Big 12 tiebreaker changes shows league is ‘run by morons’

The Big 12 race is shaping up to be an interesting one — in more ways than one. Texas sits alone atop the league, but four teams sit tied for second place with a spot in the conference title game on the line.

Then, this week, the Big 12 tiebreaker rules came into question. The league’s current rules state, “Record against the next highest placed common opponent in the standings (based on record in all games played within the conference), proceeding through the standings.”

The issue there, though, was that Oklahoma and Kansas State don’t play each other this year. That meant the league couldn’t turn to the round-robin record portion of the tiebreaker with the two and Oklahoma State. A clarification was reportedly on the agenda for Wednesday’s call with conference athletic directors, although the Sooners was “unaware” of that until Tuesday, Sooner Scoop’s Georgia Stoia III reported.

Other schools didn’t know it, either, Stoia said. It adds to the strange nature of the situation.

“I was told by multiple people at multiple different schools that they were unaware that this was even something that was going to be discussed,” Stoia told Eddie Radosevich and Andy Staples on Andy Staples On3. “… My takeaway from all of this is the Big 12 is just — I mean, this probably harsh, but they’re run by morons right now. It’s kind of a clown show. And the fact that we’re even talking about this, that no one’s, like, double checked that. Like you said, Andy, didn’t even take out the comma there in that one sentence. This is just, it’s unbelievable.”

More on the Big 12 tiebreaker rule clarification

On Wednesday’s call, the Big 12 announced the clarification of its current rules, confirming head-to-head wins “take precedence.” However, a second sentence wasn’t on the initial Sept. 1 rules, Stoia said.

“In the event of a multiple-team tie, head-to-head wins take precedence,” the release said. “If all the tied teams are not common opponents, the tied team that defeated each of the other tied teams earns the Championship berth.

“There have been no changes to any rules regarding Big 12 Football tiebreaker procedures, which were agreed upon prior to the season and went into effect August of 2023.”

The tiebreaker rules add to the intrigue of the last two weeks of games. With four teams all tied for second, there’s still plenty to figure out about who heads to Arlington for the Big 12 Championship.