The 2024 Big 12 football season has been over for a couple of weeks, but the entire college football season is now officially over after Ohio State’s 34-23 win over Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game on Monday night.
The Buckeyes’ win gives the Big Ten its second consecutive national championship, making it the new “big dog” in college football. However, the titles of “most exciting” or “most entertaining” football conference arguably side with the Big 12.
Clark Williams, the Big 12 Vice President of Communications and Strategy, shared a list of Big 12 football datapoints that show just how special this league was in 2024.
In an email release from the league, the Big 12’s Matt Ensor spelled out some of the biggest things that happened in the Big 12 this past season:
- The Big 12 was home to the Heisman Trophy winner as Travis Hunter became the eighth player in Conference history to win college football’s most prestigious award.
- Big 12 champion Arizona State was the No. 4 seed in the College Football Playoff, earning a bye and a spot in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
- The Conference matched its record with nine teams selected for Bowl Season.
- Arizona State’s Peach Bowl match-up drew a TV audience of 17.3 million making it the second most-viewed bowl game outside of the semifinals and beyond.
- The All-Big 12 Valero Alamo Bowl saw BYU and Colorado play in the most-watched game in the bowl’s history with 8 million viewers.
- The Alamo Bowl and the Pop-Tarts Bowl (6.8 million viewers) gave the Big 12 the two most-watched bowl games outside of the CFP.
- The sold-out Alamo Bowl (64,261) and the Kinder’s Texas Bowl (59,940) gave the Big 12 the two most-attended bowl games outside of the CFP.
- The Big 12 was home to three consensus All-Americans in Colorado’s Travis Hunter, Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan and West Virginia’s Wyatt Milum.
- Travis Hunter also won the Walter Camp Award (best player), Chuck Bednarik Award (best defensive player), the Fred Biletnikoff Award (top wide receiver), Paul Hornung Award (most versatile) while also being named the AP’s National Player of the Year.
- FOX Big Noon Kickoff visited Big 12 campuses a Conference record five times in 2024.
- Arizona State, Baylor, BYU and Colorado gave the Big 12 four teams who posted single-year improvements of five or more wins this season.
- The Big 12 led the nation in fourth-quarter lead changes and go-ahead scores in the final minute of conference games.
There are all kinds of arguments about how the conferences stack up against one another, but there’s really no arguing that, on a game-to-game basis, there’s not a more entertaining league in college football than the Big 12.
