During the 2025 college football regular season, Big 12 programs will play 14 games against other Power Four conference teams.
The league could use a little Al Davis “just win, baby” mentality when its schools face teams from the SEC, Big Ten and ACC as the College Football Playoff makes changes this season, switching to a straight seeding model.
While the Big 12 champion is in line to make the CFP — as long as it is one of the top five rated conference champions in the CFP committee rankings come selection day — the 2024 season showed just how far the revamped 16-team Big 12 needs to catch up to other power conferences in terms of national perception.
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Winning more against other power conference teams would help.
Big 12 champion Arizona State earned a first-round bye in the playoff last year, thanks to the rules back then that the top four ranked conference champions would receive a top four seed and the requisite bye.
The Sun Devils, despite being No. 12 in the final CFP rankings last season, earned the No. 4 overall seed in the playoff.
After that, though, the Big 12 didn’t seriously challenge for a second playoff bid.
BYU, which finished the regular season 10-2, was No. 17 in the final CFP rankings, behind four other teams that would have gotten an at-large bid first.
Other teams that were ranked ahead that would have earned at-large bids over the Cougars were three 9-3 SEC teams — Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina — as well as the ACC’s Miami, which also was 10-2.
Iowa State, which lost to Arizona State in the Big 12 championship, was ranked one spot lower than BYU.
That’s why the nonconference schedule will be so critical for the Big 12 this season.
The league went 5-8 against SEC, Big Ten and ACC opponents in 2024, and that — along with a Big 12 race full of parity and some damaging in-conference upsets — helped drive a negative perception of the overall strength of the Big 12 come CFP selection time.
Which other power conference schools will Big 12 teams face in 2025? Half of those contests will come against ACC teams, while four more are against Big Ten schools and three against SEC programs.
Here’s a look at every nonconference game that features a Big 12 team against a fellow power conference school this season:
Big 12 games vs. other power conference teams in 2025
Big 12 vs. ACC (7)
- Georgia Tech at Colorado — Aug. 29
- TCU at North Carolina — Sept. 1
- Baylor at SMU — Sept. 6
- Stanford at BYU — Sept. 6
- Pittsburgh at West Virginia — Sept. 13
- SMU at TCU — Sept. 20
- North Carolina at UCF — Sept. 20
Big 12 vs. Big Ten (4)
- Nebraska at Cincinnati (at Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City) — Aug. 28
- Utah at UCLA — Aug. 30
- Iowa at Iowa State — Sept. 6
- Oklahoma State at Oregon — Sept. 6
Big 12 vs. SEC (3)
- Auburn at Baylor — Aug. 29
- Kansas at Missouri — Sept. 6
- Arizona State at Mississippi State — Sept. 6
Baylor and TCU are the only two Big 12 teams who will face two other power conference opponents during nonconference play.
That’s thanks in part to their in-state matchups with SMU, which is now in the ACC.
The Bears will also play at Auburn opening weekend, while the Horned Frogs begin the year at North Carolina.
Ten other Big 12 programs will all face one other power conference team in nonleague play.
BYU, Colorado, Iowa State, West Virginia and UCF all will get a home game against their power conference opponent, while Cincinnati is playing a neutral-site game in Kansas City.
Arizona State, Utah, Kansas and Oklahoma State will all hit the road for their matchups against a power conference team.
There are four Big 12 teams — Arizona, Houston, Kansas State and Texas Tech — that won’t face either an SEC, Big Ten or ACC opponent in nonconference play, and conference realignment played its hand in that.
Arizona and Kansas State both face a Group of 6 team and an FCS opponent, then will face each other for a second straight season. It will again count as a nonconference matchup, due to a series that was scheduled before Arizona joined the Big 12 last year.
Houston and Texas Tech, meanwhile, will both play the Pac-12’s Oregon State, along with another Group of 6 matchup and an FCS opponent.
How the Big 12 fared against other power conferences in 2024
2024 regular season (5-8 overall)
ACC (2-3)
- TCU 34, Stanford 27
- BYU 18, SMU 15
- Pittsburgh 28, Cincinnati 27
- Pittsburgh 38, West Virginia 34
- SMU 66, TCU 42
Big Ten (1-3)
- Penn State 34, West Virginia 12
- Illinois 23, Kansas 17
- Iowa State 20, Iowa 19
- Nebraska 28, Colorado 10
SEC (2-2)
- Oklahoma 16, Houston 12
- Oklahoma State 39, Arkansas 31
- Arizona State 30, Mississippi State 23
- Florida 24, UCF 13
Bowl games (2-3 overall)
ACC (1-0)
- Iowa State 42, Miami 41
Big Ten (1-0)
- Kansas State 44, Rutgers 41
SEC (0-3)
- Arkansas 39, Texas Tech 26
- LSU 44, Baylor 31
- Texas 39, Arizona State 31
Note: BYU and Colorado played each other in the Alamo Bowl, due to a previous Pac-12/Big 12 tie-in with the bowl that enabled the two Big 12 teams to face each other.
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