Deion Sanders, Colorado, is eliminated from the Big 12 Championship. Here's why.

Coach Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes finished the regular season in a four-way tie for first place in the Big 12 Conference, but were left out of next weekend’s Big 12 Championship Game because of losses to Kansas and Kansas State earlier in the year.

That’s what matters for the Buffs under Big 12 tiebreaker rules.

Instead, Arizona State (10-2) and Iowa State (10-2) will face off for the Big 12 football championship on December 7 in Arlington, Texas, after finishing the regular season tied with Colorado (9-2). finished first place. 3) and BYU (10-2), each with a 7-2 record in the league.

Arizona State and Iowa State won the right to play for the championship under league tiebreaker rules that emphasize the importance of records against common Big 12 opponents and the strength of their schedule in league play.

Why are ASU, Iowa State playing for the Big 12 title, not CU, BYU?

All of these first-place teams have not played each other this season and none of them have beaten all other tied teams. According to Big 12 rules, the next tiebreaker is their record against common conference opponents.

In this case, the top four teams had four common Big 12 opponents: Kansas, Kansas State, Utah and Central Florida. Arizona State was 4-0 against these teams. BYU and Iowa State were both 3-1. Colorado was 2-2 after losing to Kansas and Kansas State.

That gave Arizona State the advantage in this matchup. The tie between BYU and Iowa State gets more complicated, but was ultimately decided by the strength of both teams’ league schedule, based on their combined win percentage in conference games. Iowa State edged BYU with a combined league record of 36-45, compared to 31-50 for BYU. In the end, it hurt BYU that it played Oklahoma State (0-9) and Arizona (2-7) while Iowa State did not.

It still came down to the final game for Colorado

The same four teams entered the final weekend of the regular season in a tie for first place in the Big 12 with 6-2 league records. Everyone won, leaving a four-way tie.

∎ Colorado defeated Oklahoma State 52-0 at home on Friday and finished 9-3 under head coach Deion Sanders.

∎ Arizona State defeated Arizona 49-7 on the road on Saturday.

∎ Iowa State defeated Kansas State 29-21 at home on Saturday.

∎ BYU won a home game against Houston 30-18 late Saturday night.

To get into the championship, Colorado had to lose two of those other first-place teams, or a BYU loss combined with a Texas Tech win over West Virginia. Tech defeated West Virginia 52-15 on Saturday, leaving Colorado’s fate to play late Saturday night at BYU on ESPN.

If BYU had lost, CU would have been in a three-way tie for first place with Arizona State and Iowa State.

In this case, all three teams have a record of 4-2 against common Big 12 opponents. The next tiebreaker would be their record against the second-highest common opponent in the league standings. That would be second-seeded Texas Tech (6-3). Colorado beat Tech that season, but Iowa State and Arizona State both lost to the Red Raiders — a crucial factor that would have put CU in the Big 12 title game in that scenario.

When and where is the Big 12 championship game?

It will air on December 7th at 12pm ET on ABC from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Will the winner advance to the College Football Playoff?

Almost certainly. In the 12-team playoffs, the five highest-ranked league champions receive automatic spots, in addition to seven at-large spots. The Big 12 champion would have to surpass one of at least five other league champions in the final playoff rankings on Dec. 8 to earn an automatic playoff spot. In the current playoff rankings, teams from four other leagues are ahead of the Big 12’s top-ranked team, Arizona State, at No. 16. The Sun Devils are just one spot ahead of the sixth-place leader: Tulane of the American Athletic Conference at No. 17 . Iowa State is ranked 18th.

The good news for the Big 12 is that Tulane lost to Memphis on Thanksgiving, which puts them behind Arizona State and Iowa State in the rankings. To earn an automatic berth, the Big 12 champion must surpass the winner of Friday’s AAC championship game: Army (9-1) vs. Tulane (9-3).

Where will Colorado play in a bowl game?

It still looks like it did at the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio on Dec. 28. The Alamo Bowl pits a team from the Big 12 against a team from the former Pac-12 Conference, under contracts that existed before the Pac-12’s demise. The Alamo Bowl receives first pick among non-playoff teams from these two pools of eligible teams, with the goal of avoiding regular-season rematches and maximizing television viewership and ticket sales.

If Arizona State goes into the playoffs as Big 12 champion, Alamo could select Colorado as a former Pac-12 team to play BYU or Iowa State, even though all of those teams are now in the Big 12. Colorado still hasn’t played BYU since 1988 and hasn’t played Iowa State since 2010.

If Iowa State goes to the playoffs, the Alamo Bowl could still select a 9-3 Colorado team over a 10-3 Arizona team.

If the Alamo Bowl gets past Colorado, the Holiday Bowl in San Diego is the closest choice among former Pac-12 teams and would likely put the Buffs up against an Atlantic Coast Conference team in the Dec. 27 game.

What doomed Colorado this season?

The Buffs had a great year, improving from 4-8 in the Sanders’ first season to 1-11 in 2022. But if they had just beaten Kansas on Nov. 23, they would be alone in first place and for the Big 12 play titles. They lost 37-21 after falling into a 17-0 hole early on.

The loss to Kansas State still hurts, as it hurt the Buffs’ tiebreaker chances. The Buffs lost that game at home on Oct. 12, 31-28, even after building a lead late in the fourth quarter.

Why were so many teams tied for first place in the Big 12?

The league does not play a full round-robin schedule and, despite its size (16 teams), is not divided into divisions, with the addition of Colorado, Arizona State, Arizona and Utah this season. Each team only plays nine league games in the regular season. Since not all Big 12 teams compete against each other, multiple teams could easily end up with the same record in league play. It’s also why five Big 12 teams tied for second place with 5-3 league records.

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Deion Sanders, Colorado, is eliminated from the Big 12 Championship. Here’s why.

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