The 2019 Big 12 Championship Game was a

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

game played on Saturday, December 7, 2019, at

AT&T Stadium AT&T Stadium is a retractable roof stadium in Arlington, Texas, United States. It serves as the home of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL), and was completed on May 27, 2009. It is also the home of the Cotton Bowl Classic ...

in Arlington. This was the 18th Big 12 Championship Game and determined the

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

champion of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

. The game featured the top-seeded,

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the college athletics in the United States , athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman, Oklahoma, Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to ...

and the second-seeded,

Baylor Bears The Baylor Bears are the athletic teams that represent Baylor University. The teams participate in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as one of only three private school members of the Big 12 Conference. Prior t ...

. Sponsored by soft drink brand

Dr Pepper Dr Pepper is a carbonated soft drink. Dr Pepper was created in the 1880s by the American pharmacist Charles Alderton in Waco, Texas, and was first nationally marketed in the United States in 1904. It is manufactured by Keurig Dr Pepper in t ...

, the game is officially known as the Dr Pepper Big 12 Championship Game.

Previous season

The 2018 Big 12 Championship Game featured top-seeded

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

against second-seeded

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. It was the first time the two rivals had played each other in the conference title game. Texas had won the regular season's Red River Showdown game 48–45. In the championship game, Oklahoma was victorious by a score of 39–27, winning their fourth consecutive and 12th overall Big 12 Conference championship.

Teams

The 2019 Championship Game was contested by Baylor and

. The teams had met 29 times previously, with Oklahoma leading the series 26–3. The Sooners came into the game having won five straight meetings, including the

regular-season meeting, which was played in

Waco Waco ( ) is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2024 population of 146,608, making i ...

and saw Oklahoma complete the largest comeback in school history by overcoming a 25-point deficit to win 34–31.

Baylor

The

, led by head coach

Matt Rhule Matthew Kenneth Rhule (born January 31, 1975) is an American college football coach and former linebacker. He is the head football coach for the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, a position he has held since 2023. He was also the head football c ...

, were making their first Big 12 Championship appearance. They were the first team to make their debut in the Big 12 Championship since

TCU TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Oklahoma

The

, led by Lincoln Riley, were making their eleventh Big 12 Championship appearance; they were 9–1, having won each of their past eight appearances in the conference title game, including both editions played since the Championship game was reinstated for the 2017 season.

Game summary

Statistics

Oklahoma received the opening kick-off, but both teams punted on their first offensive possessions. Oklahoma opened the scoring with a six-yard touchdown run by Kennedy Brooks on a 78-yard drive that featured a 71-yard pass from

Jalen Hurts Jalen Alexander Hurts (born August 7, 1998) is an American professional American football, football quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). Hurts began his college football career with the Alabama Crims ...

to CeeDee Lamb. After a Baylor fumble, Oklahoma scored again with a 44-yard field goal by Gabe Brkic. In the second quarter, Baylor got on the board with a 44-yard field goal by John Mayers. Baylor starting quarterback

Charlie Brewer Charlie Brewer (born November 26, 1998) is an American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven player ...

left the game with an injury after being sacked by Kenneth Murray. Late in the second quarter, Oklahoma's Jalen Hurts was intercepted by Jordan Williams and returned to the OU 23 yard line, after which Baylor tied the game with a 33-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Gerry Bohanon to Tyquan Thornton. Baylor took the lead in the final seconds of the half with a 28-yard field goal by Mayers to make the score 13–10. On Oklahoma's first offensive possession of the second half, the Sooners tied the game with a 24-yard field goal by Gabe Brkic. They then took the lead on the next drive with an 18-yard touchdown pass from Jalen Hurts to Nick Basquine. Early in the fourth quarter, Baylor backup quarterback Gerry Bohanon was also injured. The Sooners took a 10-point lead with another 24-yard field goal by Brkic. Baylor, led by third-string quarterback and true freshman Jacob Zeno, responded with an 81-yard touchdown pass from Zeno to Trestan Ebner. On the next drive, Zeno completed a 78-yard pass to Chris Platt, which set up a 27-yard field goal to tie the game with 3:25 remaining. Oklahoma was forced to punt, and Baylor was unable to score in the final minute, forcing overtime. In overtime, Oklahoma received the ball first and scored in three plays via a five-yard run by Rhamondre Stevenson. On Baylor's possession, Jacob Zeno was sacked by Nik Bonitto and Jalen Redmond on 3rd and 10, and they failed to convert on 4th and 20, ending the game. Oklahoma wide receiver CeeDee Lamb had eight receptions for 173 yards and was named game MVP.

Aftermath

Oklahoma, who had been ranked sixth heading into the game, moved up to fourth in the final

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual single-elimination tournament, knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, D ...

rankings, earning them a spot in the CFP semifinal to be played at the

Peach Bowl The Peach Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played annually in Atlanta, Georgia, since December 30, 1968. The first three Peach Bowls were played at Bobby Dodd Stadium, Grant Field on the Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia Tech c ...

. Facilitating the rise in the rankings was No. 4

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

's loss to

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

in the

SEC Championship Game The SEC Championship Game is an annual American football game that has determined the Southeastern Conference's season champion since 1992. For its first 32 seasons, the championship game pitted the Eastern Division regular season champion again ...

and No. 5

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

's loss to

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

in the

Pac-12 Championship Game The Pac-12 Football Championship Game was an annual college football game held by the Pac-12 Conference to determine the season's conference champion. The game from the 2011–2021 seasons had the champion of the North Division against the cham ...

. Baylor remained ranked seventh and received a bid to the

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed only ...

against Georgia. Oklahoma lost to LSU in the Peach Bowl, 63–28; and Baylor lost to Georgia, 26–14.

References

{{Oklahoma Sooners football navbox Big 12 Championship Game Big 12 Championship Game Baylor Bears football games Oklahoma Sooners football games American football competitions in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex Big 12 Championship Game Big 12 Championship Game Sports competitions in Arlington, Texas