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Big 12 will kick off 30th football season in Ireland, and has only 2 weeks when all 16 teams play

Arizona State players celebrate following the Big 12 Conference championship NCAA college football game against Iowa State, in Arlington, Texas, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Arizona State players celebrate following the Big 12 Conference championship NCAA college football game against Iowa State, in Arlington, Texas, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
 
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IRVING, Texas (AP) — The 30th season of Big 12 football will kick off with a conference game in Dublin, Ireland.

That season-opening game overseas between Kansas State and Iowa State on Aug. 23 had been announced previously, but the Big 12 released the rest of its conference football schedule on Tuesday. Each of the 16 teams will play nine conference games, leading up to the league’s championship game Dec. 6 in Arlington, Texas.

There are only two weekends when all 16 conference teams will be in action. Those are Labor Day weekend and then eight conference games will be played Thanksgiving weekend to end the regular season.

Defending Big 12 champion Arizona State is scheduled to open conference play Sept. 20 at Baylor. That is the same day Kansas is set to host open league play in its renovated stadium against West Virginia, where Rich Rodriguez is back for his second stint as the Mountaineers head coach. They were in the Big East when Rodriguez was coach from 2001-07.

Scott Frost is back at UCF for the second time, but the Knights were in the American Athletic Conference when he coached them in 2016 and 2017. His first Big 12 game is scheduled Sept. 27 at Kansas State.

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The Big 12’s television partners — ESPN, Fox and TNT Sports — haven’t yet made their selections for the first three weeks of the season. The league said some select Saturday games could be moved to Fridays or other special dates when those networks make their picks.

There will be 14 games that Big 12 teams will play against teams from other Power Four conferences, including Baylor hosting Auburn on Labor Day weekend. Nebraska plays Cincinnati in Kansas City on Thursday, Aug. 28, and TCU is at North Carolina for coach Bill Belichick’s debut with the Tar Heels on Sept. 1.

Big 12 teams Arizona and Kansas State will play the weekend of Sept. 13, a game that won’t count in the conference standings. That game fulfills scheduling agreements made before Arizona was part of the league’s expansion to 16 teams before last season.

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football