Meet the Big 12's Four Newcomers
On August 2nd, the Big 12 officially expanded (again), adding Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah.
All four schools come from the Pac-12 and all will now be members of the Big 12 going forward.
Arizona
A newcomer to the Big 12 and a newcomer to the Mountaineers will be Arizona.
These two teams have never faced off against each other in football, but have met five times in men's basketball.
Arizona was part of the Western Athletic Conference until 1977 when it joined the Pac-12, competing in the Pac-10 and Pac-12 from 1978-2023.
The Wildcats claim five football conference championships, with three of them coming after 1964 and none since 1993. Former Mountaineer head coach Rich Rodriguez went 43-35 at Arizona in a stretch spanning from 2012-2017.
Arizona State is the primary rival of the Wildcats.
Arizona State
Arizona State is the second school from The Grand Canyon State who is entering the Big 12.
The Sun Devils and Mountaineers have played twice in football, most recently at the end of the 2015 season in the Cactus Bowl. WVU won 43-42, with David Sills snagging a 15-yard touchdown from Skyler Howard to win the game for the Mountaineers.
Like Arizona, ASU was in the Western Athletic Conference through 1977. They then went to the Pac-12, a place they stayed until this year.
ASU claims three Pac-10 titles in 1986, 1996, and 2007. They made the conference championship game in 2013, falling to Stanford.
Arizona is the main rival of Arizona State.
Colorado
The Buffaloes were in the Big 12 from 1996-2010, being one of the Big 12's founding members.
In football, the Mountaineers have played Colorado twice, splitting both games. The first came in 2008 in Boulder, with WVU falling 17-14 in overtime. Next season in 2009, Colorado made the return trip to Morgantown, where the Mountaineers came out on top, 35-24.
Currently, Colorado is led by head coach Deion Sanders. Known as 'Coach Prime' Sanders will be entering year two as Colorado's head coach in 2024.
All-time, Colorado has 26 conference championships in football including a Big 12 title in 2001. Colorado was in the Big Eight Conference prior to the Big 12, and main rivals include Colorado State and Nebraska.
Utah
Utah is the second school in the state to join the Big 12 as BYU is a member who joined last summer.
The Utes are perfect against WVU in both football and men's basketball as they are 2-0 in football and 6-0 in men's basketball. The last meeting in men's basketball came in 1998.
In football, the most recent meeting is in 2017, when WVU lost in the Heart of Dallas Bowl.
Utah has a somewhat different path to the Big 12 than the other three schools joining. Prior to joining the Pac-12, they were in the Mountain West from 1999-2010. Then, they joined the Pac-12 where they had lots of success.
In 2021 and 2022 Utah was Pac-12 Champions, and they won the Pac-12 South four times. Utah made the Rose Bowl in 2021 and 2022, falling to Ohio State, 48-45, and Penn State, 35-21.
Utah has two primary in-state rivals in BYU and Utah State.
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