Big 12 addresses tiebreaker rules following Oklahoma-Baylor controversy

The Big 12 made a big announcement Monday regarding its tiebreaker rules. The conference stated that point differential will not be needed in the event of a three-way tie, per CBS Sports writer Dennis Dodd. Instead, the two championship contenders can be decided using one of the first two tiebreaker options listed in the Big 12 rulebook.

The Big 12 tiebreaker rules can be difficult to follow, so strap in for an explanation.

Firstly, head-to-head records of the three tied teams will be compared against one another. However, this could get messy if Oklahoma happens to lose to Iowa State but beat Oklahoma State the following week. In that scenario each of OU, Baylor and OSU will have one win against each other.

The second step of the tiebreaker involves comparing the records of the tied teams against the remaining teams in the conference from top to bottom until a verdict is reached. For example, if the three schools end up in a tie, TCU would be the deciding factor. Both the Sooners and Cowboys beat the Horned Frogs, but Baylor lost to them in Week 10.

That means two teams will be able to be selected using the second tiebreaker before the need for the third tiebreaker, which is point differential. That wasn’t the case when Baylor kicked a controversial field goal as time expired against the Sooners last week. At that point, Oklahoma State had yet to take on TCU. The Cowboys defeated the Horned Frogs by score of 63-17 in Week 11.

Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley was openly critical of Baylor coach Dave Aranda’s decision to kick the field goal against the Sooners in Week 11. The Bears held a 24-14 lead at the time, but Aranda said he made the decision to pad the win because of the point differential tiebreaker.

Bears fans mocked the Sooners with chants of “S-E-C!” as time expired. Oklahoma is set to leave the Big 12 to join the Southeastern Conference, along with Texas, by 2025.

“I know why Dave [Aranda] kicked the field goal,” Riley said. “I don’t agree with it. I still think above all else, there’s a code of sportsmanship that I believe in. I wouldn’t have done it. But that’s his decision, it’s his football team.”

At this point, the best scenario for Baylor would be if the Cowboys were to win out. That would assure OSU a spot in the championship game and the Bears would own the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Sooners. However, if OU wins out and OSU beats Texas Tech in Week 12, we would see a Bedlam Big 12 title game.