Big 12 Conference

Sun

Dec

The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of twelve schools located in the central United States. It is a member of the NCAA’s Division I for all sports; its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division I-A), the highest of two levels of NCAA Division I football competition. The conference was officially formed on February 25, 1994, when the former Big Eight Conference merged with four Texas schools that had been members of the Southwest Conference, which had just disbanded. Athletic competition in the conference commenced on August 31, 1996. Big 12 headquarters is located in the Dallas, Texas suburb of Irving. According to the Big 12 Conference’s website, the use of the alternate names “Big Twelve” and “Big XII” are incorrect; the trademarked name of the conference is “Big 12 Conference” (notwithstanding the Roman numeral XII featured on the conference logo).

Although all eight of the former Big 8 schools are members of the Big 12, the Big 12 does not claim the Big 8’s history as its own. However, many fans of the old Big 8 schools consider the Big 12 to be an enlarged Big 8.

Membership

Institution	Location	Founded
Northern Division

University of Colorado	Boulder, Colorado	1876
Iowa State University	Ames, Iowa	1858
University of Kansas	Lawrence, Kansas	1865
Kansas State University	Manhattan, Kansas	1863
University of Missouri	Columbia, Missouri	1839
University of Nebraska	Lincoln, Nebraska	1869
Southern Division
Baylor University	Waco, Texas	1845
University of Oklahoma	Norman, Oklahoma	1890
Oklahoma State University	Stillwater, Oklahoma	1890
University of Texas	Austin, Texas	1883
Texas A&M University	College Station, Texas	1876
Texas Tech University	Lubbock, Texas	1923

Conference facilities

School	Football stadium	Capacity	Basketball arena	Capacity	Baseball stadium	Capacity

Northern Division
Colorado	Folsom Field	53,750	Coors Events Center	11,064	No baseball team	N/A
Iowa State	Jack Trice Stadium	55,000	Hilton Coliseum	14,092	No baseball team	N/A
Kansas	Memorial Stadium	50,071	Allen Fieldhouse	16,300	Hoglund Ballpark	2,500
Kansas State	Bill Snyder Family Stadium	52,200	Bramlage Coliseum	12,500	Tointon Family Stadium	2,000
Missouri	Faurot Field	68,349	Mizzou Arena	15,061	Taylor Stadium	3,000
Nebraska	Memorial Stadium	85,197	Bob Devaney Sports Center	13,595	Haymarket Park	4,500

Southern Division
Baylor	Floyd Casey Stadium	50,000	Ferrell Center	10,284	Baylor Ballpark	5,000
Oklahoma	Gaylord Family	82,112**	Lloyd Noble Center	12,000	L. Dale Mitchell	2,700
	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium				Baseball Park
Oklahoma State	Boone Pickens Stadium	44,700*	Gallagher-Iba Arena	13,611	Allie P. Reynolds Stadium	3,821
Texas	Darrell K. Royal-Texas	85,123**	Frank Erwin Center	16,755	UFCU Disch-Falk Field	6,649
	Memorial Stadium
Texas A&M	Kyle Field	82,600**	Reed Arena	12,500	Olsen Field	7,053
Texas Tech	Jones AT&T Stadium	53,000	United Spirit Arena	15,020	Dan Law Field	6,000

*Boone Pickens Stadium’s capacity was reduced from 51,000 when construction began on the west end zone project. Capacity after completion will be an estimated 60,000.

**Note the official capacities are listed on the respective schools’ websites. Due to temporary seating, the attendance records are often much more than the official capacity. 87,555 is the record attendance at Kyle Field, 85,313 is the record attendance at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, and the record for DKR is 89,422.

Commissioners

Commissioners of the Big 12 Conference

* 1995-1997 Steve Hatchell

* 1998-1998 Dave Martin (Interim)

* 1998-2007 Kevin Weiberg

* 2007-present Dan Beebe

Sports

The conference sponsors championships in the following sports: baseball (m), basketball (m,w), cross-country (m,w), football (m), golf (m,w), gymnastics (w), soccer (w), softball (w), swimming and diving (m,w), tennis (m,w), track and field (m,w), volleyball (w), wrestling (m)

Among the sponsored sports, all twelve universities participate in 12 sports, while the following sports do not have full participation:

* 11 schools participate in volleyball (Oklahoma State does not)

* 11 schools participate in soccer (Kansas State does not)

* 10 schools participate in baseball (Colorado and Iowa State do not; Colorado discontinued its program following the 1980 season and Iowa State followed suit after the 2001 season)

* 10 schools participate in softball (Colorado and Kansas State do not)

* 7 schools participate in men’s tennis (Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri do not)

* 6 schools participate in women’s swimming and diving (Kansas, Iowa State, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas and Texas A&M)

* 5 schools participate in wrestling (Iowa State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State)

* 4 schools participate in gymnastics (Iowa State, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma)

* 3 schools participate in men’s swimming and diving (Missouri, Texas and Texas A&M)

Additionally, member schools participate in the following sports, not organized by the conference:

* Nebraska, Kansas State, Iowa State, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech participate in rodeo. (Rodeo is not sanctioned by the NCAA, but instead by the NIRA.)

