2008 Big 12 Championship Game
Encyclopedia
The 2008 Dr. Pepper Big 12 Championship Game was held on December 6, 2008 at Arrowhead Stadium
in Kansas City, Missouri
, and pitted two of the divisional winners from the Big 12 Conference
: the Missouri Tigers
, winner of the North division against the Oklahoma Sooners
, co-champion of the South division. Kickoff was scheduled for 8PM EST
/5pm PST
, and was televised by ABC
as part of its Saturday Night Football package.
Per Big 12 policy, the Big 12 South Champion was declared the home team because the game took place in a home state of a Big 12 North team. Entering the game, designated "home" teams were 8–4 in Big 12 Championship Games.
. The game was first played in 1996
, when the conference was formed from the previous Big 8 plus four teams from the disbanded Southwest Conference. The championship game was somewhat modeled on the SEC
format, which was the first conference in college football to have a conference championship game.
Six Division I FBS conferences currently have championship games—the ACC
, Big Ten
, C-USA
, MAC
, Pac-12
, and SEC
. However, the Big 12 title game ended after the 2010 edition
. A major conference realignment that started in 2010 and carried over into 2011 saw the Big 12 drop to 10 members, below the 12 required by NCAA rules for a conference championship game. The same realignment saw the Big Ten and former Pac-10 expand to 12 teams each; both conferences will hold their first championship games in 2011
.
, a two-time Walter Camp Coach of the Year
award winner. The team was led on offense by quarterback
Sam Bradford
, and played their homes games at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
in Norman, Oklahoma
. The team finished their regular season 11-1 (7-1, Big 12), with the only loss coming to the Texas Longhorns. (see "South Division 3-way-tie controversy" section below) They enter the game ranked #2 in the BCS
and Coaches poll, and #4 in the AP poll.
The Big 12 North representative in the championship game is the 2008 Missouri Tigers Missouri Tigers football team. The team was coached by Gary Pinkel
, who returned in his eighth season with Mizzou, and played their home games at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium
. Quarterback Chase Daniel
returned for his final year of eligibility and led the Tigers to a second appearance in the Big 12 Championship Game. The Tigers ended the regular season with a record of 9-3 (5-3, Big 12), with losses coming to Oklahoma State
, Texas, and Kansas
. They enter the game ranked #20 in the BCS, #17 in the Coaches poll, and #19 in the AP poll.
, Oklahoma beat Texas Tech 65–21, and Texas Tech beat Texas 39–33
, which made breaking the three-way tie impossible using head-to-head results. Because the first four tie-breakers did not dictate a winner, Big 12 rules dictated that the fifth tie-breaker was that the team with the highest BCS Ranking
, based on the standings released on November 30th of that year, would represent the South Division. This in turn meant that coaches, journalists and computer rankings, which are the components of the BCS ranking formula, decided the South Division representative. Texas Tech, Texas, and Oklahoma were all presented Big 12 South Champion trophies from the Big 12. During the final week of the Big 12 regular season, Oklahoma defeated a tough Oklahoma State, and Texas defeated a much softer Texas A&M delivering a sufficiently higher computer rating to Oklahoma.
Arrowhead Stadium
Arrowhead Stadium is a stadium located in Kansas City, Missouri and home to the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs....
in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, and pitted two of the divisional winners from the Big 12 Conference
Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of ten schools located in the Central United States, with its headquarters located in Las Colinas, a community in the Dallas, Texas suburb of Irving...
: the Missouri Tigers
2008 Missouri Tigers football team
The 2008 Missouri Tigers football team represented the University of Missouri in college football's 2008 season. The team was coached by Gary Pinkel, who returned in his eighth season with Mizzou, and played their home games at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium.Quarterback Chase Daniel returned for...
, winner of the North division against the Oklahoma Sooners
2008 Oklahoma Sooners football team
The 2008 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma in the college football season of 2008-2009. It was the 114th year of season play for the Sooners. The team was led by head coach Bob Stoops, a two-time Walter Camp Coach of the Year award winner, who has a contract...
, co-champion of the South division. Kickoff was scheduled for 8PM EST
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
/5pm PST
Pacific Time Zone
The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 120th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC-7.In the United States...
