The Big 12 expansion groundswell

[YOhio]

If this means we revert back to CougarUteForum.com I'm gonna be pretty pissed off.

[Pelado]

If this means we revert back to CougarUteForum.com I'm gonna be pretty pissed off.

Reversion is perversion.

[Uncle Ted]

Texas is full of pussies! See Uncle Ted.......

This fellow son of the 208 would agree. Lots of pussies here from California and other blue states. Most of them in Austin.

8 team divisions.

The western 5 could get KSU (EMAW) or KU (Rock Chalk) and Texas Tech (Guns Up) or perhaps they will send the Jayhawk State east and put the western 5 with OSU (Guns Up-aaaah) and Tech and TCU(sweaty man boobs fellow priesthood holder) from Texas.

In any case I still see games in Texas every other year at a minimum and with 2 cross divisional matchups it would be more often than that.

I could see the western division being:

- the western five
- Tech (for the AZ schools; Arizona and Tech have a lot of game history)
- TCU (a MWC reunion with Utah and BYU)
- Baylor or OSU

Don’t see KSU and/or KU because they are not going to split them up. Baylor could want to play TCU every year (and add BYU for the ‘Holy Trinity’).

The big 12 championship game will stay at Jerry World.

[Jeff Lebowski]

BYU fans' misery at Utah's seamless transition is funny. JL: "Utah faces extinction." Haha.

Two good things. Utah is in the best basketball conference in the country. And Basketball is the best sport. The Big 12 looks a lot better in every way with the Four Corner schools.

BYU fans hard wired to believe what they want to believe.

Hey bro. Is this you?

You are groveling in ant shit. And believing what you want to believe, as is your wont.

Looks like the Big 12 deal's present value is $30 million a year per team, at most. Six year term. Assuming worst case scenario for the Pac 12, what's the delta between what it will get and the Big 12? 10%? 20%? It doesnt' matter. But probably not near that. Like AJ says, the present is just stop gap, everything is fluid. The Pac 12 teams are not thinking about a million or two more this year or next. That's nothing. They're interested in the benefit to their brands of being associated with west coast elites or (as far as the west coast elites are concerned, with one another), they are posturing for further consolidation (as to which Big 12 membership would provide no advantage), and they are factoring in the expanded tournament and the best way to access it.

If things are as dire for the Pac 12 as the desperate Big 12 loyalists propagandize (Conzano has a column today that says it's more disinformation), it should really be obvious that no Pac 12 team would be interested in the Big 12 even if our country were hit by an atom bomb and the B1 and SEC were vaporaized. I know it hurts to not be wanted, but face the facts. Jeez. It should be plain as the nose on your face that whatever is the best deal the Pac can make, its teams are simply not interested in joining S-Town, er, I mean the Big 12.

[Jeff Lebowski]

OK, I am over it.

TO ALL OF OUR UTE FAN POSTERS:

Congrats on getting the lifeline and welcome to the B12. While I really wanted Utah to wander in the wilderness for a while like BYU did, that was a reflection of my hope for Utah athletics as an institution, and is not a reflection of my feelings for you guys or my other ute friends. Now that we are in the same conference again, hopefully you engage with us even more going forward.

While Utah has enjoyed a huge institutional advantage over BYU since joining the P12, we are now on a level playing field. I expect it might take a while for BYU football to fully level up in terms of recruits, etc. but it is going to be fun. I also expect BYU to already be even or superior to Utah in most other sports and to be way ahead in terms of fan support. Maybe someday Utah can lose those dumb curtains at the Huntsman. Haha.

And bring wally back. I miss that guy.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

This fellow son of the 208 would agree. Lots of pussies here from California and other blue states. Most of them in Austin.



I could see the western division being:

- the western five
- Tech (for the AZ schools; Arizona and Tech have a lot of game history)
- TCU (a MWC reunion with Utah and BYU)
- Baylor or OSU

Don’t see KSU and/or KU because they are not going to split them up. Baylor could want to play TCU every year (and add BYU for the ‘Holy Trinity’).

The big 12 championship game will stay at Jerry World.

They need to guarantee at least two games vs Texas teams every year for all of the non Texas teams. That's either two 8 team divisions, or 4 divisions and a 3-2-2 format with all four Texas teams in one division. The problem with four team format is who gets added to Cincy, WV and UCF? Iowa State, one of the original Big 8 schools?

Realistically it will be five four corner schools, Tech, Oklahoma State and TCU. That's what makes the most sense geographically and it also splits up Dallas and Houston, the two most talent rich areas, between the two divisions.

