Baylor 69 Kansas 35 Oklahoma 68 | Iowa State 20 Kansas State 14 Oklahoma State 65 | |
![]() | ||
The Big 12 Conference sponsors championships in 23 sports, 10 men's and 13 women's. The first conference championship awarded was the 1996 softball postseason tournament championship, which was won by Oklahoma.
Contents
- Baseball
- Mens cross country
- Football
- Mens golf
- Womens gymnastics
- Rowing
- Womens soccer
- Softball
- Womens tennis
- Womens Volleyball
- Wrestling
- References
From 2011 through 2016, the football champion was decided by regular-season play. Previously divisional titles were awarded based on regular-season conference results, with the teams with the best conference records from the North and South playing in the Big 12 Championship Game for the Big 12 title. Following changes in NCAA rules, the Big 12 will reinstate its football championship game in 2017, with the top two teams in the final conference standings advancing to the title game. Baseball, basketball, soccer, and tennis titles are awarded in both regular-season and tournament play. Cross country, golf, gymnastics, rowing, swimming and diving, track and field, and wrestling titles are awarded during an annual meet of participating teams. The volleyball and softball titles are awarded based on regular-season play. Softball previously held a post season tournament.
Baseball
All current Big 12 members sponsor baseball except Iowa State, which dropped the sport after the 2001 season. All former Big 12 members sponsored the sport throughout their tenures in the conference except Colorado, which never sponsored baseball during its time in the Big 12.
Men's cross country
All Big 12 schools sponsor men's cross country except West Virginia.
Football
Big 12 Championship Game (1996-2010)
Note: While the team playing in the championship game is popularly regarded as the divisional champion, the Big 12 did officially recognize co-champions in football, just like it does in other sports. As a result, the following teams are also recognized as champions by the Big 12:
North Co-Champions: Kansas State (1999), Nebraska (2000, 2001, 2008), Iowa State (2004), Kansas (2007), Missouri (2010)
South Co-Champions: Texas (2002, 2008), Texas Tech (2008), Oklahoma State (2010), Texas A&M (2010)
2011 – present
When Nebraska and Colorado left the conference after the 2010 season, it left the conference with only 10 members. The conference did not replace the two teams and therefore eliminated the Big 12 Championship game. Under the new format, every team plays each other and the team with the best conference record wins the Big 12 title. In the event of a tie between two teams or more teams for the best conference record, then they were determined co-champions. Through the 2013 season, the winner of the head-to-head game earned the BCS berth in the Fiesta Bowl. This has since been changed and the league will recognize a tie-breaker starting in 2015. The change was made after the B12 was left out of the inaugural four-team College Football Invitational in 2014. The B12 presented TCU and Baylor as co-champs to the College Football Committee in 2014, despite Baylor having the head to head win over TCU. The move was seen as a play by the conference to get two teams invited into the new format, which backfired, leaving both teams out.
With the launch of the College Football Playoff (CFP) in 2014, which coincided with a reworking of bowl tie-ins, the Big 12 tie to the Fiesta Bowl ended.
Big 12 Champions (2011–present)
Note: * Head to head winner
Men's golf
West Virginia added men's golf starting in the 2015–16 season.
Women's gymnastics
Denver became an affiliate in women's gymnastics effective with the 2015–16 season.
Rowing
In the 2014–15 school year, rowing was the only Big 12 sport with affiliate members. Prior to that school year, the Big 12 and Conference USA (C-USA) had a rowing alliance in which all Big 12 rowing schools would participate in the C-USA championship as well as the Big 12 championship. C-USA dropped rowing after the departure of most of its rowing members for other conferences. The Big 12 then took in the three remaining schools from the C-USA rowing league (Alabama, Old Dominion, and Tennessee) as single-sport affiliates.
Since 2015–16, the Big 12 also has affiliates in women's gymnastics and wrestling.
Women's soccer
Kansas State sponsored women's soccer for the first time in 2015, but the Wildcats have not started competing as members of the Big 12 as of the 2016 season.
Softball
Seven Big 12 schools currently sponsor softball; Kansas State, TCU, and West Virginia do not.
Reference:
Women's tennis
Reference:
Women's Volleyball
Oklahoma State never sponsored a team in the Big 12. Nebraska left the conference in 2011.
Wrestling
Wrestling crowned regular-season champions in 2011–12 and 2012–13 only.
In 2015, the Big 12 absorbed the Western Wrestling Conference, with that league's six final members becoming Big 12 affiliates effective with the 2015–16 school year.