The 2022 Big 12 Championship Game was a college football game played on December 3, 2022, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It was the 21st edition of the Big 12 Championship Game, and determined the champion of the Big 12 Conference for the 2022 season. The game began at 11:00 a.m. CST on ABC. The game featured the TCU Horned Frogs and the Kansas State Wildcats. Sponsored by soft drink company Keurig Dr Pepper through its flagship Dr Pepper brand, the game was officially known as the Dr Pepper Big 12 Championship Game.
Teams The two teams met in the regular season on October 22, with TCU winning 38–28. This was the seventeenth meeting between the two teams, with the all time series tied at 8–8 heading into the game.
TCU
The Horned Frogs clinched a spot in the game following their defeat of Texas on November 12. The Horned Frogs entered the championship game with a perfect 12–0 record and a conference record of 9–0. This was TCU's second appearance in the championship game, having lost 17–41 to Oklahoma in the 2017 game.
Kansas State
The Wildcats clinched a spot in the game following their victory against in-state rivals Kansas on November 26. The Wildcats entered the championship game with a record of 9–3 and a conference record of 7–2. Kansas State's losses were against Tulane, TCU, and Texas. This was Kansas State's fourth appearance in the championship game, appearing in the 1998, 2000, and 2003 games, losing in 1998 and 2000 and winning in 2003.
Game summary
Fighting for a spot in the College Football Playoff, TCU would score first with a 1-yard touchdown reception by Taye Barber.
Kansas State would respond with two touchdown drives to take a 14–7 lead in the middle of the 2nd quarter. By the end of the 1st half, TCU trimmed the Wildcats' lead to four with a 42-yard field goal.
Kansas State would take their first double-digit lead with an RJ Garcia 25-yard TD reception, only for TCU to respond with a touchdown of their own. Afterward, the frogs had a chance to reclaim the lead; they made it all the way to the 8-yard line, where Max Duggan's pass to Quentin Johnston was intercepted by Julius Brents in the end zone.
The interception would turn into a touchdown drive capped off by a 44-yard run by Deuce Vaughn, sending Kansas State's lead back to 11. TCU once again responded with another 42-yard goal. Kansas State would not score on their next drive, giving TCU one more chance.
At the 3:08 mark in the 4th quarter, TCU's apparent touchdown reception by Jordan Hudson was called back due to an offensive pass interference penalty. However, Max Duggan would make it up for it by running for a 1st down on 2nd & 20 that same drive. With less than 2 minutes to go, TCU tied the game with an 8-yard QB run and a successful pass to Jared Wiley. Kansas State reached midfield but could not go any further, so they punted, and TCU ran out the clock to go to overtime.
TCU won the coin toss and started on the right side of the field. On their 1st drive of OT, they made it to within one yard of scoring a TD on 3rd & goal, but Kendre Miller was stopped by the Kansas State defense. With 4th down at the one, TCU elected to go for it, giving the ball to Kendre Miller again, but was once again stopped by the Wildcats' defense, and TCU turned it over on downs.
Afterward, Ty Zentner clinched the Big 12 title for Kansas State with a 31-yard field goal.
Statistics Team statistics +Team statistical comparisonStatisticKansas StateTCUFirst downs 20 18First downs rushing 9 9First downs passing 11 7First downs penalty 0 2Third down efficiency 5 of 16 2 of 15Fourth down efficiency 2 of 3 3 of 4Total plays–net yards 76–404 73–469Rushing attempts–net yards 44–205 37–218Yards per rush 4.7 5.9Yards passing 199 251Pass completions–attempts 18–32 18–36Interceptions thrown 0 1Punt returns–total yards 2–14 2–7Kickoff returns–total yards 6–138 4–76Punts–total yardage 7–319 5–224Fumbles–lost 1–1 1–1Penalties–yards 4–40 4–45Time of possession 32:00 28:00 Individual statistics +Kansas State statisticsWildcats passing Will Howard 18–32 199 2 0Wildcats rushing Deuce Vaughn 26 130 1 5.0 Malik Knowles 2 48 0 24.0 DJ Giddens 6 29 0 4.8 Phillip Brooks 1 4 0 4.0 Will Howard 8 –3 1 –0.4 TEAM 1 –3 0 –3.0Wildcats receiving Phillip Brooks 6 48 0 8.0 Malik Knowles 1 40 0 40.0 Ben Sinnott 2 32 1 16.0 Deuce Vaughn 2 30 0 15.0 RJ Garcia II 2 27 1 13.5 Kade Warner 5 22 0 4.4 +Horned Frogs passing Max Duggan 18–36 251 1 1Horned Frogs rushing Max Duggan 15 110 1 7.3 Kendre Miller 17 82 1 4.8 Emari Demercado 4 27 0 6.8Horned Frogs receiving Quentin Johnston 4 139 0 34.8 Jared Wiley 4 28 0 7.0 Taye Barber 3 26 1 8.7 Derius Davis 2 25 0 12.5 Trent Battle 1 21 0 21.0 Savion Williams 1 6 0 6.0 Geor'quarius Spivey 1 5 0 5.0 Kendre Miller 2 1 0 0.5
See also List of Big 12 Conference football champions
References