The Big 12 plans to expand to at least 12 schools in the next few years. Here are the 17 schools that the Big 12 has in consideration for a bid to join.
The Big 12 doesn’t want to be the odd man out in the College Football Playoff annually in the Power 5 and will plan to expand to 12-14 teams in the next few years. According to ESPN’s Brett McMurphy, the Big 12 has narrowed its search for prospective new members to 17 Group of Five schools.
Many of the schools linked to the possible Big 12 expansion come as no surprise. A few of the front-runners to nab one of two to four expansion bids include the BYU Cougars, the Cincinnati Bearcats and the Houston Cougars. These are the three programs most likely to vie for the projected to available spots.
Houston makes sense to get another major city into the Big 12. From the looks of it, all four Texas schools (Texas Longhorns, Texas Tech Red Raiders, TCU Horned Frogs, Baylor Bears) have all been for Houston getting one of the two bids.
Cincinnati and BYU will presumably vie for the other bid, assuming Houston is a shoe-in. BYU has great gridiron success, but the LDS university in Provo, Utah has been subjected to a smear campaign from members of the LGBT community for the university’s stance on homosexuality. Cincinnati gains the Big 12 the vast Ohio region and a new football rival for recently added and relatively nearby West Virginia Mountaineers.
Some of the other schools listed by McMurphy have been in the mix for a while including the Boise State Broncos, the Connecticut Huskies, the Colorado State Rams, and the Memphis Tigers. Geographically, Memphis and Colorado State make the most since but Boise State has been the best Group of Five football power for well over a decade and Connecticut is a historic basketball juggernaut.
A few of the schools come as a surprise and some are just plain weird. Do the Arkansas State Red Wolves or the Temple Owls have a real shot? How about the East Carolina Pirates, the Tulane Green Wave, or the UCF Knights?
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The Big 12 will get as many teams as it wants, but the Power 5 conference needs to make sure that it lands programs that are truly ready to compete in the upper crust of FBS football. Houston is ready and both BYU and Cincinnati make a ton of sense. If they want a 14th team, then add Boise State for safe measure.