Four teams remain in the race

With a few hours and matches remaining in the final week of the regular season for the 2024 college football season, the Big 12 title race is still pretty wide open. However, the field was reduced to four teams on Saturday evening.

Arizona State, BYU, Colorado And Iowa State are all still alive and able to secure a spot in the conference championship game. That’s fewer than the total of nine teams that could have made it earlier in the day, but the four remaining teams led the field and started the weekend 6-2 in conference play.

Now a handful of situations remain.

Arizona State

losses: at Texas Tech30-22; at Cincinnati24-14
Game week 14: at Arizona – Arizona State won 49-7

Arizona State is as close as possible to being in charge with the win. There’s only one scenario in which the Sun Devils win and don’t make it to the title game, and that’s with a set of results going a certain way in a three-team tie.

And unless four more results go completely the wrong way for the Sun Devils, the biggest question with a win is who they would face in the Big 12 title game. The most likely is Iowa State, but little seems predictable for the Big 12.

BYU

Losses: vs. Kansas17-13; at Arizona State, 28-23
Game week 14: vs. Houston — 10:15 p.m. EST

The Wildcats need an assist to get into the title game, but at least one of Arizona State or Iowa State has to lose. If there is a four-way tie at the top of the league, BYU cannot get in because it is also behind those two teams in the tiebreaker. A loss at Colorado has no direct impact on BYU’s standing.

In a three-way tie at the top of the league, BYU would play whoever didn’t lose from Arizona State and Iowa State. After Arizona State won, the Cougars now have to lose Iowa State. And of course, the Wildcats can still win the title game via a two-way tie if two or three of the other teams lose 6-2.

Colorado

losses: at Nebraska28-10; vs. Kansas State31-28; at Kansas, 37-21
Game week 14: vs. Oklahoma State (Friday) – Colorado won 52-0

The Buffaloes need some help to get to the Big 12 title game. Colorado can’t make it to a four-way tie and needs a good amount of support to make it to a three-way tie. The easiest route for the Buffaloes appears to be to win and hope that two of the other teams come away tied for the first win. Arizona State has already won, so the Buffaloes are hoping some results go their way.

And with a three-way tie, everything has to be close for Colorado to make it. According to the Big 12 title race page, there are two scenarios for this. Both remain alive, but still require BYU to lose.

• BYU loses to Houston, Texas Tech beats West Virginia, Baylor beats Kansas and beats Cincinnati TCU – Colorado faces Iowa State in the title game
• BYU loses to Houston, Texas Tech beats West Virginia, TCU beats Cincinnati – Colorado faces Arizona State in the title game

In short, Colorado needs more results to stay ahead in the tiebreakers at the top of the league. Texas Tech already won and TCU leads at halftime, so the Buffaloes will be big Houston fans on Saturday night.

Iowa State

Losses: vs. Texas Tech, 23-22; at Kansas, 45-36
Game week 14: vs. Kansas State – 7:30 p.m. EST

The Cyclones are in a similar boat to the Sun Devils and for the most part just need to win and hope they don’t end up in a three-way tie that would put Colorado in its place. Barring that or a loss, however, Iowa State is in a pretty solid position heading into this.

And most title games will likely pit Iowa State and the Sun Devils against each other should both win. At this point, the only way to redeem themselves is for BYU to lose, Colorado to win, and the above results result in Colorado getting into the game by a three-way tie.