Big 12 to use head-to-head tiebreaker to eliminate co-champions

Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby says the conference will use head-to-head tiebreaker to determine champion

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby says the conference will use a head-to-head tiebreaker to determine a league champion starting next season after a controversial split title in 2014. 

The Big 12 is the only Power Five league without a conference title game.

The conference crowned TCU and Baylor co-champions last season despite Baylor having beaten TCU 61-58 on Oct. 11 and both teams finishing with the same 11-1 regular season record.  

Neither team made the College Football Playoff. Ohio State got the last playoff spot and went on to win the national championship.

“I’m fairly confident we’ll act to put in place a tiebreaker that will determine our champion,” Bowlsby said, according to the ESPN.com. “That will eliminate one of the variables from last year.”

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“There’s more than one way to skin a cat,” he added “Probably the simplest is to get to two as quickly as you can and then use head-to-head. Most of our thinking has been along those lines.”

Bowlsby said that the league is looking into how to hold a title game with just 10 teams and the issue will be brought up for discussion during meetings next week.

“In the end, I think our regular season is better than anybody else’s regular season,” he said. “How does that weigh in the equation? We play everybody and nobody else does. Is ours a better way of determining a champion or is theirs? Well, I don’t think you can do better than a round robin.”

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