Category: Big 12

Globe Life Field will host the Big 12 baseball tournament through 2028

Big 12, Globe Life Field extend agreement to host the annual conference tournament through 2028

It was announced on Wednesday that the Big 12 and Globe Life Field extended their agreement to host the Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship.

The home of the Texas Rangers hosted the tournament for the last two years and will continue to do so through 2028. Globe Life Field opened in 2020 and hosted the 2020 World Series.

“The Big 12 is thrilled to announce our Baseball Championship will be staying at Globe Life Field through 2028,” said Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark via a press release. “Through this extension, we will host our Baseball Championship at a world-class, climate-controlled venue in our own backyard. We are grateful for the support and partnership of REV Entertainment and the Texas Rangers.”

The 2024 tournament is set to run from May 21 through May 25. Tickets will be made available early next year. In 2023, the TCU Horned Frogs defeated Oklahoma State for the championship.

The tournament was hosted at Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City in every season since 1997 with the exception of the 2002 and 2004 seasons when it was held at The Ballpark in Arlington, which is now known as Choctaw Stadium.

Globe Life Field is set to host the MLB All-Star Game in July of 2024.

Last year’s title game rematch headlines Week 8 in Big 12

The slate of games in the Big 12 this week features a rematch of the 2022 conference title game and Dillon Gabriel faces his old team.

This week’s slate of games in the Big 12 will feature all but two teams taking the field. The Oklahoma Sooners lead the pack with a spotless record with the Iowa State Cyclones right behind them. The only loss in conference play for the Cyclones came at the hands of the Sooners.

Only one game will be shown on ESPN+ this week, and that would be the Baylor Bears (2-4, 1-2) at Cincinnati Bearcats (2-4, 0-3). Neither team really hit the ground running this year, so if you want to watch this game you will need to find it on the ESPN streaming channels.

As far as the remaining five games on the schedule for the Big 12, we ranked those games in terms of intrigue and watchability.

Midseason All-Big 12 team led by Oklahoma and Texas

Halfway through the season, we made our picks for the All-Big 12 team and awards at the midseason mark.

We are midway through October and midway through the 2023 college football regular season. There were plenty of changes prior to the season, including the four new teams joining the Big 12.

As expected by most of the experts, the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns are showing that they are the two best teams in the league. Both are set to leave for the SEC starting in July of 2024. The two teams are a combined 11-1, with the only loss coming in the annual Red River Rivalry game at the Cotton Bowl. They could be the Big 12 championship matchup in December if all goes their way. Which would be much to the chagrin of Commissioner Brett Yormark.

The Kansas Jayhawks have been a pleasant surprise as the season began. Much like Oklahoma they finished 6-7 last season and raced out to a 5-2 start this season. The expectations are much higher in Year 3 of the Lance Leipold era. He will be a hot commodity as the coaching carousel begins to pick up speed in the coming weeks.

Two teams that haven’t lived up to the expectations are the Texas Christian Horned Frogs and Texas Tech Red Raiders. The former made it all the way to the CFP championship game last year with the latter being the trending pick ahead of the season. They are a combined 7-7 through the first seven weeks of the year. Still time for them to get back on track.

While Week 8 is on the horizon, College Sports Wire made their selections for the midseason All-Big 12 team as well as the yearly awards through Week 7.

Big 12 Commish Brett Yormark: ‘Nothing imminent’ on further expansion

Big 12 commissioner dishes on expansion and future schedule at conference basketball media days.

The Big 12 is already looking at the future of their college basketball product beyond the upcoming season. Beginning in 2024-25 the conference will add Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah while Oklahoma and Texas head off to the SEC.

The idea is that the conference will play a 20-game schedule in men’s basketball and an 18-game schedule in women’s basketball. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yorkmark discussed scheduling for future seasons at media days in Kansas City. According to the commish, “scheduling and travel are a major priority for the conference.”

The Big 12 will try to keep competitive balance and rivalries at the forefront when the league expands to 16 teams next season. There has been plenty of chatter about the possibility of adding a 17th team to the mix for all sports outside of football. Gonzaga has been mentioned among the Big 12’s shortlist but Yormark states that “there’s nothing imminent” when it comes to adding the basketball power to an already strong basketball conference.

“I do explore all options that come to me, and if it creates value for membership both short- and long-term, we’re going to explore it even more.” – Yormark

As far as the upcoming season, all 14 teams will begin conference play on Jan. 6. Big 12 play will conclude on Mar. 9 and the conference tournament will top off at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, on Mar. 12. The same day that the women’s Big 12 tournament will conclude.

Week 7’s Big 12 Weekly Wrap-up including updated recruiting rankings

CSW breaks down updated standings, QBR, FPI, and recruiting rankings.

It was a somewhat wild weekend of college football in the Big 12 conference. It began on Thursday night with an offensive explosion in the fourth quarter between the West Virginia Mountaineers and Houston Cougars in the “Dana Holgorsen Bowl.”

