The 2024 Big 12 Championship Game is set: Arizona State will face Iowa State at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, next Saturday (noon ET, ABC).
The Sun Devils (10-2, 7-2 Big 12) and Cyclones (10-2, 7-2 Big 12) both clinched spots with wins on Saturday and favorable tiebreaker scenarios. Nine of the Big 12’s sixteen teams entered the holiday weekend still in contention for the title game, according to the conference.
No. 16 Arizona State defeated Arizona 49-7 in the Territorial Cup to finish the regular season on a five-game winning streak. The Sun Devils will play in the championship game in their first season as members of the Big 12 after head coach Kenny Dillingham’s squad was picked last in the league’s preseason media poll. Star running back Cam Skattebo rushed for 177 yards and three touchdowns against Arizona, and Sam Leavitt completed 17 of 22 passes for 291 yards and three touchdowns. Arizona State’s last conference title was a shared Pac-10 championship in 2007.
No. 18 Iowa State defeated No. 24 Kansas State 29-21 to claim a Farmageddon victory and the first 10-win season in program history. The Cyclones were outgained by K-State but forced a pair of turnovers in a frigid game in Ames, Iowa. Quarterback Rocco Becht tossed two touchdown passes, and the offense rushed for 187 yards in the win. Iowa State’s last league title came in 1912 as members of the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association, a predecessor to the Big Eight Conference.
BYU and Colorado also finished 7-2 in league play to force a four-way tie atop the Big 12 standings, but Arizona State and Iowa State advance via the league’s tiebreaker policies, a matchup that wasn’t finalized until BYU’s 30-18 win over Houston in the late window on Saturday.
The Sun Devils (No. 16) and Cyclones (No. 18) entered the weekend as the Big 12’s two highest-ranked teams in the latest College Football Playoff rankings. The winner of next week’s championship game is certain to earn one of the five automatic bids to the expanded 12-team Playoff field. The question is whether the champion will do enough in the eyes of the selection committee to earn a first-round bye as one of the four highest-ranked conference title winners, which is not guaranteed to the four power conferences. No. 11 Boise State (11-1) will face No. 22 UNLV (10-2) next Friday in the Mountain West Championship Game, and a win for the Broncos could keep them ahead of the Big 12 champion in the final Playoff rankings and clinch one of the top four seeds.
The next batch of CFP rankings will be released on Tuesday.
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(Photo of Sam Leavitt: Kelsey Grant / Getty Images)
