More than half of the Big 12 are still alive in the conference title race heading into the final week of the regular season.
According to the conference, nine of its 16 teams have a chance to reach the title game. Four teams are tied atop the conference at 6-2, while five teams are at 5-3.
Arizona State, BYU, Colorado and Iowa State are the four teams with a 6-2 record. Baylor, Kansas State, TCU, Texas Tech and West Virginia are in a five-way tie for fifth place.
The first four teams are favorites in Week 14. If they all win, the conference can’t go to head-to-head playoffs because they didn’t play each other. In fact, Arizona State’s win over BYU in Week 13 was the only game between top-four teams.
The conference will have to use common opponents among the four teams to begin breaking the four-way tie. All tied teams played Cincinnati, Kansas, Kansas State and UCF. Arizona State won all four games, Iowa State and BYU finished 3-1, and Colorado lost to KU and K-State.
That tiebreaker eliminates Colorado and would also eliminate the Buffaloes in a three-way tie for first place with two of the other first-place teams.
Arizona State would reach the conference title game via common opponents, while Iowa State would win another tiebreaker over BYU based on the winning percentage of their conference opponents. Iowa State’s conference opponents have 28 wins compared to BYU’s 25. The Cougars have played Utah and Oklahoma State, teams that have combined to go 1-15 in Big 12 play so far.
ASU wins any three-way tiebreaker it is in.
The chaos scenario is unlikely, but still possible. Eight teams could finish tied for first place in the conference if Oklahoma State beats Colorado, Baylor beats Kansas, Arizona beats Arizona State, TCU beats Cincinnati, Kansas State beats Iowa State and Houston beats BYU. The aforementioned seven teams with a chance to win the title would be joined by the winner from West Virginia at Texas Tech.
An eight-way tie with a Texas Tech win would produce a matchup between Baylor and Texas Tech for the conference title game. Oh really.
There are many other permutations to be made because many teams are still alive for the title. So we’ll be concise. If you want an easy final weekend, you’re rooting for at least two of the 6-2 teams to win. If you want chaos, then you’re looking for some surprises and that eight-way tie.