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Big 12 issues championship game tiebreaker clarifications

On3-Social-Profile_GRAYby: On3 Staff Report11/20/23
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Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

The Big 12 has issued further clarification on its championship game tiebreaker rules following a tricky set of circumstances that left the outlook thoroughly muddled in the last two weeks.

As things stand, Texas leads in the conference race with a 7-1 record, while Kansas State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are right behind at 6-2.

That leaves a whole mess of possibilities to be sorted through. Here’s how the Big 12 issued its clarification for the most likely tiebreaker scenarios, broken down three ways.

Scenarios involving matchups on Friday, Nov. 24

  • Oklahoma remains in contention with either a win or a loss against TCU.
  • Texas will clinch a championship game berth and the No. 1 seed (home team) with a win over Texas Tech.

If Texas wins on Friday

  • If Oklahoma State beats BYU, the Cowboys clinch a championship game berth as the No. 2 seed.
  • If Oklahoma beats TCU on Friday AND Oklahoma State loses to BYU, Oklahoma clinches a championship game berth as the No. 2 seed.
  • If Kansas State beats Iowa State AND Oklahoma loses to TCU AND Oklahoma State loses to BYU, Kansas State clinches a championship game berth as the No. 2 seed.

If Texas Tech wins on Friday

  • No team can clinch a bid to the championship game until Saturday.
  • Texas can still clinch a championship game berth if two of the three 6-2 teams (Kansas State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State) lose. In that scenario, Texas and the lone winning team would go to the championship game.
  • If Texas loses and two or three of the 6-2 teams (Kansas State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State) win, there will be three or four teams tied for both championship game berths. Per the Big 12: “Multiple scenarios exist in this circumstance contingent on which teams remain in the tiebreaker pool.”

Big 12 Final Weekend Schedule

Friday 11/24/2023
TCU at Oklahoma, 11:00 a.m. CT on FOX
Texas Tech at Texas, 6:30 p.m. CT on ABC

Saturday 11/25/2023
Houston at UCF, Noon ET / 11 a.m. CT on FS1
BYU at Oklahoma State, 2:30 p.m. CT / 1:30 p.m. MT on ABC
West Virginia at Baylor, 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT on FS1
Kansas at Cincinnati, 7:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPN 2
Iowa State at Kansas State, 7 p.m. CT on FOX

Because there are still many scenarios that could unfold, the Big 12 has noted that it will issue updated scenarios following the conclusion of Friday’s games.