The Big 12 pulled back the curtain on the 2017 conference schedule, a nine-game conference scheduling format now complete with a conference championship game. The 2017 Big 12 schedule has set the date for the Big 12 Championship Game on Saturday, December 2.
Because the Big 12 does not have a division format, the Big 12 will place the top two teams in conference play in the conference championship game, which will return to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas (AT&T Stadium will host the Big 12 title game through 2021). So, if this model was in place for the 2016 season, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State would have played two weeks in a row. The Sooners and Cowboys played the regular season finale in a de facto Big 12 championship game as the top two teams in the Big 12, which Oklahoma won. So the Sooners would have had to win the outright regular season championship and then beat the same team once more the following week in order to officially be crowned Big 12 champion. But hey, one true champion. Right?
Some notes from the Big 12 conference schedule for 2017:
- Big 12 play opens on September 23 with West Virginia at Kansas, Oklahoma at Baylor and TCU at Oklahoma State
- Oklahoma-Texas is on October 14
- Texas vs. Baylor on October 28 (New coaches Tom Herman vs. Matt Rhule for the first time since 2015 AAC Championship Game)
- Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State on November 4. No more Bedlam in the final game of the season? Boo.
- Texas vs. Kansas on November 11. The extremely rare revenge game for the Longhorns.
- Oklahoma vs. West Virginia on November 25.
You can see and review the entire 2017 Big 12 schedule HERE. Once TV partners start to get involved, some dates are likely to change once games are selected for Thursday or Friday night broadcasts.