Riley". SportsTalkATL.com. Retrieved 2020-11-29.
  11. ^ "Whatever Happened to Controversial Baylor Football Coach Art Briles?". 10 July 2020.
  12. ^ "Art Briles, who was fired amid a sexual assault scandal at Baylor, has been hired to lead an East Texas high school football program". Chicago Tribune.
  13. ^ Boatright, Jason (2020-12-02). "A look at Bill Snyder's record in his 27 years of coaching at K-State". kansascity.com. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  14. ^ Davis, Brian (December 13, 2013). "Texas' Mack Brown resigns after 16 seasons as Longhorns head coach". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  15. ^ "Ohio U's Frank Solich, a Holy Name High School alum, becomes winningest football coach in MAC history". wkyc.com. 20 November 2019. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  16. ^ "Barnett out as coach of Colorado". ESPN.com. 2005-12-08. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  17. ^ "TCU's Gary Patterson: Playoff should be six teams, no league title games".
  18. ^ "Texas's Gutsy Play Ends Title Hopes for Nebraska". The New York Times. 8 December 1996.
  19. ^ "The BCS Title Game Cost Oklahoma State's Coach A $500,000 Bonus". Business Insider.
  20. ^ Cowan, Jim. "Texas A&M: If They Only Knew...The Post R.C. Slocum Years". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  21. ^ "With No Due Respect if Scott Frost's Unsung Career is Any Guide, Nebraska Will Go Undefeated and Still Not Get a Share of the National Title".
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