If the Big 12 had their new tiebreaker in place last season, Baylor would have been the lone conference champion and may have earned a College Football Playoff (CFP) bid.
According to ESPN, athletic directors in the Big 12 agreed unanimously on a tiebreaker rule to avoid ever having co-football-champions ever again. In the event of a two-way tie, the team that won their head-to-head game is awarded the title.
The new policy also has scenarios set up for ties of three teams or more. If head-to-head games do not solve the tie, the team with the best record against the next-highest team in the standings will be awarded the title. Scoring differential would determine the tiebreaker if that does not work.
"It ranged from strength of non-conference schedule to victories over highest CFP-ranked team to other nuances," Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby told ESPN. "Generally speaking, the one we adopted is the one we think is most clear-cut and most understandable."
ESPN's Max Olson obtained a copy of the document detailing the various scenarios, as well as other tiebreakers that were considered and ultimately thrown aside. Among those was strength of non-conference schedule.
Olson also reported the Big 12 will keep its "One True Champion" slogan after being criticized for naming Baylor and TCU co-champions last season.
From the conference's football coaches meeting, USA Today reported, Bowlsby praised the athletic directors' collective choice not to implement a title game. Kirby Hocutt, athletic director at Texas Tech and the Big 12's representative on the CFP committee, praised the decision to adopt the head-to-head solution.
"We live in a society where we expect a winner and a loser, and I think the majority of the population would say that's why you compete," he told ESPN. "The head-to-head winner should be crowned the champion. Going forward, that'll be the case."