Big 12 Notes

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Big 12 Notes – Postseason

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December 11th

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CBS Big 12 Grades: CU & ASU get an “A+”; Oklahoma State gets an “F”

From CBS Sports … The Big 12 hit its next evolution in 2024 as former Pac-12 schools Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah joined the fray. With the additions, the league moved to 16 teams for the first time in conference history, creating a wildly competitive race.

Early on, it became clear that almost nothing was going to plan. Preseason favorites Utah and Oklahoma State dropped to the bottom of the conference. Arizona State, predicted to finish last, shocked the conference and rose to the top. The season ended with two teams picked in the middle experiencing coaching changes, only emphasizing the unpredictable season.

With all the unexpected turns, five teams were able to break into the “A” range, four of which were picked in the bottom half of the Big 12 poll. Conversely, four teams earned “Ds”, while one program got an “F” — and, boy, did it earn the grade.

Here’s how we grade each Big 12 team in 2024 based on their expectations, successes and failures.

Colorado

The Buffaloes came into the season with an over/under set at 5.5 wins. Not only did Colorado make its first non-pandemic bowl since 2016, the program was playing for a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game in the final week of the season. The Buffs ultimately fell short due to a tiebreaker, but making it to the final stage was an incredible accomplishment for coach Deion Sanders. Star athlete Travis Hunter also had the kind of perfect storm season he needed to give himself a chance to win the Heisman Trophy on Saturday. And by the way, Colorado signing quarterback recruit Julian Lewis gives the program a second life after Shedeur Sanders leaves. This level of success was almost unthinkable heading into the year. Grade: A+

Arizona State

This is the easiest grade of the season. Arizona State was picked last place in the preseason Big 12 poll after a 3-9 season, but coach Kenny Dillingham is now the favorite for national Coach of the Year honors after leading the Sun Devils to 11 wins and an outright conference title for the first time since 1996. ASU got a boost from quarterback transfer Sam Leavitt (Michigan State), but running back Cam Skattebo will be remembered forever for his efforts in Tempe. Grade: A+

Arizona

Expectations were high for the Wildcats after a 10-win season, even after a coaching change when Jedd Fisch was replaced by Brent Brennan. Unfortunately, things fell far below expectations. Arizona went only 4-8 and 2-7 in conference play, including losses in three of the last games by an average of 35.7 points per game. A 49-7 loss against rival Arizona State was the ultimate disrespect. Now, Brennan will have to move forward without receiver Tetairoa McMillan, among other NFL talents. Arizona really needed to have success this season. Grade: D

Utah

The Utes were considered the overwhelming favorite to win the Big 12 after capturing two of the final three Pac-12 crowns. Instead, Utah was one of the worst teams in the league after quarterback Cameron Rising went out in Week 2. Utah was thrust into starting true freshman Isaac Wilson as the offense ranked only ahead of Houston in key metrics. The only thing that saves this from being a full-on F is the fact that it was driven by an injury. Next year, though, quarterback injuries won’t be accepted as an excuse. Grade: D-

… Read full story here …

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December 8th 

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From the Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl to the Pop Tarts Bowl, Big 12 bowl lineup set

Press release from the Big 12 … Matching its record-breaking number of selections a year ago, the Big 12 Conference had nine teams selected for the postseason that was highlighted by Dr Pepper Big 12 Football Champion Arizona State being selected as the No. 4 seed in the College Football Playoff.

The Sun Devils earned a bye in the new 12-team playoff format and will play in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl on Wednesday, Jan. 1 on ESPN. ASU will take on the winner Clemson and Texas, who face off in the first round of the CFP, for the right to advance to a semifinal matchup at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Friday, Jan. 10.

Arizona State, Baylor, BYU, Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas State, TCU, Texas Tech and West Virginia make up the Big 12’s nine-team contingent of postseason teams. The Big 12’s postseason matchups will also include two meetings versus SEC opponents as well as games against the AAC, ACC, Big Ten and the Sun Belt.

BYU and Colorado will square off in the Valero Alamo Bowl in an all-Big 12 showdown due to the game’s Big 12 and Pac-12 legacy bowl agreements. The Cougars and Buffaloes did not face each other this season.

West Virginia will kickoff Big 12 bowl season in the Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl on Tuesday, December 17. The Conference will have three of its bowl teams in action on Saturday, December 28 with the Valero Alamo Bowl, Pop-Tarts Bowl and Isleta New Mexico Bowl.

