The Big 12 didn’t bring home a national championship in football in 2024-25, but the league was woefully successful nonetheless after ending the year with three 11-win teams and four teams in the final AP Top 25.
Once again, the Big 12 proved to its detractors that the league fits right in with the so-called “big dog” of college football. Arizona State took Texas to the absolute brink in an unforgettable double-overtime thriller in the Peach Bowl.
Perhaps even more important for the league’s image was how well it performed in the non-CFP games, particularly in regard to television ratings. Talking heads might try and convince you that the Big 12 is a “lesser-than” conference, but the TV ratings would suggest otherwise.
According to Big 12 football data collected by the league, the Alamo Bowl (8.0 million viewers) and the Pop-Tarts Bowl (6.8 million viewers) were the two most-watched bowl games outside of the CFP.
The All-Big 12 Alamo Bowl between BYU and Colorado was the most-watched game in the bowl’s history, with 8 million viewers tuning in to watch the Cougars dismantle Colorado for their 11th victory of the season.
Meanwhile, the Pop-Tarts Bowl saw Rocco Becht and the Iowa State Cyclones pull off a signature come-from-behind victory in the final minute of action against Miami (FL), 42-41.
Additionally, the Alamo Bowl (64,261) and Kinder’s Texas Bowl (59,940)—between LSU and Baylor— were the two most-attended bowl games outside of the College Football Playoff.
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.
