Big 12 football scenarios for Arizona State, BYU, Colorado, Iowa State

On November 24, 2024By Littum

The ASU football team is focused on its game against BYU, not on Big 12 championship scenarios and tiebreakers.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t.

What will it take for Arizona State to make it to the Big 12 title game? What about the other current top contenders in the conference, Colorado, BYU and Iowa State?

Take a look at clinch scenarios for the Big 12 title games and tiebreakers with two weeks left in the regular season.

The Big 12 told The Arizona Republic that it would not comment publicly “on any possible scenarios outside of those that could come this week,” but these are the tiebreaking and clinching scenarios, according to various reports.

Big 12 Conference Standings

BYU — 6-1
Colorado – 6-1
Arizona State – 5-2
Iowa State – 5-2
Baylor – 4-3
Kansas State – 4-3
TCU — 4-3
Texas Tech — 4-3
West Virginia – 4-3

Big 12 tiebreakers for the 2024 season

This is getting complicated. The Big 12 has one complete tiebreaker policy posted on its websitebut here is an overview:

For ties between two teams:

Head-to-head record among tied teams
Winning percentage against all regular conference opponents among even teams
Winning percentage against the second-highest ranked common opponent in the standings (based on the record of all games played in the conference), continuing through the standings
Combined winning percentage in conference play for conference opponents (strength of conference schedule)
Total number of wins in a 12 game season
Highest ranking by SportSource Analytics (team rating score metric, after the regular season
Coin toss

For ties between more than two teams:

The records of the three (or more) tied teams based on the winning percentage among the tied teams
The records of the three (or more) tied teams compared based on the winning percentage against common conference opponents played by all other teams involved in the tie
Record of the three (or more) tied teams against the second-highest ranked common opponent in the standings, continuing through the standings
Record of the three (or more) teams tied based on combined winning percentage in conference play for conference opponents (strength of conference schedule)
Total number of wins in a 12 game season
Highest ranking by SportSource Analytics (team rating score metric), after the regular season
Coin toss

Big 12 championship scenarios

There are a lot of complicated scenarios that could play out with potential 4-team ties, etc., but here are the simplest clinch scenarios coming into this week’s conference play, according to various reports.

Arizona State: The Sun devils would reportedly clinch the Big 12 title with wins over BYU and Arizona unless Colorado and Iowa State also win and BYU loses its final game to Houston.

BYU: The Cougars would make the Big 12 championship game with wins over Arizona State and Houston.

Colorado: The Buffaloes would make the conference title game with wins over Kansas and Oklahoma State.

Iowa State: The Cyclones would be in the Big 12 final with wins over Utah and Kansas State and a loss to Colorado and BYU in the last two weeks.

In terms of clinch scenarios on Saturday, BYU would clinch a spot in the Big 12 title game with a win over Arizona State and an Iowa State loss to Utah.

Colorado would win with a win over Kansas and a BYU win at Arizona State, along with a Utah win over Iowa State.

When is the Big 12 Conference championship game?

The 2024 Big 12 championship game is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 7 at 10 a.m. MST.

It will be played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and will feature the two Big 12 teams with the highest winning percentages in conference games.

The game will be broadcast on ABC.

The teams? We just don’t know yet.

Well Jeremy Cluff at [email protected]. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.

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