2024-25 Big 12 Bowl Schedule
Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl
West Virginia vs. Memphis (AAC) on ESPN at 8 p.m. CT on Tuesday, December 17
Toyota Stadium – Frisco, Texas

Rate Bowl
Kansas State vs. Rutgers (Big Ten) on ESPN at 4:30 p.m. CT on Thursday, December 26
Chase Field – Phoenix, Arizona

AutoZone Liberty Bowl
Texas Tech vs. Arkansas (SEC) on ESPN at 6 p.m. CT on Friday, December 27
Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium – Memphis, Tennessee

Valero Alamo Bowl
BYU vs. Colorado on ABC at 6:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, December 28
Alamodome – San Antonio, Texas

Pop-Tarts Bowl
Iowa State vs. Miami (ACC) on ABC at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, December 28
Camping World Stadium – Orlando, Florida

Isleta New Mexico Bowl
TCU vs. Louisiana (Sun Belt) on ESPN at 1:15 p.m. CT on Saturday, December 28
University Stadium – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Kinder’s Texas Bowl
Baylor vs. LSU (SEC) on ESPN at 2:30 p.m. CT on Tuesday, December 31
NRG Stadium – Houston, Texas

Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl
Arizona State vs. TBD on ESPN at 12 p.m. CT on Wednesday, January 1
Mercedez-Benz Stadium – Atlanta, Georgia

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December 6th 

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CU No. 9 in the nation in average viewers per game (only Big 12 team in the Top 25)

From Medium.com … The numbers next to each school indicate the average number of viewers per week for a 12-week season.

Streaming numbers are included if available. Games with no available data are counted as zero.

1. Georgia — 5.97M
2. Alabama — 5.44M
3. Ohio State — 5.16M
4. Texas — 4.63M
5. Michigan — 3.644M
6. Florida — 3.639M
7. Tennessee — 3.60M
8. LSU — 3.58M
9. Colorado — 3.55M
10. Texas A&M — 3.37M
11. Oklahoma — 2.80M
12. Nebraska — 2.469M
13. Oregon — 2.466M
14. Penn State — 2.46M
15. Mississippi — 2.41M
16. Miami FL — 2.24M
17. Southern Cal — 2.23M
18. Notre Dame — 2.19M
19. Auburn — 2.16M
20. South Carolina — 1.91M
21. Georgia Tech — 1.89M
22. Iowa — 1.85M
23. Clemson — 1.70M
24. Florida State — 1.64M
25. Arkansas — 1.59M

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2024 Big 12 national rank in TV viewers per game (2023 rank/net change in viewers per game) ** did not play Colorado

• 9. Colorado — 3.55M (#4/ -950K)
• 29. Kansas State — 1.38M (#52/ +570K)
• 33. Kansas — 1.22M (#35/ -10K)
• 34. Utah — 1.19M (#25/ -340K)
• 35. BYU — 1.15M (#38/ -60K) **
• 36. Oklahoma State — 1.09M (#39/ -50K)
• 39. Iowa State — 857K (#38/ -293K)**
• 42. West Virginia — 796K (#41/ -309K)**
• 44. Arizona — 773K (#72/ +339K)
• 45. Baylor — 767K (#70/ +313K)
• 47. UCF — 733K (#60/ +112K)
• 48. TCU — 705K (#28/ -705K)**
• 50. Texas Tech — 606.5K (#47/ -343K)
• 53. Arizona State — 580K (#62/ -23K) **
• 62. Houston — 443K (#63/ -144K) **
• 65. Cincinnati — 413K (#65/ -68K)

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December 5th

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Not giving up: Full length ESPN speculation story on Coach Prime leaving CU

From ESPN … Deion Sanders has built Colorado into a Big 12 contender, going 9-3 in his second season. He has coached Travis Hunter, the Heisman Trophy favorite, to a spectacular season, with the wide receiver/cornerback catching 92 passes and picking off four more on defense. And his son, Shedeur, just set the Buffaloes’ single-season passing record and is projected to be one of the top picks in next year’s NFL draft.

Hunter and Sanders’ sons Shedeur and Shilo — who started at safety for the Buffaloes the past two seasons — are probably headed to the pros, which means the coach no longer has personal ties to Colorado. The Buffs have invested in the football program since Sanders was hired in December 2022, but they don’t have the same resources as college football’s blue-blood programs. But he has recruited well recently, including signing five-star quarterback Julian Lewis, ESPN’s second-ranked recruit in the 2025 class, on Wednesday.

Could Sanders’ next step be to leave Colorado for another job — elsewhere in college football or in the NFL?

