The 2021 Big 12 Conference football season was the 26th season of the Big 12 Conference football and took place during the 2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The season began on September 4, 2021, with non-conference play. Conference play began on September 18. The entire schedule was released on February 11, 2021.
The 2021 season was the tenth season for the Big 12 since the early 2010s conference realignment brought the Big 12 membership to its current form.
The 2021 Big 12 Championship Game was played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on December 4, 2021.
The 2021 Big 12 media days were held on July 14âÂÂ15 in Frisco, Texas. The teams and representatives in respective order were as follows:
The preseason poll was released on July 8, 2021.
2021 Preseason All-Big 12
There were two head coaching changes in the conference following the conclusion of the 2019 season. On January 2, 2021, Texas announced that head coach Tom Herman would be departing the team, and that he would be replaced by Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian. In addition, on March 8, 2021, Kansas announced they had fired Les Miles. On March 11, Emmett Jones was named interim head coach. On April 30, Kansas announced that Lance Leipold, formerly head coach of the Buffalo Bulls, would take over the position.
All times Central time.
â denotes Homecoming game
Updated with the results of all regular season conference games.
For the 2020âÂÂ2025 bowl cycle, The Big-12 will have annually eight appearances in the following bowls: Sugar Bowl (unless they are selected for playoffs filled by a Big-12 team if champion is in the playoffs), First Responder Bowl, Liberty Bowl, Alamo Bowl, Guaranteed Rate Bowl, Cheez-It Bowl and Texas Bowl. The Big-12 teams will go to a New Year's Six bowl if a team finishes higher than the champions of Power Five conferences in the final College Football Playoff rankings. The Big-12 champion are also eligible for the College Football Playoff if they're among the top four teams in the final CFP ranking.
<small>Rankings are from CFP rankings. All times Central Time Zone. Big-12 teams shown in bold.</small>
Regular Season
Post Season
This is a list of the Power Five conferences teams (ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12, Notre Dame, BYU and SEC).
The following games include Big 12 teams competing against teams from The American, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West or Sun Belt.
The following games include Big 12 teams competing against FBS Independents which include Army, Liberty, New Mexico State, UConn and UMass.
The Football Championship Subdivision comprises 13 conferences and two independent programs.
The following individuals received postseason honors as voted by the Big 12 Conference football coaches at the end of the season.
The following players earned All-Big 12 honors. Any teams showing (_) following their name are indicating the number of All-Big 12 Conference Honors awarded to that university for 1st team and 2nd team respectively.
First Team
Second Team
(U) - Unanimous Selection
Honorable mentions
Currently, the NCAA compiles consensus all-America teams in the sports of Division I-FBS football and Division I men's basketball using a point system computed from All-America teams named by coaches associations or media sources. The system consists of three points for a first-team honor, two points for second-team honor, and one point for third-team honor. Honorable mention and fourth team or lower recognitions are not accorded any points. College Football All-American consensus teams are compiled by position and the player accumulating the most points at each position is named first team consensus all-American. Currently, the NCAA recognizes All-Americans selected by the AP, AFCA, FWAA, TSN, and the WCFF to determine Consensus and Unanimous All-Americans. Any player named to the First Team by all five of the NCAA-recognized selectors is deemed a Unanimous All-American.
<small>*AFCA All-America Team (AFCA)</small><br /> <small>*Walter Camp All-America Team</small><br /> <small>*AP All-America teams</small><br /> <small>*Sporting News All-America Team</small><br /> <small>*Football Writers Association of America All-America Team (FWAA)</small><br /> <small>*Sports Illustrated All-America Team</small><br /> <small>*Report All-America Team (BR)</small><br /> <small>*College Football News All-America Team (CFN)</small><br /> <small>*ESPN All-America Team</small><br /> <small>*CBS Sports All-America Team</small><br /> <small>*Athlon Sports All-America Team (Athlon)</small><br /> <small>*The Athletic All-America Team</small><br /> <small>*USA Today All-America Team</small>
First team
Second team
Honorable mentions
2021 College Football Award Winners-->
Bold â exceeded capacity<br> â Season high<br> â¡ Record stadium Attendance
The following list includes all Big 12 Players who were drafted in the 2022 NFL draft