Who gets to the Big 12 Championship

Going through 2020- 2024 seasons with cfbfastR

Gabriel Guerrero

Who Actually Gets to the Big 12 Championship?

Is it just a stellar offensive?
ball security?
Or just playing more good games?

Let’s find out using real Big 12 data.

What I’ll Show You!

  1. Where the data comes from

  2. How championship teams differ

  3. One stat that really stands out

  4. Why this matters

Data & Methods Used:

  • Package: cfbfastR (SportsDataverse)

  • Data source: CollegeFootballData.com API

  • Seasons: 2020–2024

  • Conference: Big 12

  • Outcome: What teams appeared in the Big 12 Championship game?

The Question

What separates Big 12 teams that reach the championship
from those that don’t?

Championship Teams vs Everyone Else

# A tibble: 2 × 7
  champ_game n_teams avg_ypp avg_total_yds avg_pass_yds avg_rush_yds
       <int>   <int>   <dbl>         <dbl>        <dbl>        <dbl>
1          0      36    5.90         4930.        2927.        2003.
2          1       8    6.31         5982.        3405.        2577.
# ℹ 1 more variable: avg_turnovers <dbl>
  • Championship teams average higher yards per play
  • They commit fewer turnovers
  • Raw yardage alone isn’t enough

Yards for each Play:

Offense and Turnover plays:

What This Tells Us

  • Efficiency > raw production
  • Ball security matters more than explosiveness
  • Data from cfbfastR lets us test sports myths with evidence

This is why the R ecosystem is powerful: sports questions with real data provide real answers.

Sources:

  • Link from R Universe: https://sportsdataverse.r-universe.dev/cfbfastR

  • College Football Data Website Link: https://collegefootballdata.com/key

  • Author: Saiem Gilani and Ross Drucker