Sanders’ name has been mentioned for NFL head-coaching jobs, including the Dallas Cowboys, where he starred as a player from 1995 to 1999. Dallas is 5-7 and could part ways with Mike McCarthy at the end of the season. The New York Jets, New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears have all fired their coaches this season.

At the college level, before he was hired by Colorado, the 57-year-old Sanders interviewed at other schools, including his alma mater, Florida State, which just finished a disastrous 2-10 season. No major Power 4 openings are expected over the next month, but he could be a target if there’s a surprise.

“It’s going to be hard for Colorado to hang onto him,” a college coaching agent told ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg. “Everyone has taken notice, and rightfully so, of what he’s doing.”

We asked Rittenberg and NFL reporter Jeremy Fowler to survey college decision-makers and NFL execs to get a feel for Sanders’ future. Is what he built at Colorado sustainable, even with his two biggest stars leaving? Is there another college football job that could intrigue him? And are the rumblings about interest from NFL teams true? Here’s everything they found out:

What’s the feeling about Sanders inside the Colorado program?

The Buffaloes have invested in Sanders from the start and continued to make upgrades after an extended period of being under-resourced as a program. Colorado also has embraced the unique elements he brings — cameras capturing everything around the program, celebrities on the sidelines and his own marketing obligations and ambitions. Sanders and athletic director Rick George have been aligned from the jump.

“He’s acting as if he’s back,” a Colorado source said. “I think he’s all-in. Normally, you can tell when guys are fed up and they’re trying to leave and they’re unhappy. They’re probably going to pay him a lot of money, extend his contract, keep him happy.”

Added another source: “He has a lot of leeway to go out and monetize himself off the field. You can’t watch football for 15 minutes and not see Deion.”

Sanders is in the second year of a five-year, $29.5 million contract. His deal features several bonuses he hit this fall, but he’s still a bargain compared to the top earners in the Big 12 and SEC, who make more than $9 million per year. Colorado recognizes that and probably will rework his deal, hoping to keep him for as long as he wants to coach.

Several others I spoke to in Boulder last week made a similar point about Sanders: Why would he be willing to give up so much power and control, even for a higher-profile gig? Colorado can make the College Football Playoff in the Big 12. Its recent recruiting surge, which includes Lewis, provides further confirmation he can upgrade the roster.

“All it takes is one special year to go on a run over a six-to eight-week period and you can win a national championship,” a Colorado source said. “We can be that team in the Big 12 as long as Deion’s here.”

Is there another potential NFL job that could entice Sanders?

One team comes up often when asking people around the league about a potential fit: the Las Vegas Raiders.

Las Vegas doesn’t have an opening, but this is a job people are watching closely, especially how the 2-10 Raiders finish the season under first-year coach Antonio Pierce. To Pierce’s credit, his team showed resolve in last week’s loss to the Chiefs. It was positioned to win the game with a field goal before a crushing botched snap resulted in a fumble.

The belief among many in the league is that Tom Brady, now a minority owner of the Raiders, will have some level of influence over major decisions, and team owner Mark Davis will covet his knowledge and insight. If Brady is looking for a fellow GOAT, Sanders has a compelling case as the best cornerback in NFL history.

This is a franchise that has cycled through six different coaches since 2014 and needs stability. There would also be an element of excitement for a market and a franchise associated with the kind of flash Coach Prime could provide.

“If there’s one fit, it’s Vegas because of the culture there and the bright [Vegas] lights and Davis’ willingness to do something different,” an AFC executive said. “Not sure whether it would work, but it would be exciting.”

… Read full story here …

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December 3rd 

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College Football Playoff Rankings: Alabama in; No. 15 ASU v. No. 16 ISU; CU up to No. 23

From ESPN … Barring an upset in Saturday’s ACC championship game between Clemson and SMU, Alabama might be headed back to the College Football Playoff for the ninth time in the past 11 seasons.

The Crimson Tide were ranked No. 11 in the CFP selection committee’s penultimate rankings on Tuesday, one spot ahead of Miami. The Tide lost three times under first-year coach Kalen DeBoer, including an unsightly 24-3 loss at Oklahoma on Nov. 23.

The Hurricanes suffered their second defeat of the season on Saturday, 42-38 at Syracuse. Miami would be the first team left out of the 12-team playoff based on the current rankings because the fifth-highest rated conference champion would jump it.

Since neither Alabama or Miami qualified for their respective conference championship games, it would seem the Hurricanes would have a difficult time jumping the Crimson Tide in the final rankings, which will be released by the selection committee on Sunday.

