In its full-throttle heyday, when the Big 12 Conference was brimming with spread offenses operating at warp speed, the league looked like it was playing touch football. Scoreboards exploded and defenses imploded. Not a single Big 12 defense held its conference opponents to 25 points per game or fewer in the 2011 season.
Last season, half of the conference hit that threshold in league games—the highest percentage since the Big 12 actually had 12 teams in 2010. Times have changed in terms of conference membership, but also in terms of defensive mentality and scheme. In the Big 12 and across the FBS landscape, the pendulum has swung back—a little—in favor of the defense.
