Big 12 Conference is currently a conference of 10 (originally 12) universities which participate in the NCAA's Division IFBSfootball. The conference was officially formed in 1994 but did not begin conference play until the fall of 1996. There is a rich football tradition throughout the conference. The schools that comprise the Big 12 Conference, all except West Virginia being former members of either the Big Eight Conference or the Southwest Conference, have won 18 national titles including three since the inception of the Big 12 Conference.
* Note the official capacities are listed on the respective schools' websites. Due to temporary seating, the attendance records are often more than the official capacity. The record attendance for Kansas Memorial Stadium is 52,530, the record attendance at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium is 85,313, the record for Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium is 101,437, the record for Jones AT&T Stadium is 56,333, the record attendance at Bill Snyder Family Stadium is 53,811, the record attendance at Amon G. Carter Stadium is 50,307, and the record attendance at Mountaineer Field is 70,222.
Divisions
Locations of Big 12 conference member institutions as of 2012.
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.
Till the 2011 season, teams played 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 came under considerable criticism, especially from fans at Nebraska and Oklahoma, who were 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.)
Starting the with the 2011 season, after the departure of Nebraska and Colorado to the Big Ten and Pac-10 respectively, the divisions were merged and each team played all remaining nine teams from the conference. The Championship game was removed from the schedule.
The Big 12 Championship Game was held by the Big 12 Conference each year until 2010. The championship game pitted the Big 12 North Division champion against the Big 12 South Division champion in a game held after the regular season has been completed. The first championship game was held during the 1996 season in St. Louis. The 2009 and 2010 games were played at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. With the loss of Nebraska to the Big Ten and Colorado to the Pac-12, the Big 12 Championship Game has been discontinued.
The winner of the game between the two tied teams shall be ranked higher.
If three or more teams are tied, tiebreakers 1 through 4 will be followed until a determination is made. Once a team has been eliminated from a multi-team comparison, it is dropped from further comparisons. If only two teams remain tied after any step, the winner of the game between the two tied teams shall be given higher ranking.
The records of the three teams will against each other
The records of the three teams against the next highest placed teams in the conference
The highest ranked team in the first Bowl Championship Series Poll following the completion of Big 12 regular season conference play shall receive higher ranking, unless the two highest ranked tied teams are ranked within one spot of the other in the BCS poll. In this case, the head-to-head results of the top two highest ranked tied teams shall determine the representative in the Bowl Championship Series.
†The 2011–2012 football season was played with only 10 teams, following the departure of Colorado and Nebraska.
‡The 2008 season ended in a three-way tie among Oklahoma, Texas, and Texas Tech. Oklahoma won the tie-breaker to play in Big 12 championship game by placing higher than Texas and Texas Tech in the BCS poll.
Divisions
From 1996 to 2010 the twelve teams played in two divisions of six teams each. Following Colorado and Nebraska's departure for the Pac-10 and Big Ten respectively, divisional play was dropped in favor of a nine game round robin to determine the Big 12 Champion.
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