Big 12 football's conference championship tiebreaker rules in 2024, explained
The Big 12 Conference looks a bit different this year 16 total teams, following chaotic conference realignment nationwide with the additions of Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah this year.
But obviously, teams can’t play everyone in the conference in a single season, and that opens the door for possible ties in the Big 12 standings at the end of the regular season, complicating how the two teams in the conference championship game are determined. While conference titles alone are important, there are also College Football Playoff implications on the line because the four highest-ranked conference champs get top seeds and first-round byes.
Here’s a look at the Big 12 football tiebreaker rules in 2024, should we need them.
Big 12 football championship game tiebreaker rules in 2024
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The 2024 Big 12 football championship game is set for Saturday, December 7 at noon ET at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and the conference’s top-2 teams will play. But if there’s a tie, how will the Big 12 break it to determine which teams will play for a conference title?
If there is a two-team tie in the Big 12 standings at the end of the regular season, the conference will look at these factors to break it, per Big 12 tiebreaker rules:
1. Head-to-head competition among the two tied teams
2. Win percentage against all common conference opponents among the tied teams
3. Win percentage against the next highest placed common opponent in the standings (based on the record in all games played within the Conference), proceeding through the standings. When arriving at another group of tied teams while comparing records, use each team’s win percentage against the collective tied teams as a group (prior to that group’s own tie-breaking procedure) rather than the performance against individual tied teams
4. Combined win percentage in conference games of conference opponents (i.e., the strength of conference schedule)
5. Total number of wins in a 12-game season. The following conditions will apply to the calculation of the total number of wins: Only one win against a team from the NCAA FCS or lower division will be counted annually. Any games that are exempted from counting against the annual maximum number of football contests per NCAA rules
6. Highest ranking by SportSource Analytics (team Rating Score metric) following the last weekend of regular-season games
7. Coin toss
If there’s a two-way tie for first and the tied teams previously played each other, the winner of that game is the top seed. If the tied teams didn’t previously play each other, the two-way tiebreaker rules apply.
If there is a multi-team tie in the Big 12 at the end of the regular season, the conference will consider the following factors to figure out the single winner of the tiebreak. But if there is still a multi-way tie after the first team is selected from the tiebreak, the Big 12 will use these factors to break the tie, and when two teams are left tied, the two-team tiebreaker rules apply.
1. The records of the three (or more) tied teams will be compared based on winning percentage in games among the tied teams:
1A. If all teams involved in the tie did not play each other, but one team defeated all other teams involved in the tie, the team that defeated all other teams in the tie is removed from the tiebreaker, and the remaining teams revert to the beginning of the applicable tiebreaker process (i.e., two team or three or more team tie)
1B. If all teams involved in the tie did not play each other and no team defeated all other teams involved in the tie, move to the next step in tiebreaker
2. The records of the three (or more) tied teams will be compared based on winning percentage against all common conference opponents played by all other teams involved in the tie
3. Record of the three (or more) tied teams against the next highest placed common opponent in the standings (based on the record in all games played within the conference), proceeding through the standings. When arriving at another group of tied teams while comparing records, use each team’s win percentage against the collective tied teams as a group (prior to that group’s own tie-breaking procedure) rather than the performance against individual tied teams
4. Record of the three (or more) tied teams based on combined win percentage in conference games of conference opponents (i.e., strength of conference schedule)
5. Total number of wins in a 12-game season. The following conditions will apply to the calculation of the total number of wins: Only one win against a team from the NCAA FCS or lower division will be counted annually. Any games that are exempted from counting against the annual maximum number of football contests per NCAA rules
6. Highest ranking by SportSource Analytics (team Rating Score metric) following the last weekend of regular-season games
7. Coin toss