The two teams scored a combined 38 points through three quarters before they combined for 42 points in the fourth. With a WVU touchdown late in the game, Houston had just 12 seconds to put together a scoring drive. We see this desperation play time and time again with more failures than successes in this situation. This time, quarterback Donovan Smith was able to pull off the improbable heroics.

It was going to be hard to top that wild finish as Stephon Johnson hauled in the deflection for the Cougars’ first win in Big 12 play. Only Cincinnati and UCF remain winless in conference play. Cincinnati had a shot to earn their first-ever win as members of the Big 12 in conference play but it was not to be for the Bearcats.

UCF was idle and Cincinnati fell to Iowa State, 30-10. The Cyclones moved ahead of West Virginia in the Big 12 standings and controls their own destiny. Iowa State is half a game ahead of the idle Texas Longhorns, Kansas State Wildcats, Oklahoma State Cowboys, and West Virginia Mountaineers for that No. 2 spot in the conference behind the Oklahoma Sooners.

In other action the TCU Horned Frogs steamrolled BYU 44-11, Oklahoma State came back against Kansas 39-32, and Kansas State won their eighth straight against Texas Tech 38-21.

College Sports Wire takes a look back at the week that was in the Big 12 with the weekly wrapup, including who leads the new-look conference in recruiting.

Texas moves into top five of latest FPI rankings

The Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns remain on top of the conference’s Football Power Index rankings.

This week’s update in the Football Power Index saw some movement among 12 of the Big 12’s 14 teams. This included a jump into the top five for the idle Texas Longhorns. The burnt orange will jump back into action when they travel to Houston. The Cougars are coming off a last-second victory over West Virginia.

The TCU Horned Frogs had the biggest jump up as they moved seven spots to leapfrog the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Big 12 rankings. TCU took care of BYU, 44-11. The Cougars had the biggest drop falling 15 spots which allowed both Oklahoma State and Houston to pass them. The Cougars host the Red Raiders, who will make their first trip ever to Provo.

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The idle Oklahoma Sooners remained in the top spot of the conference and the No. 2 team in the country. They will host the UCF Knights this coming weekend, who remained in the No. 7 spot this week.

A full look at the Big 12 FPI rankings after Week 7:

Rank Team Record FPI Movement
1 Oklahoma 6-0 26.4 (2) –
2 Texas 5-1 23.8 (5) +1
3 Kansas State 4-2 14.2 (19) +3
4 TCU 4-3 10.8 (24) +7
5 Texas Tech 3-4 8.0 (32) -5
6 Iowa State 4-3 6.2 (39) +5
7 UCF 3-3 5.9 (40) –
8 West Virginia 4-2 4.9 (42) +1
9 Kansas 5-2 4.6 (44) -2
10 Cincinnati 2-4 4.0 (45) -6
11 Oklahoma State 4-2 3.6 (47) +5
12 Houston 3-3 -0.1 (66) +4
13 BYU 4-2 -0.5 (68) -15
14 Baylor 2-4 -3.0 (80) -1

Iowa State and Kansas will be off this week with the remaining 12 teams in action for Week 8.

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Oklahoma State dominates list of Big 12 top performers in Week 7

The Cowboys had quite a time in Week7.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. At least that was the theme in a pair of games featuring teams from the Sunflower State.

The Kansas State Wildcats continued their dominance over the Texas Tech Red Raiders. After winning eight of the first 11 games in the series, Tech hasn’t been able to get off the snide. Since 2011, the Wildcats have won 12 of the preview 13 games including eight straight.

The Kansas vs Oklahoma State series has been played on and off since 1933. A total of 73 meetings prior to Saturday’s showdown in Stillwater. The momentum stayed with the Pokes despite the Jayhawks winning this game last season. OSU defeated KU in Stillwater again, a place they haven’t lost in the series since 2007.

If you wanted to be entertained, the game on Thursday night was the matchup to watch. After heading into the fourth quarter with a 21-17 score, the West Virginia Mountaineers and Houston Cougars combined for 42 points in the final quarter. Facing a 35-24 deficit, WVU scored twice in the final four minutes to take the lead, 39-35 with just 12 seconds left. A hail mary pass from Donovan Smith with no time left gave Houston the win 41-39 and kept the heat off Dana Holgorsen for another week.

Now, we check in with the top performers of Week 7 in the Big 12.

Updated Big 12 standings ahead of Thursday night’s WVU-Houston matchup

Oklahoma, West Virginia sit atop the Big 12 through six weeks.

The Big 12 will be on display on Thursday night with the West Virginia Mountaineers taking on the Houston Cougars. There is no shortage of storylines for this matchup given that Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen ran the Mountaineers program for eight years.

The team picked to finish dead last in the conference has been a pleasant surprise and they could really complicate things in Houston for Holgorsen with a victory on the road.

Let’s take a look at how the standings look roughly midway through the season.