* Kansas State, Baylor, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M participate in equestrian.

* Kansas, Kansas State, Nebraska and Texas participate in rowing.

* Nebraska and Oklahoma participate in men’s gymnastics.

* Nebraska participates in women’s bowling and the coeducational sport of rifle.

* Texas A&M participates in women’s archery.

* Colorado participates in skiing.

Football

Big XII Championship Game

There are many national football powerhouses in the Big 12 Conference, and when the league was formed, it was decided that the top team from the South Division would play the top team from the North Division at the end of the season to determine the conference champion.

Teams play eight conference games a season, facing all five opponents within its own division and three teams from the opposite division. Inter-divisional play is a “three-on, three-off” system, where teams will play three teams from the other division on a home-and-home basis for two seasons, and then play the other three foes from the opposite side for a two-year home-and-home.

This format has come under considerable criticism, especially from fans at Nebraska and Oklahoma, who are denied a yearly matchup between two of college football’s most storied programs. The Oklahoma-Nebraska rivalry was one of the most intense rivalries in college football history. (Until 2006, the teams had never met in the Big 12 Championship.) There has been talk of modifying the current format to allow each team to have one permanent opponent from the opposite division (as is the case in the Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference), or for Nebraska and Oklahoma to play a non-conference game when the two teams are not scheduled to meet in conference play.

Championship Game

Main article: Big 12 Championship Game

The Big 12 Championship Game is held by the Big 12 Conference each year. The championship game pits the Big 12 North Division champion against the South Division champion in a game held after the regular season has been completed. The first championship game was during the 1996 season.

Bowl game tie-ins

The bowl lineup for the 2007 season, in order of selection:

1. BCS Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona (vs. BCS at-large)

2. Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas (vs. SEC)

3. Holiday Bowl in San Diego, California (vs. Pac-10)

4. Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida (vs. ACC) or Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Texas (vs. Big Ten)

5. Alamo Bowl or Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas (vs. Pac-10)

6. Insight Bowl near Phoenix, Arizona (vs. Big Ten)

7. Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana (vs. SEC)

8. Texas Bowl in Houston, Texas (vs. Big East)

Rivalries

The Big 12 has many rivalries among its member schools, primarily in football. Most of the rivalries have existed since before the Big Eight and Southwest Conferences merged. The Texas-Oklahoma rivalry is especially notable, as it was a major rivalry decades before the two schools were in the same conference. Some of the many football rivalries involving Big 12 schools include:

Rivalry	Name	Trophy	Games
played
Kansas - Missouri	The Border Showdown1	The Marching Band Drum	115
Kansas - Nebraska			114
Texas - Texas A&M	The Lone Star Showdown	The Lone Star Showdown Trophy	113
Kansas - Kansas State	The Sunflower Showdown	The Governor’s Cup	105
Baylor - Texas A&M	The Battle of the Brazos		103
Oklahoma -Texas	The AT&T Red River Rivalry2	The Golden Hat	101
Oklahoma - Oklahoma State	The Bedlam Series	Bedlam Bell	101
Nebraska - Missouri		Missouri - Nebraska Bell	100
Iowa State - Missouri		The Telephone Trophy	99
Texas - Baylor			96
Kansas State - Nebraska			91
Nebraska - Oklahoma			83
Nebraska - Colorado			65
Texas Tech - Texas A&M			65
Texas Tech - Texas		Silver Spurs	56
Texas A&M - Oklahoma			25

1. Changed from the “Border War” on October 4, 2004 due to the September 11th terrorist attacks. The new name has been criticized for political correctness.

2. Changed names from Red River Shootout in 2005 to deemphasize war and for political correctness. Played at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas during the Texas State Fair annually.

2007 Big 12 Standings

In the preseason poll, Missouri was picked to win the North Division, and Texas was picked to win the South Division. Missouri received 16 first place votes and was followed by Nebraska (with 8 first place votes), Kansas State, Kansas, Colorado, and Iowa State. Texas received 16 first place votes and was followed by Oklahoma (with 7 first place votes), Texas A&M (with 1 first place vote), Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, and Baylor.

North Division

Team	Overall Record	Big 12 Record	Standings	Games Back
Kansas	9-0	5-0	1st
Missouri	8-1	4-1	2nd	1
Kansas State	5-4	3-3	Tied 3rd	2½
Colorado	5-5	3-3	Tied 3rd	2½
Nebraska	4-6	1-5	Tied 5th	4½
Iowa State	2-8	1-5	Tied 5th	4½

South Division
Team	Overall Record	Big 12 Record	Standings	Games