Big 12 Football Kickoff: Fast Facts To Get Your 2012 Season Started

A full slate of games is scheduled for this Labor Day holiday weekend to kick off the 2012 Big 12 football season. Nine conference teams get their seasons under way this weekend, with TCU, one of the two new teams that has joined the conference, getting things started on Sept. 8 at newly renovated Amon G. Carter Stadium against Grambling State.

So to get your season off and running, here is a no-huddle assortment of factoids for the inquiring mind of the passionate fan who can't get enough college football in general and the game played in the Big 12 in particular:

• Six Big 12 teams will begin the 2012 season ranked in the top 25 in both the media poll (AP) and the coaches poll (USA Today): Oklahoma, West Virginia, Texas, TCU, Kansas State and Oklahoma State. Baylor also received votes in both national polls.
• In games played outside the conference, including postseason bowl matchups, the Big 12 led all conferences with the best winning percentage in the country (33-5, .868). The Big 12's 27-3 mark during the regular season last year was the best among all conferences since 1996, the year the Big 12 got started.
• Six Big 12 teams won 10 or more games last season.
• Since the conference was formed in 1996, more Heisman Trophy winners (5) have come from the Big 12 than any other league in college football. (Ricky Williams, Texas, 1998; Eric Crouch, Nebraska, 2001; Jason White, Oklahoma, 2003; Sam Bradford, Oklahoma, 2008; Robert Griffin III, Baylor, 2011)
• The Big 12 has had a Heisman Trophy candidate among the top-four vote-getters in 11 out of 16 seasons.
• The Big 12 has ranked among the top-eight teams nationally in scoring offense in every season since 1996, and has had a team in the top five in 11 of 16 years.
• Defensively, the big 12 has had a team finish in the top eight in the country in 12 of the 16 years the Big 12 has been in existence.

More news and information on Big 12 sports and all of the conference teams.