Undefeated Oregon remained No. 1 in the selection committee’s rankings, followed by Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame and Georgia.

Ohio State, which was on the wrong end of a stunning 13-10 loss to Michigan at home on Saturday, fell four spots to No. 6. Tennessee, SMU, Indiana and Boise State rounded out the top 10.

After Alabama and Miami, Ole Miss was No. 13 and South Carolina was No. 14.

Based on the current rankings, the top four conference champions that would receive first-round byes in the 12-team bracket are Oregon, Texas, SMU and Boise State.

If Boise State loses to UNLV in Friday’s Mountain West Conference championship, the winner of Saturday’s Big 12 championship game between No. 15 Arizona State and No. 16 Iowa State would probably be the fourth-highest rated conference champion.

The first-round matchups, based on the current rankings, would look like this: No. 12 Arizona State at No. 5 Penn State; No. 11 Alabama at No. 6 Notre Dame; No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Georgia, and No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Ohio State.

Miami coach Mario Cristobal had argued this week that the Hurricanes (10-2) were deserving because they’d lost fewer games than other teams under consideration for one of the final at-large bids.

“We won 10 games this year and not many teams have,” Cristobal said Tuesday in his weekly appearance on WQAM, the Hurricanes’ flagship station. “And in our losses, those losses came down to one possession. That’s a very different résumé than the 9-3 teams’.

“The awards should go to the teams that are actually winning the games, not the ones that are politicking themselves out of losses,” Cristobal said.

The Hurricanes lost two of their last three games-they also fell 28-23 at Georgia Tech on Nov. 9 – and they didn’t beat a team that is currently ranked by the CFP.

Along with losing at Oklahoma, the Crimson Tide fell 40-35 at Vanderbilt and 24-17 at Tennessee. Alabama did defeat three teams ranked by the CFP this week: Georgia, South Carolina and Missouri.

“We’re one of the twelve best teams the way we see it,” DeBoer said on the Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday.

The committee ranked the Crimson Tide higher than two other SEC teams with three losses: Ole Miss and South Carolina, which has won six games in a row.

Alabama might be completely out of the woods, however, if Clemson beats SMU in Saturday’s ACC championship game. If the Tigers were to secure the ACC’s automatic bid, the selection committee would have to decide whether to include the 11-2 or 9-3 Crimson Tide.

Iowa State was No. 16 in the CFP rankings, followed by Clemson, BYU, Missouri and UNLV. Illinois, Syracuse, Colorado, Army and Memphis closed the top 25.

… Read full story here …

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December 2nd

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Big 12 Awards: Travis Hunter wins second Offensive Player of the Week Award

Press release from the Big 12 … The Big 12’s final weekly accolades have been won by the Baylor duo of Sawyer Robertson (co-offensive) and Bryson Washington (newcomer), the Texas Tech tandem of Tahj Brooks (co-offensive) and Gino Garcia (co-special teams), Arizona State’s Cam Skattebo (co-offensive), Colorado’s Travis Hunter (co-offensive), BYU’s Talan Alfrey (co-special teams), TCU’s Ethan Craw (co-special teams) and Utah’s Zemaiah Vaughn (defensive).

With 10 catches for 116 yards and three touchdowns, Hunter earns his second offensive player of the week honor this season. He also became the first player in Big 12 history to score three touchdowns on offense while recording an interception. Hunter’s performance against Oklahoma State marked his seventh 100-yard receiving game of the season, adding to his single-season program record.

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December 1st

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West Virginia fires Neal Brown; Gus Malzahn resigns at UCF 

From CBS Sports … West Virginia is set to fire sixth-year coach Neal Brown, sources confirmed to CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz. Brown’s ouster comes on the heels of a devastating 52-15 loss at Texas Tech to drop the Mountaineers to 6-6 on the season and Brown to 37-35 overall in Morgantown.

Ultimately, Brown’s undoing was a product of that mediocrity; his teams were rarely outright bad, but they were even more rarely able to punch up. The Mountaineers always won at least three Big 12 games and reached a bowl game in four of his final five seasons, but West Virginia posted more than six wins only once over that stretch. West Virginia joins Texas Tech and Rutgers as the only teams in the Power Four to not reach the AP Top 25 at any point since 2019.

Against Texas Tech, the wheels finally flew off for the Mountaineers. The Red Raiders took a 35-3 lead in the first half and cleared 569 total yards, including 188 yards and three touchdowns on the ground from star running back Tahj Brooks. It was the third loss of five touchdowns or more in the past three seasons.

