Big 12 Expansion Means Personal Reunion with Utah’s Favorite School

When Oklahoma and Texas announced this summer they were bolting for the SEC, I expected the Big 12 Conference to fold like an accordion. Not so: The conference revealed last week it has invited four new members, bringing its number of member institutions back up to a logical 12.

BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and Central Florida will all be joining the Big 12 within the next several years, though an exact timeline has yet to be ironed out. I don’t know much about UCF and Cincinnati, though they’re excellent Group of Five programs that should compete at the top of the league. I did attend a sparsely attended Houston baseball game one time. And I won’t soon forget their shocking upset victory over my Sooners to begin the 2016 season.

But the new Big 12 school I’m most familiar with is definitely BYU, or Brigham Young University, courtesy of my time in the Beehive State. So for anyone interested in this quirky religious school, here’s what to expect:

BYU, as you may know, is affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or the Mormon Church (though they’ve moved away from the “Mormon” moniker in recent years). It’s located in scenic Provo, Utah, about an hour south of Salt Lake City, and is named for Brigham Young, the second Mormon prophet and the one who actually led the Saints into Utah.

The Cougars do not play on Sundays. That’s not going to be a problem for football, but might present some logistical challenges in sports like baseball and softball.

The Big 12 is happy to work around those challenges because, more than any other invitee, the Cougars bring a rabid fanbase with them to the conference. Heck, they might have the biggest fanbase in the Big 12 as soon as they join. That’s because there are Mormons across the country who, regardless of geography or local favorites, still count BYU as their team. Some fanbases travel well to road games, but BYU fans often don’t have to travel far at all.

So expect a lot of them at Boone Pickens Stadium when the two teams match up in Stillwater.

The religion angle is one thing, but another reason the Cougars have such a big fanbase? The team is pretty good! Just this spring, BYU quarterback Zach Wilson went No. 2 overall to the New York Jets. The Cougars went 11-1 last season, albeit against a watered-down schedule, and are looking strong again this year. Just Saturday, they defeated archrival Utah for the first time in years.

Historically, BYU has been even better. They were the consensus 1984 national champions and have produced NFL standouts like Ty Detmer, Jim McMahon and, most notably, Steve Young. Former BYU head coach Lavell Edwards, after whom their stadium is named, is a College Football Hall of Famer and a legend of the coaching ranks.

I’m happy that Oklahoma State and the other Big 12 holdouts have recruited four strong institutions to keep the conference alive and well. But make no mistake: These newcomers are not pushovers, especially BYU.

I didn’t expect to be seeing BYU again so soon. Little did I realize that, when I moved to Big 12 country from Utah, the Cougars would be right behind me.