The Big 12 discontinued its championship game beginning with the 2011 season after the number of conference members went from 12 to 10. Since then, the widespread belief has been that by not holding a conference championship game the Big 12 has subjected itself to odd-man-out status in the selection process to determine which teams ultimately make the cut to compete for the national championship.
In the first 15 seasons the Big 12 hosted a football championship game (1996-2010), Oklahoma was one of the two teams competing for the conference crown, and the Sooners took home the trophy seven times.