Potential Realignment Partners In The Big 12

Ever since the 61-58 and Co-Champions debacle that happened in the 2014 season between Baylor and TCU, it has had a ton of people speculating about whether realignment would happen further down the line. There were further talks during the offseason of the 2017 season, but nothing ever came of it.

It may be a while until there is another meeting discussing expansion as It seems like it is more likely that the conference would disband and teams would go to other big conferences rather than adding 2 or more teams.

But hypothetically speaking, what if the Big 12 did make changes and added some teams? What teams would fit the criteria and what teams geographically make sense in this scenario?

Big 12 Team’s records since 2012

Considering the transformation that both schools had to go through, TCU and West Virginia both have some really solid records considering the jump they had to make.

Other schools have underwhelmed like Texas Tech and Texas who are near .500 over the past 6 seasons. Other teams like Kansas State, Oklahoma State, and Baylor have had years where they are near the top of the conference.

Even if you take out some team’s one bad year, it makes their record so much better than before. TCU’s record would be 54-25 without their 2013 season. Baylor would be 53-24 without their 2017 season that Bears fans would love to forget. And for the Mountaineers, if they take out their 2013 season, WV would be a much more respected 47-32.

Now that the success is shown, Geographically, what teams make sense and what divisions they would be in.

A New Big 12:

BYU Cougars- BYU does have some positive and negatives that they could bring to the table in the Big 12. For one, they have a rather impressive record in football as they are a consistent 7,8,9 win team playing in the independent currently. They will draw more views during games and have one of the biggest fanbases in all of College Football.

This isn’t an issue during football season, but the part of the Mormon has it to where BYU doesn’t have any sporting events on Sundays, which could effect the Big 12.

BYU is a very well known school and can draw a bigger audience and expand toward the North Western part of the country. They expanded North East with West Virginia, they could do it the other direction.

Cincinnati Bearcats- There are a couple of other teams that could fill this void like a USF, UCF, Louisville, Memphis, and (more notably), Louisville. But Cincinnati is a consistent program that has played near the top of the AAC ever since joining the conference.

Cincinnati is a team that will be able to compete in the conference and after a couple years of adjusting to the conference, they could be a very respectable program that could change their program’s history.

Louisville is closer to one of the schools in West Virginia and may be successful over the past. But Cincinnati brings in a bigger market, good talent, and a fanbase that is similar to Louisville or Memphis, but has a better combo of market size and good fanbase.

The Big 12 has become one of the lesser conferences as it’s been Oklahoma and then a revolving door for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place. Adding 2 more games and a 12 team conference could be what the conference needs.

And BYU and Cincinnati should bring good competition and make the conference legitimate again and have a really good 2nd or 3rd place team to challenge Oklahoma for the top spot. Texas has the potential to do that, but until the product is on the field, it will be a question mark as to who and when that will happen.

Image Credit: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2018/12/02/bowl-projections-alabama-clemson-notre-dame-oklahoma-college-football-playoff/2171930002/