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What a Big 12 Conference With BYU Would Look Like

Looking at what the Big XII would look like if BYU was added for all sports.

By Matt Moon
Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

The BYU to the Big XII saga continues onward. A drama that has at different times injected hope, joy, fear, and anger into the hearts of BYU fans around the world.

This go around has been a bit different, however. As reported last week by Max Olsen and Andy Staples of The Athletic, the one school the Big XII is already seriously discussing is BYU.

This could end up being, as so many BYU fans have called it before, a nothingburger, just as it was in 2016 when the Big XII decided not to expand after vetting a number of interested suitors. However, all available evidence seems to point that this could finally be BYU’s moment to join a P5 conference, which has been athletic director Tom Holmoe’s main goal since BYU went independent in 2011.

So what would the Big XII conference look with BYU included? Let’s take a look.

For the sake of the hypothetical, let’s assume BYU is added, as well as Cincinnati, UCF, and Boise State (I know their academics and other sports are subpar, but football brings money, and money trumps all).

For football, the divisions could look like this:

West:

  1. BYU
  2. Boise State
  3. TCU
  4. Texas Tech
  5. Baylor
  6. Kansas State

East:

  1. Oklahoma State
  2. Kansas
  3. Cincinnati
  4. UCF
  5. West Virginia
  6. Iowa State

In my mind, this breaks up the strength of the conference pretty evenly. In the west division we would have BYU, Boise and TCU, while leaving the other half of the beef in the east with Oklahoma State, Cincinnati and UCF. This would be a great football conference, while giving BYU a chance at a conference championship year in and year out, starting with year one.

It would also be an amazing basketball conference. With conference opponents such as blueblood Kansas and Baylor (the defending national champions) to replace a conference juggernaut in Gonzaga, along with Iowa State, Cincinnati, Kansas, and Texas Tech, each week would be full of awesome home games.

Just remember, if BYU gets a Big XII invitation, the one rule we all have to follow is we cannot put Big XII stickers on the back of our cars. Let us not stoop to that level.

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