2008 Big 12 Championship Game

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.

Selection process

2008 Big 12 football standings
	Conf				Overall
Team		W		L		W		L
Northern Division
#19 Missouri xy		5	–	3		10	–	4
Nebraska x		5	–	3		9	–	4
Kansas		4	–	4		8	–	5
Colorado		2	–	6		5	–	7
Kansas State		2	–	6		5	–	7
Iowa State		0	–	8		2	–	10
Southern Division
#5 Oklahoma xy$		7	–	1		12	–	2
#4 Texas x%		7	–	1		12	–	1
#12 Texas Tech x		7	–	1		11	–	2
#16 Oklahoma State		5	–	3		9	–	4
Baylor		2	–	6		4	–	8
Texas A&M		2	–	6		4	–	8
Championship: Oklahoma 62, Missouri 21
$ – BCS representative as conference champion % – BCS at-large representative x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll

The Big 12 Championship Game matched up the winners of the North and South divisions of the Big 12 Conference. The game was first played in 1996,^[1]^[2] 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.

Regular season

Main articles: 2008 Oklahoma Sooners football team and 2008 Missouri Tigers football team

The Big 12 South representative in the game was the Oklahoma Sooners. This was the 114th year of season play for the Sooners who were led by head coach Bob Stoops, a two-time Walter Camp Coach of the Year award winner. The team was led on offense by quarterback Sam Bradford. The Sooners 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),^[3] with the only loss coming to the Texas Longhorns. (see "South Division 3-way-tie controversy" section below) They entered the game ranked No. 2 in the BCS and Coaches poll, and No. 4 in the AP poll.

The Big 12 North representative in the championship game was the Missouri Tigers. The team was coached by Gary Pinkel, who returned in his eighth season with Mizzou. The Tigers 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),^[4] with losses coming to Oklahoma State, Texas, and Kansas. They entered the game ranked No. 20 in the BCS, No. 17 in the Coaches poll, and No. 19 in the AP poll.

South Division 3-way-tie controversy

Main article: 2008 Big 12 Conference 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 45–35, 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 30 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.^[5]^[6]^[7]

References

External links

About the 2008 Championship game at Big12Sports.com

Big 12 Championship Game

Years	1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Venues	Trans World Dome (1996, 1998) Alamodome (1997, 1999, 2007) Arrowhead Stadium (2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008) Texas Stadium (2001) Reliant Stadium (2002, 2005) Cowboys Stadium (2009, 2010)

Other	Broadcasters

Oklahoma Sooners football

Venues	Boyd Field (1905–23) Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium (1923–present) Barry Switzer Center

Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Missouri (Tiger–Sooner Peace Pipe) Nebraska Oklahoma State: Bedlam Series Texas: Red River Showdown (Golden Hat)

Culture & lore	Championships T formation Wishbone formation Oklahoma drill Sooner Schooner Boomer and Sooner "Boomer Sooner" Marching band The Kick The Oklahoma Heismen Play Like a Champion Today

People	Head coaches Starting quarterbacks All-Americans NFL draftees Statistical leaders

Seasons	1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

National championship seasons in bold

Missouri Tigers football

Venues	Rollins Field (1890–1926) Faurot Field (1926–present)

Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Arkansas: Battle Line Rivalry Illinois Iowa State (Telephone Trophy) Kansas: Border War Nebraska (Victory Bell) Oklahoma (Tiger–Sooner Peace Pipe)

Culture and lore	Truman the Tiger Marching Mizzou 1911 Kansas game Fifth Down Game (1990) Flea Kicker

People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical Leaders

Seasons	1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

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