Tag: Big 12 Conference

Heartland Sports: Texas, Oklahoma improved Big 12 by leaving

Heartland Sports asserts that because Oklahoma and Texas are leaving, the conference got better.

The Big 12 has solidified its spot in major college football. While that much is fair to say, some who cover the league are taking fanciful liberties.

For example, Bryan Clinton of Heartland Sports insinuates Texas and Oklahoma saved the conference by leaving the Big 12. That’s a stretch. Clinton’s thoughts on the two blue blood programs add perspective to why Heartland Sports is one of the lone holdouts to predicting Texas to win the conference.

Give the Big 12 its due credit. It has ensured its viability moving forward. Even so, let’s be clear about where the conference stands. College football’s third superconference now has three national championships from its 16 teams: Colorado (1990), TCU (1938) and BYU (1984). That’s an underwhelming set of accomplishments for the league.

The conference loses Oklahoma’s seven national titles along with Texas’ four national titles. Frankly, it falls well short of the Big Ten and SEC when it comes to winning games.

There will not be a TV network for only one program in the new Big 12, and the members will be treated like equals. Perhaps the problem is that they are equals.

Most of the remaining members still bring little prestige and value on their own. Together they form a collection of teams that bring little excitement to national audiences.

Is the Big 12 better without Oklahoma and Texas? Perhaps it all depends on your perspective. Its relevance in games that Colorado doesn’t play will be worth watching moving forward.

Arizona State quickly makes itself public enemy No. 1 for other Big 12 schools

Shockingly insensitive remarks from Arizona State AD Ray Anderson have already infuriated #WestVirginia fans. #HailWV #Big12

Big 12 schools and fan bases are quickly learning about their new members. They are quickly learning why Arizona State has not been particularly successful in football in recent years.

Big 12 fans are getting to know what Phoenix residents have known for a long time: Arizona State athletic director Ray Anderson is not the sharpest tool in the shed.

Anderson, for absolutely zero good reason, said over the weekend: “I promise I’m not going to Morgantown,” a reference to ASU road trips to West Virginia, one of the longer commutes the Sun Devils and their athletic teams will have to make within the Big 12 Conference. This follows remarks made by ASU President Michael Crow about being very disappointed the Sun Devils couldn’t stay in the Pac-12 and that the Pac-12 couldn’t be preserved. Crow was a steadfast defender of Larry Scott and was deeply invested in saving the Pac-12.

Arizona State doesn’t like being in the Big 12, but Anderson’s shockingly insensitive comments have already transformed the Sun Devils from “unhappy neighbor” to “vocal troublemaker and bomb-thrower.” West Virginia fans are irate. Other Big 12 fan bases are raising their eyebrows and wondering why these guys were ever invited into the conference.

Here’s a sample of the very emotional reactions which greeted Ray Anderson’s incredibly dumb public comments:

Winners and losers from the latest conference realignment cycle

We broke down the biggest winners and losers from the latest round of conference realignment

Despite fall camp being underway around the country, conference realignment has dominated the headlines over the past several days. As teams prepare for the 2023 college football, the landscape of college athletics has been tremendously reshaped.

The Pac-12 as we know it is seemingly gone forever thanks to the conference’s inability to secure a lucrative TV deal.

Colorado was the first to jump ship and return to the Big 12, but it did not take long for other schools in the Pac-12 to follow suit and make their exits. Since the Buffs’ departure, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah have all agreed to join other conferences after this year,

Now that the dust has settled, at least for now, let’s take a look at some of the winners and losers from this cycle of conference realignment.

It is beyond obvious: Arizona State hates being in the Big 12

We don’t need to pretend, but Arizona State’s president and AD have to. They were dragged kicking and screaming into the #Big12.

We mentioned in late July that if the Arizona schools left, the Pac-12 was toast.

We wrote that “If the Arizona schools leave and the Pac-12 cannot continue as a conference with at least 10 members and a somewhat robust football and basketball identity, that certainly feels like the beginning of the end.

“Oregon and Washington wanted to stay in a 12-team conference that was competitive and would fetch an appreciably large price point for media rights. It wasn’t the dream scenario for the Ducks and Huskies — not when USC and UCLA left for the Big Ten — but it would have been good enough.

“If the Arizona schools leave, Oregon and Washington are not going to stick around in an eight-team conference consisting of the Pacific Northwest schools, Stanford, Cal, Utah and San Diego State.”

Over the past weekend, following the official announcement that Arizona State was joining Arizona and Utah in moving to the Big 12, Arizona State President Michael Crow and athletic director Ray Anderson made statements that very transparently indicated how sad they are about the Pac-12’s demise and how unenthusiastic they are about the Big 12.

Let’s present the two statements — first by Anderson, then by Crow — and Big 12 fan reactions to these headline-generating remarks:

Ranking the Big 12’s uniforms from worst to first

Besides Colorado, which Big 12 team has the best uniforms?

