By: Ryan Moreland (@ryanmoreland)
The race for the top three spots in the Big XII is going to be very tight. Let’s take a look at how the playoffs work real quick before we dive into this conference.
How to Make the Playoffs
The top three teams from each conference will automatically earn a playoff spot. After that, there will be a league-wide vote on who the last four teams should be. If there is a tie within the top three teams, the following tiebreakers will be used (in order) to break the tie.
| Order | Tiebreaker |
| 1 | Conference Record |
| 2 | Head-to-Head |
| 3 | Record vs common conference opponents |
| 4 | Point differential vs common conference opponents |
| 5 | Record vs common overall opponents |
| 6 | Point differential vs common overall opponents |
| 7 | Overall record |
| 8 | Overall point differential |
Conference Standings
| Rank | Team | Overall Record | Conference Record |
| 1 | Texas | 3-2 | 2-0 |
| 2 | West Virginia | 4-1 | 2-1 |
| 3 | Baylor | 2-3 | 1-1 |
| 4 | Cincinnati | 3-2 | 1-1 |
| 5 | Texas A&M | 2-3 | 1-2 |
| 6 | Colorado | 2-3 | 0-2 |
The Longhorns have put themselves in a great spot, but there is still a lot of work to do. They are in the driver’s seat for both the Big XII Conference Title and the race for the top 3. This week they won’t be able to clinch their playoff spot, but they can put themselves in a position to clinch next week. All they have to do is beat Colorado this week and they will be close to punching their ticket.
The Mountaineers no longer control their destiny for the conference championship (they need Texas to lose), but they are for the playoff hunt. WVU still has to play Texas A&M and Baylor, but winning both will guarantee them a spot in the playoffs. This week they play out-of-conference, so they can’t do anything to help or hurt their playoff odds in Week 6.
Baylor and Cincinnati come into the week tied and the Bears hold the tiebreaker for now. However, that tiebreaker won’t matter soon. These two teams will meet in Cincinnati this week. The winner will tie WVU for 2nd place. The loser will hurt their odds for an automatic bid. This is a must-win game for the Bears and Bearcats.
It is also worth noting that Cincinnati is the only other team that has control of their destiny for the conference title race. If they beat Texas in Week 7 (and don’t lose another conference game) the Bearcats could win the conference. They also could force a potential 3-way tie with Texas and either WVU or Baylor for the conference lead. That would be an insane finish.
Texas A&M won their first conference game of the season last week over Colorado. This helped their playoff chances, but there is still a lot of work to do. The Aggies will likely need to win out in the conference to get a chance to be in the top 3. But that will matter next week. For Week 6 Texas A&M will be playing out of the conference.
Colorado may be in last place, but their hopes are not dead. However, the room for error is gone. They will play 3 conference games in these next 3 weeks and they will likely need to win them all to earn an automatic bid. That starts this week with a game against Texas. Just to be clear, losing this week will not mathematically eliminate the Buffs, but it will be them dangerously close.
