The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of twelve schools located mostly 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 higher 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 Irving, Texas, which is a suburb of Dallas. 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).[1]
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.
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 Faurot Field is 75,298, The record attendance at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium is 85,313, the record for Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium is 98,053, the record attendance at Kyle Field is 88,253, and the record for Jones AT&T Stadium is 56,158.
**Haymarket Park has 4,500 seats. Its total capacity is listed as 8,500 because an additional 4,000 people can sit on berms along the outfield walls.
Locations of Big 12 conference member institutions.
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 women's 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.[3]
Kansas, Kansas State, Nebraska, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas participate in rowing.
Nebraska participates in women's bowling and the coeducational sport of rifle.
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.
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 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. Since the 1996 season, the most football championships have been held at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 2008 Big 12 Championship Game will again be held at Arrowhead, while the 2009 game will be played at the Dallas Cowboys New Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Bowl affiliates
Although the Big 12 is currently partnered with nine postseason bowls, only eight slots are guaranteed each season. The Gator Bowl selects a Big 12 team twice every four years, and in the two years that it does not, the Sun Bowl does.[4]
The following is the current bowl selection order and the teams involved in each bowl:
Big 12 No. 7 vs. Big East No. 3 (2008); vs.C-USA No. 3/4 (2009)
Selects a Big 12 team twice every four years
** Selects a Big 12 team when the Gator Bowl does not
Rivalries
The Big 12 has many rivalries among its member schools, primarily in football. Most of the rivalries existed before the Big Eight and Southwest Conferences merged, but the Texas-Oklahoma rivalry is unique, as it was a major rivalry decades before the two schools were in the same conference. Some of the longstanding football rivalries between Big 12 schools include:
Although standings in the conference are combined and not split among divisions, the schedule is structured as if the schools were split into two divisions. Teams play a home-and-home against teams within its division and a single game against teams from the opposite division for a total of 16 conference games. This denies Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, formerly in the Big Eight, two games a season against their opponents from that former conference, but does allow most of the other traditional rivalries to be played home-and-home.
The following is a list of all the national championships held by member schools. Only championships 1996 and later should be counted towards the Big 12 total itself (40).
Football (18):
1939 - Texas A&M
1950 - Oklahoma
1955 - Oklahoma
1956 - Oklahoma
1963 - Texas
1969 - Texas
1970 - Nebraska / Texas
1971 - Nebraska
1974 - Oklahoma
1975 - Oklahoma
1985 - Oklahoma
1990 - Colorado
1994 - Nebraska
1995 - Nebraska
1997 - Nebraska
2000 - Oklahoma
2005 - Texas
Women's Volleyball (5):
1981 - Texas
1988 - Texas
1995 - Nebraska
2000 - Nebraska
2006 - Nebraska Wrestling (49):
1928 - Oklahoma State
1929 - Oklahoma State
1930 - Oklahoma State
1931 - Oklahoma State
1933 - Iowa State/Oklahoma State
1934 - Oklahoma State
1935 - Oklahoma State
1936 - Oklahoma
1937 - Oklahoma State
1938 - Oklahoma State
1939 - Oklahoma State
1940 - Oklahoma State
1941 - Oklahoma State
1942 - Oklahoma State
1946 - Oklahoma State
1948 - Oklahoma State
1949 - Oklahoma State
1951 - Oklahoma
1952 - Oklahoma
1954 - Oklahoma State
1955 - Oklahoma State
1956 - Oklahoma State
1957 - Oklahoma
1958 - Oklahoma State
1959 - Oklahoma State
1960 - Oklahoma
1961 - Oklahoma State
1962 - Oklahoma State
1963 - Oklahoma
1964 - Oklahoma State
1965 - Iowa State
1966 - Oklahoma State
1968 - Oklahoma State
1969 - Iowa State
1970 - Iowa State
1971 - Oklahoma State
1972 - Iowa State
1973 - Iowa State
1974 - Oklahoma
1977 - Iowa State
1987 - Iowa State
1989 - Oklahoma State
1990 - Oklahoma State
1994 - Oklahoma State
2003 - Oklahoma State
2004 - Oklahoma State
2005 - Oklahoma State
2006 - Oklahoma State
In football, divisional titles are awarded based on regular-season conference results, with the teams with the best conference records from the North and South playing the in the Big 12 Championship Game for the Big 12 title. Baseball, basketball, soccer, softball, and tennis titles are awarded in both regular-season and tournament play. Cross country, golf, gymnastics, swimming and diving, track and field, and wrestling titles are awarded during an annual meet of participating teams. The volleyball title is awarded based on regular-season play.
Big 12 Conference titles by school
As of 29 May 2008
North Division
Nebraska - 63
Colorado - 27
Kansas - 18
Iowa State - 10
Kansas State - 7
Missouri - 2
South Division
Texas - 91
Texas A&M - 36
Oklahoma - 31
Baylor - 29
Oklahoma State - 27
Texas Tech - 8
List includes both regular-season and tournament titles.
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