The Big 12 Conference is a conference of 16 universities which participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision football. The conference formed in 1994 and begin conference play in the fall of 1996. The schools that compose the Big 12 Conference, except for Arizona, Arizona State, Brigham Young, Central Florida, Cincinnati, Utah, and West Virginia, were members of either the Big Eight Conference or the Southwest Conference. Current Big 12 football teams claim a total of six national titles, while previous members of the conference claim an additional 19 titles. The current conference champion is Arizona State, the school's first Big 12 title.
<small><sup>â </sup>Divisions existed from 1996 through 2010.</small><br /> <small><sup>â¡</sup>: The Big 12 Conference recognizes TCU and Baylor as co-champions in 2014</small>
â denotes school is a private institution and is not required to disclose coaches pay<br />
Notes:
In 2010, it was announced that in 2011 both Nebraska and Colorado would leave the Big 12 for the Big Ten and Pac-10 respectively. Then in 2011 it was announced that Texas A&M and Missouri would both be leaving for the SEC. As replacements, TCU and West Virginia would be joining the conference from the Mountain West and Big East respectively. In 2021, Oklahoma and Texas announced they would leave to join the Southeastern Conference. In response, the Big 12 decided to backfill with the University of Cincinnati, the University of Central Florida, the University of Houston, and Brigham Young University. The first 3 schools joining from the American Athletic Conference and BYU being an Independent in football since 2010, with its basketball team playing in the West Coast Conference.
On July 27, 2023, Colorado, a former member of the Big 12, announced it would rejoin the conference from the Pac-12 beginning in the 2024âÂÂ25 academic year. The following week, Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah announced they would leave the Pac-12 for the Big 12, also effective for the 2024âÂÂ25 academic year.
From the time the league was formed until realignment, the conference was split into two, six team, divisions. Teams played a total of 11 regular season games, three non-conference match-ups and eight conference games per season. The conference games were a combination of five divisional foes and three from the opposing division. Inter-divisional play was a "three-on, three-off" system, where teams played three teams from the other division on a home-and-home basis for two seasons, and then played the other three foes from the opposite side for a two-year home-and-home.
At the conclusion of the regular season, the top team from the South Division played the top team from the North Division in the Big 12 Championship Game.
After the departure of Nebraska and Colorado, both the divisional format and the Championship Game were dropped. Members continue to play three non-conference opponents in addition to playing all nine other members of the conference on an annual basis.
Starting again in 2017 the Championship Game was reinstated, the two teams with the highest conference winning percentage play in the game.
Since its inception in 1996, the Big 12 championship has been won by nine different schools, three of which no longer belong to the conference. From 1996 to 2010, the championship was determined in the Big 12 championship game. Following the departures of two schools in 2010, the conference discontinued the championship game in favor of a round-robin format to determine the champion. The University of Oklahoma Sooners have won the most championships with 14.
The Big 12 Championship Game was first held by the Big 12 Conference each year from 1996 until 2010 and again starting with the 2017 season. The original 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. Following the departures of Nebraska and Colorado to the Big Ten and Pac-12 respectively, the Big 12 Championship Game was discontinued. Following an NCAA rule change in 2015 which allows conferences with fewer than 12 members to hold a championship game, the Big 12 elected to return to a postseason championship game to determine the conference champion. Following the completion of the round-robin regular season, the conference's top two teams compete in the championship game. Oklahoma defeated TCU 41âÂÂ17 on December 2, 2017, in the first Big 12 Championship Game played since 2010.
<small><sup>â </sup>: Denotes co-champion<br /> <sup>â¡</sup>: Denotes former member of the conference</small>
<small><sup>â </sup>:The Big 12 champion and all other top ranked Big 12 teams (typically #11 or higher) will go to the College Football Playoff.<br /> <sup>â¡</sup>:If there are insufficient bowl tie-ins for bowl eligible teams ESPN may invite teams to events it operates.</small>
For 2025 Arizona, Arizona State University, Colorado, and Utah are part of the legacy Pac-12 bowl tie-ins, and will fill these bowls in addition to teams from the Big Ten, ACC, and remaining Pac-12 teams. For 2025 these four teams will not fill any Big 12 bowls as the Big 12 representative.
<small><sup>â </sup>:The Big 12 champion and all other top ranked Big 12 teams (typically #11 or higher) will go to the College Football Playoff.<br /> <sup>â¡</sup>:If there are insufficient bowl tie-ins for bowl eligible teams ESPN may invite teams to events it operates.</small>
Bowl games played by teams while they were in the Big 12
Records are while teams are members of the Big 12 conference only.
Conference rivalries (primarily in football) mostly predate the conference. The Kansas-Missouri rivalry was the longest running, the longest west of the Mississippi and the second-longest in college football. It was played 119 times before Missouri left the Big 12. The Jayhawks and Tigers are scheduled to play for the first time since 2011 on September 6, 2025 in Columbia and meet again in Lawrence on September 12, 2026.
Several schools within the Big 12 also maintain rivalries with schools from other conferences. Iowa State plays the University of Iowa Football Team (the latter from the Big 10 Conference) in football each year for the "Cy-Hawk" trophy. Other rivalries include the Iron Skillet game between TCU and Southern Methodist University Football, or SMU (of the Atlantic Coast Conference-ACC); and the "War on I-4" between UCF and the University of South Florida Football Team, or USF (of the American Athletic Conference-AAC). However, the latter two rivalry games are no longer played on an annual basis, and are now considered dormant, due to conference realignment and scheduling difficulties.
Totals through the end of the 2022 season.