The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma and Arkansas.
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 to joining the Big 12, Baylor was a member of the Southwest Conference from their charter creation in 1914 until its dissolution in 1996. Baylor is also a founding member of the Big 12 Conference.
The 1994 NCAA Division I-A football season, play of college football in the United States at the NCAA Division I-A level, began in August 1994 and ended on January 2, 1995. Nebraska, who finished the season undefeated, ended the year ranked No. 1 in both the Associated Press and Coaches polls. This was the first national championship of coach Tom Osborne's career at Nebraska, having come close the year before, when Nebraska lost to eventual national champion Florida State on a missed field goal as time expired.
The 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with the Florida Gators being crowned National Champions after defeating rival Florida State in the Sugar Bowl, which was the season's designated Bowl Alliance national championship game. Florida had faced Florida State earlier in the year, when they were ranked No. 1 and No. 2, and lost 24–21. However, unranked Texas's upset of No. 3 Nebraska in the first ever Big 12 Championship Game set up the rematch of in-state rivals in New Orleans. In the Sugar Bowl, Florida's Heisman Trophy-winning senior quarterback Danny Wuerffel and head coach Steve Spurrier led the Gators to a 52–20 victory and their first national championship.
The Baylor Bears football team represents Baylor University in Division I FBS college football. They are a member of the Big 12 Conference. After 64 seasons at the off-campus Baylor Stadium, renamed Floyd Casey Stadium in 1989, the Bears opened the new on-campus McLane Stadium for the 2014 season.
The Big 12 Championship Game is a college football game held by the Big 12 Conference between the best and the second-best Big 12 team. The game was played each year since the conference's formation in 1996 until 2010 and returned during the 2017 season. From 1996 to 2010, the championship game pitted the Big 12 North Division champion against the South Division champion in a game held after the regular season was completed. From 2017 onward, the game features the two teams with the best conference records.
Arthur Ray Briles is an American football coach who is currently the head coach for the Guelfi Firenze in the Italian Football League. Briles was the head coach of the Houston Cougars from 2002 to 2007 and the Baylor Bears from 2008 to 2015. His college coaching career ended with his dismissal from the team in 2015 as a result of the Baylor University sexual assault scandal. He is the author of Beating Goliath: My Story of Football and Faith (2014). He is the subject of a biography written by Nick Eatman titled Looking Up: My Journey from Tragedy to Triumph (2013).
The Houston Cougars football program is an NCAA Division I FBS football team that represents the University of Houston. The team is commonly referred to as "Houston" or "UH." The UH football program is a member of the Big 12 Conference. Since the 2014 season, the Cougars have played their home games on campus at TDECU Stadium, which was built on the site formerly occupied by Robertson Stadium, where they played home games from 1941 to 1950 and from 1994 to 2012. Over the history of the program, the Cougars have won eleven conference championships and have had several players elected to the College Football Hall of Fame, including a Heisman Trophy winner.
The TCU Horned Frogs football team represents Texas Christian University (TCU) in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The Horned Frogs play their home games in Amon G. Carter Stadium, which is located on the TCU campus in Fort Worth. TCU began playing football in 1896 and has been a member of the Big 12 Conference since 2012.
The 2007 Texas Bowl, part of the 2007–08 NCAA football bowl games season, was played on December 28, 2007 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas.
The 2008 Houston Cougars football team, also known as the Houston Cougars, Houston, or UH, represented the University of Houston in the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It was the 63rd year of season play for Houston. The team was coached by first-year head football coach, Kevin Sumlin whose previous position was as co-offensive coordinator for the Oklahoma Sooners. He replaced Art Briles. The team played its home games at Robertson Stadium, a 32,000-person capacity stadium on-campus in Houston. Competing against the Air Force Falcons in the 2008 Armed Forces Bowl, the Cougars won their first bowl game since 1980, and broke the longest current bowl game losing streak in Division I FBS football at that time. In addition, Houston defeated two nationally ranked opponents, which the Cougars hadn't achieved since their 1984 season.
The Big 12 Conference is a conference of 16 universities which participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision football. The conference formed in 1994 and begin conference play in the fall of 1996. The schools that compose the Big 12 Conference, except for Arizona, Arizona State, Brigham Young, Central Florida, Cincinnati, Utah, and West Virginia, were members of either the Big Eight Conference or the Southwest Conference, and have won 21 national titles including 3 titles since the inception of the Big 12 Conference.
The Nebraska–Oklahoma football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Nebraska Cornhuskers football team of the University of Nebraska and Oklahoma Sooners football team of the University of Oklahoma. The rivalry continued in the Big 12 Conference until 2010, though the rivalry was more prominent when both teams were members of the former Big Eight Conference before 1996. The annual series effectively ended when Oklahoma was lined up in the Southern division of the newly formed Big 12 to maintain its rivalry with Texas and also its recruiting hotbeds in Texas. As both teams won their respective divisions in 2010, they met in the 2010 Big 12 Championship Game. Following the 2010 season, Nebraska left the Big 12 for the Big Ten Conference. As a result, the 2009 meeting turned out to be the last regular-season scheduled meeting. Nebraska's departure left the future of the rivalry in doubt. The two teams agreed to play a home-and-home non-conference series scheduled for 2021 in Norman and 2022 in Lincoln. Additional games have also been scheduled for 2029 and 2030.
Matthew Kenneth Rhule 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 coach for Temple University from 2013 to 2016, Baylor University from 2017 to 2019, and the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). Rhule played linebacker at Penn State from 1994 to 1997.
The 2016 Big 12 Conference football season will represent the 21st season of Big 12 Conference football, taking place during the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The season will begin with non-conference play on Friday, September 2, 2016, with Kansas State traveling to face Stanford. Big 12 Conference play will begin on Saturday, September 17, 2016, with Iowa State traveling to play TCU.