It has been less than a week since we ranked each Big 12 football stadium and yet three more teams have already been added (come 2024) to the conference since then. This is the state of college football in 2023 during the era of realignment.

Now, we’re going to be taking a look at the fashion game of the Big 12. Colorado is in an interesting position in that a majority of these teams have been conference rivals in the past either in the Big 12 or Pac-12, but a new crop of uniforms is just waiting to be dissected.

Not including Colorado, which we all know would lead this list, here’s my ranking of the Big 12’s uniforms:

Social media reacts to the Big 12 adding Arizona, Arizona State and Utah

The Big 12 got even bigger on Friday.

The Pac-12 conference took a hit on Friday. The Big 12 continued to poach from the storied conference. The league kicked off the poaching not long ago by adding former Big 12 member Colorado. It continued by adding Arizona, Arizona State and Utah.

The move sends shock waves through the college football world and dramatically alters the landscape of the sport. Without getting into what the exodus means for the remaining Pac-12 teams, it’s a huge win for the Big 12 and for its new members.

Starting with Utah, it brings the team closer to the middle of the country and expands its reach. More than that, it provides the team its rivalry with bitter in-state rival, BYU.

As for Arizona and Arizona State, the move gives both teams a fresh start. The last decade has been for the most part forgettable on the gridiron for both squads. In addition, all three of the league’s newest members will have the opportunity to play in the fertile recruiting ground of Texas. Certainly, the top recruits in the state will continue to go to Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and other big name programs. Albeit, there are more than enough players in the state for secondary contenders to win.

Here’s a look at how social media views the massive moves from Friday.

Twitter reaction to Utah joining Big 12 as the Pac-12 turns out the lights

Utah joins BYU in the same conference over a decade after the two schools coexisted in the Mountain West. #SPICY

“Turn out the lights. The party’s over. They say that all good things must end. Call it a night. The party’s over. And tomorrow starts the same old thing again.”

If you’re old enough to recognize those lyrics, chances are you heard them on Monday Night Football, when Don Meredith pronounced a game as being done and dusted on ABC television.

The Pac-12 is turning out the lights. The party is over. The Conference of Champions is effectively done. The conference is down to four schools: Stanford, Cal, Oregon State and Washington State, after five schools jumped ship on an historic Friday. Utah followed Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, and Washington out the door. While Oregon and Washington moved to the Big Ten, Utah joined Arizona and ASU in going to the Big 12 to form a 16-school conference. The Utes, Wildcats and Sun Devils quickly reunited with Colorado days after the Buffaloes began this domino effect.

Social media reaction was explosive, as you could well imagine. Emotions ran high. Here is a sampling of what went down on a landmark day in college sports:

Twitter reaction to Arizona State joining Big 12 as Pac-12 evaporates

ASU President Michael Crow didn’t want to leave the Pac-12, but in the end, he had no choice. Reactions poured in on a historic day.

It happened. Arizona State left the Pac-12 and moved to the Big 12 on a remarkable, memorable Friday that shook college sports to its core.

ASU President Michael Crow did not want to leave the Pac-12. Remember: He was one of the most ardent defenders and advocates of Larry Scott.

Moreover, ASU enrollment has been fueled in part by Californians. The state of Arizona’s population has grown in recent years because of an exodus from California. The demographics of the state of Arizona are changing. They seemed to nail down ASU to the Pac-12, but, of course, the incompetence of George Kliavkoff and the Pac-12 CEO Group (of which Crow has been a central part) created a stampede out the door.

That stampede began with Colorado in late July. The University of Arizona began to lose trust in Kliavkoff while realizing — as did Oregon and Washington — that the money for a TV deal simply wouldn’t be there with only nine schools left.

Now there are only four left.

See how Twitter reacted when Arizona State moved to the Big 12:

Twitter reaction to Arizona joining Big 12 as Pac-12 shrinks to four schools

As of Friday evening, the #Pac12 is a sad little four-pack. What an extraordinary turn of events in college sports.

In late July, we told you that if the Arizona schools left the Pac-12, that was the ballgame. It’s true that Oregon and Washington left the Pac-12 on Friday, but they left because they could see the conference was crumbling, in part because Arizona was almost out the door and Arizona State wasn’t far behind.

Now it’s official: Arizona is moving to the Big 12. The Pac-12 has four schools left: Stanford, Cal, Oregon State and Washington State.

We noted that the “Arizona schools need to have a presence in Texas, not just California, for recruiting. Arizona State football, under former coach Todd Graham a decade ago, made it a point to recruit the state of Texas. The Arizona schools would not be out of place in the Texas-anchored Big 12 (which has several schools in the state). USC in the Big Ten is a weird geographical reality, but the Arizona schools in the Big 12 would feel relatively natural by comparison.”

Now they’re in the Big 12.

X, formerly known as Twitter, was the place to be when these extraordinary events became official on a Friday we will remember for a long time.

Here we go: