Big 12 fans aren’t happy with ESPN for sharing a misleading graphic about OU, Texas
Trivia question: Which five football teams have won or shared a Big 12 championship over the past 11 seasons?
Answer: Oklahoma has hauled in the most trophies during that time (eight), followed by Baylor (two) and then K-State, Oklahoma State and TCU (one a piece).
That may seem like an easy question. After all, just about any fan who passionately follows the league can answer it after a few moments of thought. The last time any other team won a Big 12 championship in football was 2009, when Texas reached the national championship game in the final truly great year of the Mack Brown era.
But you wouldn’t know that based on the Big 12 championship graphic that ESPN shared on its morning show “Get Up” on Thursday. According to the program, the Longhorns and Sooners have combined to win each of the past 11 conference titles.
The graphic, which is titled “Most Big 12 Conference Championships” is misleading for several reasons. For starters, it doesn’t state what sport it’s referring to. Then it lists Oklahoma as having won 11 league (football) titles when it has actually won 14. It also lists Nebraska as the only team that has won a pair of conference championships, when Baylor and K-State have also accomplished that feat. Furthermore, it makes Oklahoma and Texas appear much more dominant than they have been in the Big 12 before they switch conferences to the SEC.
Big 12 fans aren’t happy about it and shared their disgust over the graphic on social media throughout the day ... for good reason.
The graphic was posted one day after the Big 12 sent a cease-and-desist letter to ESPN and commissioner Bob Bowlsby accused the network of conspiring with other conferences to raid its remaining teams.
Posting a graphic like this, which omits the football accomplishments of four Big 12 teams and only shines a light on teams that are exiting the conference will add fuel to that fire.
Then again, the numbers can be explained.
Here’s how: It appears that ESPN made the mistake of only counting conference championships in years when the Big 12 held a football championship game, as OU and UT have combined to win the past 11 title games. The graphic omits the time between 2011 and 2016 when the Big 12 crowned its champion based entirely on the regular season.
Perhaps it was a simple mistake on the network’s part. But some will have a difficult time believing that based on its timing.
This story was originally published July 29, 2021 at 1:56 PM with the headline "Big 12 fans aren’t happy with ESPN for sharing a misleading graphic about OU, Texas."