Here’s what needs to happen for Kansas State to reach Big 12 football championship
The Kansas State football team will have something meaningful to play for in its final game of the regular season next weekend at Iowa State.
A trip to the Big 12 championship could be on the line.
K-State stayed alive in the race for a Big 12 title by defeating Cincinnati 41-15 on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
Even though the Wildcats (8-3, 6-3 Big 12) are trailing four teams in the conference standings and currently reside in a five-way tie for fifth with Baylor, TCU, Texas Tech and West Virginia, they are only one game back of first place.
Arizona State, BYU, Colorado and Iowa State are tied atop the league with identical 7-2 conference records.
Arizona State and Iowa State are the only teams that can clinch a trip to Arlington, Texas, for the Big 12 championship game with one more victory. But seven other teams can get there with a win and the right amount of help.
That means there could be a lot of chaos on the final weekend of conference play.
Let’s examine what K-State needs to earn a berth.
Step 1: Win at Iowa State. This is non-negotiable. A loss will eliminate the Wildcats.
Step 2: Hope for upsets. The Wildcats will need at least two of the other first-place teams to suffer a loss.
Colorado hosts Oklahoma State on Friday. A day later, Arizona State heads to Arizona and BYU hosts Houston. K-State fans will be rooting hard for three teams that sit at or near the bottom of the conference standings.
Step 3: Cross your fingers and wish for tiebreaker luck.
There is some good news for K-State here. The Wildcats are well positioned to win tiebreakers with other Big 12 teams because they played one of the toughest schedules in the entire conference. If K-State ends up tied with a logjam of teams at 6-3 in the final standings it may win based on schedule strength.
Its head-to-head losses against Arizona State and BYU would not hurt if more than two teams are involved in the tie.
Here’s the thing: K-State would lose certain tiebreaker scenarios against Baylor, which also has three conference losses. So it’s not quite so simple as Step 1 and Step 2.
Strange as it may sound, a tiebreaker between K-State and Baylor could be determined by what happens in two other games, TCU at Cincinnati and West Virginia at Texas Tech. Those outcomes will decide whether the Bears or Wildcats end up with a stronger schedule. K-State beat Cincinnati and West Virginia. Baylor beat TCU and Texas Tech. That’s how close the chaotic Big 12 standings are right now.
In other words, K-State fans might also want to root for rival Kansas to beat Baylor, so the Wildcats would win just about any tiebreaker
If K-State finishes in a tie for first or second, many championship scenarios exist. The Wildcats could end up playing Arizona State, BYU, Colorado, Baylor, Texas Tech or West Virginia in the Big 12 title game.
Buckle up. Anything can happen over the next week.
This story was originally published November 24, 2024 at 6:30 AM.