Big 12 adds 'clarification' to tiebreaker rules, states head-to-head wins take precedence in multiple-team tie

There is now “clarification” on the Big 12 tiebreaker rules if multiple teams are involved. With just two games remaining in the regular season, there was confusion about who would go to Arlington if there was a three-way tie. We now have the answer, with a release coming from the conference on Wednesday afternoon.

“In the event of a multiple-team tie, head-to-head wins take precedence,” the release said. “If all the tied teams are not common opponents, the tied team that defeated each of the other tied teams earns the Championship berth.

“There have been no changes to any rules regarding Big 12 Football tiebreaker procedures, which were agreed upon prior to the season and went into effect August of 2023.”

Here is the key sentence of the statement and why a clarification was released by the Big 12.

“If all the tied teams are not common opponents, the tied team that defeated each of the other tied teams earns the Championship berth.”

As George Stoia of On3’s Sooner Scoop pointed out, the original tiebreaker rules did not have that sentence in there. The language has been added to Step 1.

That sentence was not in the original tiebreaker rules that were on the Big 12’s website. pic.twitter.com/BR6ktJVPiG

— George Stoia III (@GeorgeStoia) November 15, 2023

Two teams are affected most by this change from the Big 12. And all of this is assuming a quartet of teams — Texas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State — win their final two games of the regular season.

With how the old rules were written, Kansas State would be going to AT&T Stadium to face off against Texas. They would have two Big 12 losses in this scenario, as would Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. K-State marches on due to wins against common opponents further down the standings, despite losing in Stillwater earlier this year.

The “clarification” from the Big 12 actually favors Oklahoma State.

Since head-to-head now matters in a multi-team tie, the Pokes would go through after getting wins over Kansas State and Oklahoma. The original issue was those two never played each other. Meaning, there was no opportunity for a round-robin to make the decision.

You have to imagine there is frustration coming out of Manhattan, who less than 48 hours ago thought winning out would send them to the Big 12 title game. Now, they need both Oklahoma and Oklahoma to drop one of their final two games.

Oklahoma will need Oklahoma State to lose just once, giving them the tiebreaker over Kansas State due to their respective record against Texas.

Of course, this clarification of the tiebreaker may not end up mattering at all. Texas could travel to Ames and lose, sending five teams into the final weekend with two losses. The Big 12 just needed to be prepared for all scenarios.

Either way, you can expect full chaos coming out of the conference for the next two Saturdays.