Team Conference Overall
Oklahoma 3-0 6-0
West Virginia 2-0 4-1
Texas 2-1 5-1
Kansas 2-1 5-1
Iowa State 2-1 3-3
Texas Tech 2-1 3-3
BYU 1-1 4-1
Oklahoma State 1-1 3-2
Kansas State 1-1 3-2
TCU 1-2 3-3
Baylor 1-2 2-4
Cincinnati 0-2 2-3
Houston 0-2 2-3
UCF 0-3 3-3

Of the four new teams that joined the conference ahead of the 2023 season, only the BYU Cougars have seen any success beyond the nonconference schedule. The four teams are a combined 1-8 in Big 12 play. The departing members are 5-1 in conference play, Texas’ only loss came to Oklahoma in Week 6.

In 2022, the Big 12 championship game featured the Kansas State Wildcats and TCU Horned Frogs. Kansas State is 1-1 in conference play while TCU is 1-2 and coming off a loss to Iowa State in Ames.

If the season ended today the Oklahoma Sooners and West Virginia Mountaineers would battle it out for the Big 12 title. An OU-WVU is on the docket before the postseason as the Mountaineers come to Norman on Nov. 11.

According to the Football Power Index, the Texas Longhorns still have the inside track to head to the conference title game. However, since they don’t play WVU this season, they will need some help to bypass the Mountaineers.

The Big 12 race is certainly setting up to be entertaining as the 2023 season continues.

West Virginia-Houston among Big 12 games to watch in Week 7

BYU-TCU and WVU-Houston are among the key games to watch in the Big 12.

Week 7 in the Big 12 will kick off on Thursday night as the West Virginia Mountaineers head to the Lone Star State for a battle with the Houston Cougars. The biggest storyline involves Dana Holgorsen facing off with his old team for the first time since he left in 2018.

This week the Baylor Bears (2-4, 1-2), Oklahoma Sooners (6-0, 3-0), Texas Longhorns (5-1, 2-1), and UCF Knights (3-3, 0-3) all are on a bye. The only ranked team playing this week is the No. 24 Kansas Jayhawks. They head to Stillwater to face off with the Oklahoma State Cowboys.

As Week 7 approaches, College Sports Wire ranks the best games in the conference.

Updated Big 12 QBR standings after Week 6 action

Dillon Gabriel, Behren Morton have the two-best performances of the week according to ESPN’s QBR.

10 of the 14 Big 12 teams were in action during Week 6 spanning over 10 games. The biggest featured the Oklahoma Sooners taking on the Texas Longhorns. The two quarterbacks ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the QBR metric from ESPN.

The duo produced two of the three best performances of the week sandwiched around Behren Morton of Texas Tech. It was Morton’s fourth appearance and second start since taking over for an injured Tyler Shough early against West Virginia. The Red Raiders have won both starts by a combined 88-42 margin. His performance helped the offense put the game away against Baylor and even their record.

The Kansas Jayhawks once again turned to backup Jason Bean in their matchup against UCF. He didn’t qualify for QBR after throwing just 12 passes in the game as KU ran all over the Knights’ defense. Both Chandler Morris and Josh Hoover saw action for the TCU Horned Frogs in a losing effort against Iowa State.

Week 6 QBR results:

QB School QBR Team Result
Dillon Gabriel Oklahoma 92.8 W vs Texas
Behren Morton Texas Tech 80.8 W at Baylor
Quinn Ewers Texas 75.9 L vs Oklahoma
Alan Bowman Oklahoma State 68.5 W vs Kansas State
Rocco Becht Iowa State 52.8 W vs TCU
Will Howard Kansas State 42.4 L vs Oklahoma State
Chandler Morris TCU 23.0 L vs Iowa State
Timmy McClain UCF 22.5 L vs Kansas
Blake Shapen Baylor 16.4 L vs Texas Tech
Josh Hoover TCU 15.2 L vs Iowa State

Updated Season Rankings:

Rank Quarterback Team QBR Last Week’s QBR (Ranking)
1 Dillon Gabriel Oklahoma 91.0 89.4 (No. 1)
2 Quinn Ewers Texas 81.1 82.9 (No. 2)
3 Chandler Morris TCU 74.3 78.8 (No. 4)
4 Will Howard Kansas State 69.4 76.3 (No. 5)
5 Kedon Slovis BYU 64.9 63.3 (No. 10)
6 Garrett Greene West Virginia 64.7 64.7 (No. 9)
7 Rocco Becht Iowa State 64.7 62.0 (No. 8)
8 Donovan Smith Houston 64.4 65.8 (No. 7)
9 Emory Jones Cincinnati 64.1 63.1 (No. 11)
10 Timmy McClain UCF 62.7 69.8 (No. 6)
11 Tyler Shough Texas Tech 55.4 55.2 (No. 12)
12 Behren Morton Texas Tech 46.3 –
13 Alan Bowman Oklahoma State 46.0 33.6 (No. 14)
14 Blake Shapen Baylor 43.2 –

Morton and Baylor’s Blake Shapen qualified for the season standings after missing out on the list in Week 5. Morton could pass teammate Shough in Week 7 as the Red Raiders host Will Howard and the Kansas State Wildcats Saturday night at Jones AT&T Stadium.

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