… Continue reading story here …

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From CBS Sports … UCF coach Gus Malzahn is resigning from the Knights to become the new offensive coordinator at Florida State, sources confirmed to CBS Sports’ John Talty. Malzahn posted a 28-24 record in four seasons with the Knights but had consecutive losing seasons after joining the Big 12.

“We would like to thank Coach Malzahn for his contributions to our football program over the past four seasons, including our transition into the Big 12 Conference,” a UCF spokesperson wrote in a statement released by the school. “We appreciate his professionalism and dedication to our student-athletes throughout his tenure at UCF and wish he and his wife, Kristi, the very best in their future endeavors.”

Malzahn is tasked with repairing a Florida State offense that struggled mightily during a lifeless campaign. The Seminoles finished No. 131 in the nation in total offense and scoring offense, mustering only 15.8 points per game against an ACC schedule one year after going 13-1 with a conference championship.

The Knights were seen as a potential dark horse heading into the Big 12, but they’ve struggled with quarterback issues. Four different players took major snaps in 2024 as the Knights finished only 2-7 in conference play and 4-8 overall. The record was the worst at UCF since 0-12 in George O’Leary’s final season in 2015.

… Continue reading story here …

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November 30th 

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Arizona State to face Iowa State in the Big 12 title game

Related …

• No. 14 Arizona State blows out rival Arizona 49-7 and secures spot in Big 12 championship
• No. 17 Iowa St beats Wildcats 29-21 for first 10-win season, will play Sun Devils for Big 12 title
• No. 19 BYU beats Houston 30-18 to snap two-game skid

Press release from the Big 12 … Just four hours after Arizona State became the first team to punch its ticket to the 2024 Dr Pepper Big 12 Football Championship, Iowa State clinched its berth with a 29-21 victory over Kansas State and BYU’s win over Houston. The Cyclones will return to the Big 12 championship game for the first time since 2020.

Iowa State posted its first 10-win season in program history, capping the year with a 7-2 mark in Big 12 play. The Cyclones and Sun Devils will meet at 11 a.m. CT on Saturday, Dec. 7 on ABC at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The game will feature three-time Grammy award-winning hitmaker NE-YO as its halftime performer as the Big 12 Conference continues to balance innovation with tradition. NE-YO will be joined by both schools’ marching bands during the performance.

Tickets for the 2024 Dr Pepper Big 12 Football Championship are available now exclusively through SeatGeek and can be purchased here.

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November 26th

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Big 12 nominees for national awards: CU has seven out of 11 total nominees 

Big 12 nominees for national awards …

Offense

Maxwell Award (Outstanding Player) … Travis Hunter (Colorado)
Walter Camp Award (Outstanding Player) … ATH Travis Hunter (Colorado)
Davey O’Brien Award (Top Quarterback) … Shedeur Sanders (Colorado)
Fred Biletnikoff Award (Top Wide Receiver) … Tetairoa McMillan (Arizona), Travis Hunter (Colorado)
Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award (QB Excellence On/Off the Field) … Shedeur Sanders (Colorado)

Defense

Chuck Bednarik Award (Top Defensive Player) … Travis Hunter (Colorado)

Special Teams and Other Awards

Paul Hornung Award (Most Versatile) … ATH Travis Hunter (Colorado)
William V. Campbell Trophy Finalists (Academics, Athletics, Leadership) … Beau Freyler (Iowa State), Tahj Brooks (Texas Tech)
Jet Award (Top Return Specialist) … Keelan Marion (BYU)

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November 25th 

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Utah’s Kyle Whittingham on returning in 2025: “I’ll sit down and evaluate everything”

From ESPN … Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, 65, said Monday that he will decide after the season whether to return for his 21st year at the helm.

“My decision will be made on what’s best for the program, not what’s best for me,” Whittingham said. “So, it’ll be completely determined on how I feel this program is best served going forward.”

Utah started the season as the preseason favorite to win the Big 12, but after winning their first four games, they’ve lost seven straight and will finish the season Friday at UCF.

During the summer, the school announced defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley would be Whittingham’s successor whenever he decides to retire.

“[I’ll] sit down and evaluate everything,” Whittingham said. “I can tell you right now that Coach Scalley will be involved in decisions going forward because it’s only right that he does that because he’s the coach in waiting and when that time comes we need to make sure that he’s had input on big decisions. So it’ll be a team effort in that respect going forward as far as hiring and recruiting and that type of thing.”