, and was televised by ABC
ESPN on ABC
ESPN on ABC is the brand used for sports programming on the ABC television network. Officially the broadcast network retains its own sports division; however, for all practical purposes, ABC's sports division has been merged with ESPN, a sports cable network majority-owned by ABC's parent, The...
as part of its Saturday Night Football package.
Per Big 12 policy, the Big 12 South Champion was declared the home team because the game took place in a home state of a Big 12 North team. Entering the game, designated "home" teams were 8–4 in Big 12 Championship Games.
Selection process
The Big 12 Championship Game matched up the winners of the North and South divisions of the Big 12 ConferenceBig 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of ten schools located in the Central United States, with its headquarters located in Las Colinas, a community in the Dallas, Texas suburb of Irving...
. The game was first played in 1996
1996 NCAA Division I-A football season
The 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with the Florida Gators crowned National Champions, but not as unanimously as the Bowl Alliance would have hoped....
, when the conference was formed from the previous Big 8 plus four teams from the disbanded Southwest Conference. The championship game was somewhat modeled on the SEC
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
format, which was the first conference in college football to have a conference championship game.
Six Division I FBS conferences currently have championship games—the ACC
ACC Championship Game
The Dr Pepper ACC Championship Game is an American college football game held on the first Saturday in December by the Atlantic Coast Conference each year to determine its football champion. The game pits the champion of the Coastal Division against the champion of the Atlantic Division in a game...
, Big Ten
Big Ten Football Championship Game
The Big Ten Football Championship Game is a college football game that will be held by the Big Ten Conference each year to determine the conference's season champion. The inaugural game will be held on December 3, 2011. The games during the next two seasons will be held on December 1, 2012 and...
, C-USA
Conference USA Football Championship
The Conference USA Football Championship Game is an annual postseason college football game played to determine the champion of Conference USA. From 1996–2004, the champion of Conference USA was determined by regular season record...
, MAC
MAC Championship Game
The Marathon MAC Football Championship is a football game between the winners of the East and West divisions of the Mid-American Conference to determine the conference champion. The game has been played since 1997, when the conference was first divided into divisions and since 2003 has been...
, Pac-12
Pacific-12 Football Championship Game
The Pacific-12 Championship Game is a college football game that will be held by the Pacific-12 Conference each year to determine the Pacific-12 Conference's season champion. The inaugural game will be held December 2, 2011 at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT...
, and SEC
SEC Championship Game
The SEC Championship Game refers to the game determining the Southeastern Conference's football season champion. The championship game pits the SEC Western Division representative against the Eastern Division representative in a game held after the regular season has been completed. Thus far, nine...
. However, the Big 12 title game ended after the 2010 edition
2010 Big 12 Championship Game
The 2010 Big 12 Championship Game was played at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 4, 2010, at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas to determine the 2010 football champion of the Big 12 Conference. It was the final championship game for the conference as two members of the Big 12 had announced their...
. A major conference realignment that started in 2010 and carried over into 2011 saw the Big 12 drop to 10 members, below the 12 required by NCAA rules for a conference championship game. The same realignment saw the Big Ten and former Pac-10 expand to 12 teams each; both conferences will hold their first championship games in 2011
2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season
The 2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season, play of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level, began on Thursday, September 1, 2011...
.
Regular season
The Big 12 South representative in the game is the 2008 Oklahoma Sooners football team. This was the 114th year of season play for the Sooners who were led by head coach Bob StoopsBob Stoops
Robert Anthony "Bob" Stoops is the head coach of the University of Oklahoma football team. During the 2000 season, Stoops led the Sooners to an Orange Bowl victory and a national championship....
, a two-time Walter Camp Coach of the Year
Walter Camp Coach of the Year
The Walter Camp Coach of the Year Award is given annually to the collegiate American football head coach adjudged by a group of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports information directors under the auspices of the Walter Camp Football...
award winner. The team was led on offense by quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
Sam Bradford
Sam Bradford
Samuel Jacob "Sam" Bradford is an American football quarterback for the St. Louis Rams of the National Football League. He was the first overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, and played college football at Oklahoma. In 2008, as a redshirt sophomore, Bradford became the second sophomore to win a...
