One of the major focuses of Commissioner Brett Yormark when it comes to integrating the four new teams in Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State in time for the 2024 season is what the football schedules will look like.
One thing that is clear is the fact that the league will continue forward with a nine game schedule however after that it's up in the air as to how things will proceed.
The league could simply look at no divisions as it did this past season and attempt to set up the schedule with geographic and traditional considerations in mind. That would allow the top two teams to play each other in the Big 12 title game.
You could essentially set up three permanent opponents and then rotate the rest of the league in order for teams to meet each other over a period of time.
That could be the easiest method to preserve competitive balance but travel concerns will need to be considered in a league that now stretches into 10-different states and 4 time zones. That way you could rotate the schedule and allow teams to play each other over a period of time and make it feel like an actual conference.
The Big 12 could look at splitting the league down the middle with two-eight team divisions but how do you draw that line? It doesn't seem that this will be the pick but there are still options on the table to consider.
A Western branch with the four new schools in Utah, Arizona, Arizona State and Colorado along with BYU, Texas Tech, Houston, Baylor could serve on one side while the Eastern would could be West Virginia, Cincinnati, Oklahoma State, TCU, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State and Central Florida could be another.
The league also could look at splitting into North and South configurations, but that too could present some challenges when it comes to ensuring teams would have exposure in both Texas and Florida which will be critical for recruiting purposes.
"Just in a vacuum I would love to see as much travel eliminated for our student athletes as we can," athletic director Wren Baker said.
Of course, four pods of four is another possibility and there is some geographic alignment there with Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and BYU; Colorado, Kansas State, Kansas and Iowa State; Texas Tech, TCU, Baylor and Houston and finally West Virginia, Cincinnati, Oklahoma State and Central Florida. Of course some of those could be swapped with Oklahoma State and Houston flipping places for example.
That option is perhaps the least appealing on the surface for West Virginia from a competitive angle although it does keep the program in the Eastern time zone for the most part with one exception.
The Big 12 is expected to look at a four-year cycle for football schedules regardless of the format within the matrix although that could be varied. That variation will come from what the postseason opportunities could look like.
The league also will need to be wary of how the 12-team College Football Playoff selection and seeding process will operate when it comes to at-large bids.
"Those at larges are going to be determined by CFP rankings so when you just lock into divisions you can hurt yourself. In other word's one division's champion playing another division's champion in the championship game may not be your two best teams," Baker said. "And so that could knock somebody out of a playoff spot which is big for that institution but it's big for the league in terms of revenue."
That means considering how the structure is formatted for football could look significantly different than what the rest of the schedules will look like for other sports.
Of course, how this looks in others sports given how spread out the league is could be drastically different but there are going to be a lot of options on the table and it won't be long before it's schedule release time for next year. Coming to a conclusion is going to be critical with how the league charts a path moving forward as a 16-team conference.
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