It is widely expected that the Big 12 football schedule for 2023 — BYU’s first year in the conference — will be released sometime very soon, but in the mean time, some details have emerged regarding what it and the 2024 schedule will look like.
On Thursday, Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger reported that the conference is “finalizing a format” that will have three notable features as the league temporarily grows from 10 to 14 teams in 2023 when BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF join, before going to 12 when Texas and Oklahoma leave for the SEC.
- The league for the next two seasons will have no divisions (CBS’ Dennis Dodd reported back in May that things were trending that way).
- Rivalries will be “protected.”
- Texas and Oklahoma are included in the model for the next two seasons, meaning the expectation is that they won’t leave for the SEC until 2025.
Dellenger reported that conference executives met in Dallas earlier this week to, at least in part, work on the schedule (BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe said in September that such would be happening).
More details from Dellenger include:
- Teams will play nine league games, and the top two teams will advance to the conference championship game.
- Each team will play all others at least once over the course of the two years.
- Dellenger referred to a report from The Associated Press’ Ralph D. Russo from earlier this week that the conference has had “meaningful” discussions with ESPN and Fox on a new media rights deal.