Divisions
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.
| North Division | South Division |
|---|---|
| Colorado | Baylor |
| Iowa State | Oklahoma |
| Kansas | Oklahoma State |
| Kansas State | Texas |
| Missouri | Texas A&M |
| Nebraska | Texas Tech |
Read more about this topic: Big 12 Conference Football
Famous quotes containing the word divisions:
“Nothing does more to activate Christian divisions than talk about Christian unity.”
—Conor Cruise O’Brien (b. 1917)
“I find myself ... hoping a total end of all the unhappy divisions of mankind by party-spirit, which at best is but the madness of many for the gain of a few.”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)