, and played their homes games at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
The Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium is the on-campus football facility for the University of Oklahoma Sooners in Norman, Oklahoma. The official capacity of the stadium, following recent renovations, is 82,112, making it the 16th largest college stadium in the United States and the third...
in Norman, Oklahoma
Norman, Oklahoma
Norman is a city in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, United States, and is located south of downtown Oklahoma City. It is part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, Norman was to have 110,925 full-time residents, making it the third-largest city in Oklahoma and the...
. The team finished their regular season 11-1 (7-1, Big 12), with the only loss coming to the Texas Longhorns. (see "South Division 3-way-tie controversy" section below) They enter the game ranked #2 in the BCS
Bowl Championship Series
The Bowl Championship Series is a selection system that creates five bowl match-ups involving ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , including an opportunity for the top two to compete in the BCS National Championship Game.The BCS relies on a combination of...
and Coaches poll, and #4 in the AP poll.
The Big 12 North representative in the championship game is the 2008 Missouri Tigers Missouri Tigers football team. The team was coached by Gary Pinkel
Gary Pinkel
Gary Robin Pinkel is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at the University of Missouri, a position he has held since the 2001 season. From 1991 to 2000, Pinkel coached at the University of Toledo, where his team won a Mid-American Conference...
, who returned in his eighth season with Mizzou, and played their home games at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium
Faurot Field
Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium is the home field of the University of Missouri Tigers in Columbia, Missouri. It is primarily used for football. In 1972, Memorial Stadium's playing surface was named Faurot Field in honor of longtime coach Don Faurot. During the offseason, soccer goals are set up...
. Quarterback Chase Daniel
Chase Daniel
William Chase Daniel is an American football quarterback for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League. He was signed by the Washington Redskins as an undrafted free agent in 2009...
returned for his final year of eligibility and led the Tigers to a second appearance in the Big 12 Championship Game. The Tigers ended the regular season with a record of 9-3 (5-3, Big 12), with losses coming to Oklahoma State
2008 Oklahoma State Cowboys football team
The 2008 Oklahoma State Cowboys football team represents Oklahoma State University for the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision intercollegiate football season of 2008-2009.-Schedule:Source:-Washington State:-Houston:...
, Texas, and Kansas
2008 Kansas Jayhawks football team
The 2008 Kansas Jayhawks football team represented the University of Kansas for the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision intercollegiate football season of 2008-2009. It was the school's 119th year of intercollegiate football...
. They enter the game ranked #20 in the BCS, #17 in the Coaches poll, and #19 in the AP poll.
South Division 3-way-tie controversy
Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech all finished the season with identical 7–1 conference records, creating a three-way tie for the South division championship. Under Big 12 tiebreaker rules, ties are normally broken by head-to-head matchups, but this case was unique as Texas beat Oklahoma 45–352008 Texas vs. Oklahoma football game
The 2008 Oklahoma vs. Texas football game, played October 11, 2008, was the 103rd meeting between the University of Oklahoma and The University of Texas at Austin in a college football game. The annual game between the Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners is called the Red River Shootout...
, Oklahoma beat Texas Tech 65–21, and Texas Tech beat Texas 39–33
2008 Texas vs. Texas Tech football game
The 2008 Texas vs. Texas Tech football game was a Big 12 Conference game played between the Texas Longhorns and Texas Tech Red Raiders at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas, United States.-Pregame:...
, which made breaking the three-way tie impossible using head-to-head results. Because the first four tie-breakers did not dictate a winner, Big 12 rules dictated that the fifth tie-breaker was that the team with the highest BCS Ranking
Bowl Championship Series
The Bowl Championship Series is a selection system that creates five bowl match-ups involving ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , including an opportunity for the top two to compete in the BCS National Championship Game.The BCS relies on a combination of...
, based on the standings released on November 30th of that year, would represent the South Division. This in turn meant that coaches, journalists and computer rankings, which are the components of the BCS ranking formula, decided the South Division representative. Texas Tech, Texas, and Oklahoma were all presented Big 12 South Champion trophies from the Big 12. During the final week of the Big 12 regular season, Oklahoma defeated a tough Oklahoma State, and Texas defeated a much softer Texas A&M delivering a sufficiently higher computer rating to Oklahoma.