Whittingham is tied for the second-longest tenured coach in FBS, behind only Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, having been hired to replace Urban Meyer at Utah at the end of the 2004 season.

Utah should also have news soon regarding the future of quarterback Cam Rising, who missed the 2023 season due to a major knee injury and was sidelined by injury again early this season. Whittingham said last month that Rising could seek a medical waiver to play in 2025.

“I have no inside scoop or anything right now as to what he’s thinking,” Whittingham said. “Try to give him some space and let him sort things out and decide which direction he wants to go.

“That’s on Cam’s timeline and obviously we’ve got to at some point make our own decisions on what’s going to happen if there is still indecisiveness, but I think that should be cleared up in the next week to 10 days.”

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Big 12: 256 different scenarios for Big 12 title game

From CBS Sports … Media weren’t the only ones on deadline Saturday night.

The Big 12 stepped up, big time. The college football world needed to know what was going on with the conference’s tiebreakers. The office worked overtime in getting them out.

That beat the heck out of the Big Ten which took until last Tuesday to determine its best team, Oregon, had clinched a spot in the conference championship game.

The 16-team Big 12 has fallen into a four-way tie at the top between Arizona State, Colorado, BYU and Iowa State. If you have a problem with everybody in the league having at least two losses, you might want to first have a word with the SEC.

But heading into the final week of the regular season, the Big 12 has the craziest road.

• Those four teams are all tied at 6-2. The simplest way to put this is that the two teams who end up with two losses (at 7-2) are in the Big 12 Championship Game.
• From there it gets complicated. In a four-way tie where all the top four teams win, most likely Arizona State plays Iowa State. That is a tiebreaker broken by common opponents. The odds reflect this. According to FanDuel, Arizona State is the favorite to win the Big 12 at +135, followed by Iowa State +260, BYU +320 and Colorado +650.

However, the Big 12 office said, “there are scenarios” where Arizona State and Iowa State can win and not make the championship game. That would involve common opponents of other teams.

We’ll highlight one three-way tie because of the rabbit holes are too deep to go through all the possibilities.

In a way three-way tie featuring Colorado, Iowa State and Arizona State, a Texas Tech win against West Virginia puts Colorado in. In that scenario it would be Colorado against either Iowa State or Arizona State. Again, common opponents’ records would be determined to separate the Cyclones from the Sun Devils. 

That’s one possibility of a three-way tie (where BYU loses).

• But a three-way tie has to be defined first. Is it a three-way for one spot after one team finishes on top at 7-2 or is it a three-way tie at the top for two spots?
• What if BYU, ASU, ISU and CU all lose? That puts in play the possibility of a six-, seven- and even an eight-way tie. That in general favors Baylor and Texas Tech followed by K-State and West Virginia.

In the event of an eight-way tie there are 256 different “scenarios” that could play out according to the Big 12.

An eight-way tie is created by all four of the top teams losing as well as Kansas State, TCU and Baylor winning to all finish 6-3. The winner of Texas Tech-West Virginia would also finish 6-3. There are nine teams alive for the eight-way tie, as Texas Tech vs. West Virginia will cancel one of each other out.

In an eight-way tie, Baylor and Texas Tech have the advantage. Yes, this is likely the craziest college football tiebreaker we’ve ever seen.

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Big 12 lines: CU cheering for 8.5-point, 3.0-point, and 13.0-point underdogs 

From Draft Kings …

Big 12 games …

Friday, November 29th

• Oklahoma State at No. 23 Colorado … 10:00 a.m., MT, ABC … Colorado is a 17.0-point home favorite …
• Utah at UCF … 6:00 p.m., MT, Fox … UCF is a 9.0-point home favorite …

Saturday, November 30th

• Kansas at Baylor … 10:00 a.m., MT, ESPN2 … Baylor is a 1.0-point home favorite …
• West Virginia at Texas Tech … 10:00 a.m., MT, FS1 … Texas Tech is a 3.5-point home favorite …
• No. 14 Arizona State at Arizona … 1:30 p.m., MT, Fox … Arizona is an 8.5-point home underdog …
• TCU at Cincinnati … 4:00 p.m., MT, ESPN+ … Cincinnati is a 2.5-point home underdog …
• Kansas State at No. 17 Iowa State … 5:30 p.m., Fox … Iowa State is a 3.0-point home favorite …
• Houston at No. 19 BYU … 8:15 p.m., MT, ESPN … BYU is a 13.0-point home favorite …

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