BIG 12 CONFERENCE

3 key takeaways from the state’s football scene -- and a glimpse at what’s to come next week.

One of these three teams will not make the College Football Playoff: Alabama, Florida State and Texas.

Seventh-ranked Texas is leaving the Big 12 with bookend championships.

Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark says his still-evolving conference remains committed to having a championship game even as the College Football Playoff expands from four to 12 teams after this season.

The Houston Cougars fired football coach Dana Holgorsen a day after finishing his third losing season in five years.

The Big 12 goes into the final weekend of the regular season with its championship game matchup still undetermined.

There is a rematch this week of last year's Big 12 championship game when TCU plays at Kansas State.

The Red River rivalry game between third-ranked Texas and 12th-ranked Oklahoma matches the Big 12's only undefeated and only ranked teams.

Eleventh-ranked Texas is already favored to win the Big 12 title in its farewell season.

The Colorado board of regents has voted unanimously to leave the Pac-12 Conference and return to the Big 12.

The Big 12 Conference on Thursday announced the creation of Big 12 Mexico, an “international extension” that will attempt to showcase men’s and women’s basketball games, along with both women’s soccer and baseball games in the bordering country.

Bill Self will miss top-seeded Kansas’ second-round NCAA Tournament game against Arkansas.

Alabama rolls in as the top overall seed in an NCAA Tournament that feels both familiar and foreign this season.

March Madness isn’t just about filling out — and later trashing — brackets.

Kansas coach Bill Self will miss the Big 12 Tournament after going to the emergency room late Wednesday for what doctors called “a standard procedure.”.

TCU’s unlikely run to the College Football Playoff championship came at a fortuitous time for the Big 12.

Three key takeaways from the state’s football scene this past weekend -- and a glimpse at what’s to come next week.

Max Duggan threw for 280 yards with three touchdowns and Kendre Miller ran for 153 yards and two scores as eighth-ranked TCU again rallied from a big early deficit to stay undefeated.

New Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark says the league is open for business.

Kansas earned a No. 1 seed for the 15th time on Sunday, second only to North Carolina for most in college hoops history, and will open the NCAA Tournament in the Midwest Region against the play-in winner between Texas Southern and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in Fort Worth, Texas.

Ochai Agbaji led sixth-ranked Kansas with 18 points in a 87-63 victory over West Virginia in the quarterfinal round of the Big 12 Tournament.

Baylor standout NaLyssa Smith is the Big 12 women’s basketball player of the year for the second season in a row.

Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy says injured star running back Jaylin Warren will not play in the Big 12 championship game against No. 9 Baylor.

Major college football is setting into a strange period of frayed allegiances that could last for at least another season.

The Big 12 has added four new members with BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston formally accepting invitations to join the league.

Texas is beginning a new era with new coach Steve Sarkisian, new starting quarterback Hudson Card and preseason AP All-America running back Bijan Robinson.

Jay Hartzell said the switch to the Southeastern Conference was the best thing for UT-Austin’s student athletes and the university. Texas senators expressed disdain for the move and questioned how it came about.

Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby says losing Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC could slice the value of the league's next television deal by 50 percent.

The news comes after the SEC voted to invite UT and the University of Oklahoma to join its 14-member league during a meeting with the league members’ presidents and chancellors Thursday afternoon.

Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby accused ESPN of encouraging other conferences to pick apart the league so Texas and Oklahoma can move to the Southeastern Conference more quickly and without paying a massive buyout.

The university is seeking to leave the Big 12 along with the University of Oklahoma, a move that would have wide-ranging impact on Texas college athletics.

Oklahoma and Texas took the first formal step toward moving to the Southeastern Conference.

Big 12 coaches say they like the proposal to expand the College Football Playoff to 12 teams.

6 Baylor beat West Virginia 76-50 to win the Big 12 Tournament on Sunday. It is the ninth Big 12 Championship in the last 10 tournaments for top-seeded Baylor (25-2). Dijonai Carrington added 14 and Moon Ursin had 12 points and 10 rebounds as the Lady Bears won their 17th straight game. “We didn’t shoot the ball well and took a lot of bad shots,” West Virginia coach Mike Carey said. AdThe Lady Bears dominated in the paint outrebounding West Virginia 46-33 and scoring 54 points in the paint.

FILE - In this Dec. 7, 2019, file photo, Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley hosts the Big 12 Conference championship trophy after defeating Baylor 30-23 in overtime in an NCAA college football game in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter, File)IRVING, Texas – The Big 12 released its 2021 conference football schedule Thursday, less than two months after Oklahoma won its sixth consecutive league championship. AdThis will be the 11th season in a row with the 10 Big 12 teams playing round-robin league schedules with nine conference games. The first conference game is Sept. 18, when Baylor plays at Kansas. Every other team, except TCU, will open league play on Sept. 25.

Baylor coach Scott Drew, right, argues a call during the second half of the team's NCAA college basketball game against Texas, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021, in Austin, Texas. 2 Baylor has had its season interrupted again because of COVID-19 protocols, with the Big 12 Conference postponing the Bears' next two scheduled games. Their next scheduled game is now at home Feb. 13 against No. AdCoach Scott Drew missed the first two games of Baylor's reshuffled scheduled after testing positive for COVID-19 in November. The Big 12 said it would work with Baylor, TCU and Oklahoma to reschedule the remaining postponed games.

(AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter)Cotton Bowl: Oklahoma (8-2, Big 12) vs. Florida (8-3, SEC), Dec. 30 in Arlington, Texas, 8 p.m. EST (ESPN). NOTABLEOklahoma: The Sooners have won six consecutive Big 12 titles, the latest coming after beating Iowa State 27-21 on Saturday in the same stadium where they will now play the Cotton Bowl. They have a seven-game winning streak since being 0-2 in Big 12 play for the first time since 1998. BOWL HISTORYOklahoma: Third appearance in Cotton Bowl, 22nd season in a row playing in a bowl game and 54th bowl overall; only Alabama, Georgia and Texas have played in more. Florida: First appearance in Cotton Bowl, 46th bowl appearance in school history.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Oklahoma is going right back to the stadium where the Sooners just won their sixth Big 12 championship in a row to play SEC runner-up Florida in the Cotton Bowl. During a Gators team meeting on Zoom to discuss their bowl destination, one of the first questions players asked Mullen was where the Cotton Bowl was played. Oklahoma is in the Cotton Bowl for only the third time, its first since a 41-13 loss to Texas A&M on Jan. 4, 2013. The Cotton Bowl will be played two days before Alabama faces No. Pitts announced is turning pro and won't play in the Cotton Bowl.

12 Sooners won their sixth consecutive Big 12 championship. The Sooners got a bit of revenge Saturday when winning another Big 12 title game, with Sp encer Rattler throwing a 45-yard touchdown to fellow freshman Marvin Mims and running for another score in a 27-21 victory over the No. Oklahoma still has its 14th Big 12 title overall in the league's 25-season history, and the 50th conference championship in school history. Iowa State played in a conference championship game for the first time in school history, though fifth-year coach Matt Campbell was incensed at times. Oklahoma: The Sooners are bowl-bound for the 22nd year in a row, likely the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 30.

AUSTIN, Texas – This Saturday’s Texas Longhorns game against the Kansas Jayhawks has been postponed, according to the Big 12 conference. The conference issued a statement on Wednesday afternoon that said the following:“In accordance with Big 12 Conference football game interruption guidelines, the Texas at Kansas game scheduled for November 21 has been postponed. The time and television designation will be announced when available.”Stadium College Football Insider Brett McMurphy reported that the game, which was scheduled to be played in Lawrence, was postponed due to COVID-19 issues within the Kansas football program. This is the first time a UT game has been rescheduled or postponed this season due to the virus. The state’s other premiere program, Texas A&M, will also not play this weekend due to COVID-19 issues.

This weekend marks the start of an unusual season for major college football programs in Texas. UT-Austin game attendees must wear masks in the stadium and there will be signage and floor markings to encourage social distance. “We anticipated a rise in cases as we returned to campus and we took this into account as we made our plans,” Texas Tech spokesperson Matthew Dewey said in an email. Officials blamed off-campus parties hosted by Texas Tech students. Disclosure: Baylor University, Southern Methodist University, Texas Christian University, Texas Tech University, University of Texas at Austin and University of Texas at El Paso have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors.

The game against Southern Methodist University, scheduled for Sept. 11, was canceled Friday after some TCU football athletes and support staff tested positive for the virus, said Jeremiah Donati, TCUs director of intercollegiate athletics, in a statement. The TCU-SMU game would have been the first Big 12 game of the season. Texas Tech University, Baylor University and the University of Texas at Austin all have games scheduled for Sept. 12. A handful of Texas teams that play outside the Power Five conferences SMU, Texas State University, Houston Baptist University, the University of North Texas, Stephen F. Austin University and the University of Texas at El Paso have games scheduled for Saturday. Disclosure: Baylor University, Southern Methodist University, Texas Christian University, Texas Tech University, University of Texas at Austin, the University of Texas at El Paso and University of North Texas have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors.

The Big 12 Conference reaffirmed its decision to press on with college football and other fall sports Wednesday, joining the Atlantic Coast and Southeastern conferences in taking the field amid the coronavirus pandemic. The move came one day after the Big Ten and Pac-12 announced they would not be participating this fall. The schools will all play each other to give them 10 total games with the Big 12 title game scheduled for Dec. 12. All non-conference opponents also must adhere to Big 12 standards. The virus continues to evolve and medical professionals are learning more with each passing week, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said in a statement.

The Big 12 Conference has decided to move ahead with fall sports and released the conference football schedule on Wednesday morning. Conference play will start on Sept. 26 with the Big 12 championship game tentatively scheduled for Dec. 12 in Dallas. Texas will open its conference schedule at Texas Tech followed by TCU in Austin. A delivery for #Big12FB fansYour first look at the 2020 Conference schedule pic.twitter.com/1W00A3EYuM Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) August 12, 2020The Big 12 news comes a day after the Big 10 and Pac-12 decided to postpone the fall football season and attempt to play in the spring. The Mountain West Conference and Mid-American Conference have also canceled fall sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first major college football games in an evolving schedule that should start to come into focus this week are a little more than a month away. COVID-19 flare-ups have shut down voluntary workouts throughout July at about two dozen major college football programs, including Ohio State, North Carolina, Kansas State and Houston. Because if thats the case, were not testing enough.Recent NCAA guidelines recommended testing college football players once a week during the season, within 72 hours of a game. I was not surprised at all that there were positive tests. There will be positive tests on campuses when students return and within athletics programs.