Maybe it’s par for the course, but no conference title race has the potential to be as chaotic as the Big 12 Championship Game race during the 2024 college football season. Hell, it’s already been wild. For much of the season, it looked like the BYU Cougars and Iowa State Cyclones, who both started undefeated, might run away with it.

As we’ve progressed, both the Colorado Buffaloes and Arizona State Sun Devils have joined the conversation, especially with BYU and Iowa State stumbling. And that led us to Week 13, with even more potential chaos on the horizon.

After their first loss of the season in Week 12 against Kansas, BYU then had to head to Tempe to take on the red-hot Sun Devils. But adding to that drama was that Colorado then had to face that same Jayhawks team on the road at Arrowhead Stadium after Kansas knocked off Iowa State and BYU in consecutive weeks.

So what could happen in the Big 12 Championship race with BYU and Colorado losses? Let’s unpack the buzzy conference championship photo.

The worst-case scenario for BYU would be a loss to Arizona State and then a Colorado win over Kansas. That would make the Buffaloes the only one-loss team in the Big 12 entering the final week of the regular season, while the Sun Devils would then own the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Cougars.

Then, a BYU loss in Week 13 would require Colorado to lose at home to Oklahoma State or Arizona State to lose on the road to rival Arizona — and BYU to win in Provo against Houston — in the final week of the regular season to make the Big 12. Championship match.

If Colorado were to fall to Kansas and BYU were to win on the road at Arizona State, things actually wouldn’t be that bad for the Buffaloes. It would still leave Deion Sanders’ team in possession of second place in the Big 12 standings with a tiebreaker over Iowa State based on their record against regular opponents.

The only precarious position the Buffs would find themselves in, however, would be the final week of the regular season. Even if Colorado were to win in the season finale against Oklahoma State, if BYU were to follow that up by losing to Houston in their own season finale and Iowa State was to win Farmageddon against Kansas State, the Buffs would remain out of the Big 12 Championship Game. in favor of the Cyclones. However, if BYU were to win the finals, Colorado would be safely in the title game.

Things could get very exciting for both BYU and Colorado if they both lose in Week 13. Going into the final week of the regular season, Arizona State and Iowa State would actually be at the top of the Big 12 standings. And if the projected favorites won in Week 14, including BYU, Colorado and Iowa State, the standings would remain as they are with ASU vs. ISU for the title and a CFP berth.

Meanwhile, if Iowa State were to lose Famageddon to Kansas State next week, BYU would find itself in a rematch in the Big 12 Championship Game against Arizona State. For Colorado, the Buffaloes would need to lose to both Iowa State and BYU to be the ones to face the Sun Devils.

If Arizona State were to lose in Week 14, Colorado would need either Iowa State or BYU to still lose to make the title game.