[Omaha 680]

Embedded Tweet

[Eddie]

I’m good with the Utes in the BIG12 - overall the good outweighs the bad, as far as athletics is concerned.

But many of the fans and media homers are still pretty insufferable.

Truck stop conference? Here’s a challenge, Utes, why don’t you try going the first 5 seasons without using a semi truck to haul your football gear from game to game. Maybe the fans can carpool it for you.

Yesterday Spence Checketts was asking his guests if it was a good or bad day for Utah. Without reservation, most were quick to say “bad”. I’m OK with mourning the demise of the PAC12. The sentimental parts of me will miss it. But if it’s such a bad day to make the move, feel free to not. Maybe after a year or 5, moving to the BIG12 will be a good day for you.

Finally - Spence said he believes the reason BYU fans don’t want Utah in the BIG12 is because “Utah has been kicking in BYU’s head for more than a decade, and now BYU has to keep taking it”.

Dear Spence - it isn’t BYU fans who have said they’ve moved on and have better things to do than play this game. It isn’t BYU who has actually canceled games. Of all the reasons I’ve heard from BYU fans, wanting to avoid Utah or fear of losing to Utah has not been brought up even once.

Wanting them to suffer due to their arrogance? Sure. Wanting them to know how it feels to be left out? Sure. Wanting them to pay for sabotaging plans to put other sports in the WAC when going to independence? Sure. Even anger about school officials reporting players to the honor code office has come up. But never fear of losing.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Spence Checketts is a giant dork. Ignore him.

[Moliere]

I’d prefer Utah football not be in the Big12 so it can either into oblivion. However, this at least reminds the Utes of their place in the football world. Their program is equal to BYU. Not better. Not worse. They are also equal t Baylor, Texas Tech, Okie state, and Kansas State. It’s a good fit for Utah.

[MartyFunkhouser]

One thing to keep in mind in all this, the Ute fans that said the Big12 was the floor weren't arrogant, they were right. Just saying.

Also, maybe the floor and ceiling were the same.

[MartyFunkhouser]

Just out of curiosity, what in conference rivalries are a better sell than the Holy War.

Michigan/Ohio State for sure.

The only other ones you can argue are better is aTm/Texas and OU/Texas.

[PaloAltoCougar]

BYU fans' misery at Utah's seamless transition is funny. JL: "Utah faces extinction." Haha.

Two good things. Utah is in the best basketball conference in the country. And Basketball is the best sport. The Big 12 looks a lot better in every way with the Four Corner schools.
BYU fans hard wired to believe what they want to believe.

Setting aside the somewhat exaggerated penultimate sentence, if one went back prior to BYU's move to the B12 one could replace "BYU" with "Utah", and "Utah" with "BYU" in this post and be no less correct. It's a kind of sports talk chiasmus, as one would expect from BoM scholar SU.

[Eddie]

One thing to keep in mind in all this, the Ute fans that said the Big12 was the floor weren't arrogant, they were right. Just saying.

Also, maybe the floor and ceiling were the same.

But that isn’t what they were saying. They were saying the BIG12 was beneath them. Utah was too good to consider the BIG12 conference.

Well guess what, turns out the BIG12 is better than the PAC after all. Media partners showed each what their value was. And the BIG12 was valued well above the PAC. Clearly even Utah’s admin agreed - as did the admin of Colorado, AZ, and ASU.

It’s funny you mention the value of the rivalry game, since Utah’s AD and fans have been doing their best to downplay and undervalue it for the last 12 years. I appreciate your honesty.

[UtahJazzFan88]

OK, I am over it.

TO ALL OF OUR UTE FAN POSTERS:

Congrats on getting the lifeline and welcome to the B12. While I really wanted Utah to wander in the wilderness for a while like BYU did, that was a reflection of my hope for Utah athletics as an institution, and is not a reflection of my feelings for you guys or my other ute friends. Now that we are in the same conference again, hopefully you engage with us even more going forward.

While Utah has enjoyed a huge institutional advantage over BYU since joining the P12, we are now on a level playing field. I expect it might take a while for BYU football to fully level up in terms of recruits, etc. but it is going to be fun. I also expect BYU to already be even or superior to Utah in most other sports and to be way ahead in terms of fan support. Maybe someday Utah can lose those dumb curtains at the Huntsman. Haha.

And bring wally back. I miss that guy.

I’m looking forward to the rivalry myself. BYU should be good in basketball IMO as a Utah fan. Craig Smith has a lot of work to do.

Hopefully these Utah/BYU football games will be on ABC or Fox.