The Big 12 revealed its new football scheduling model for the 2024 through 2027 seasons Wednesday, offering a first look at how it will operate as a 16-team conference starting next year.
The scheduling model adds incoming members Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah after the four Pac-12 schools agreed to join the Big 12 earlier this year. Next season will also be the conference’s first without Oklahoma and Texas after they depart for the SEC in July. Here are the highlights of the scheduling plan:
- The Big 12 will not have divisions or pod scheduling. Each team will continue to play nine regular-season conference games.
- Every Big 12 team will play each other at least once home and away over the four-year schedule.
- There are four protected rivalries that will play every year in the new model: Arizona versus Arizona State, Baylor versus TCU, BYU versus Utah and Kansas versus Kansas State. By only having four protected matchups, Big 12 teams will complete the full 15-team cycle in a shorter period of time.
- The scheduling model was developed to prioritize geography, historic matchups and rivalries and competitive balance and was set up to balance annual travel by distance and time zone.
The full 2024 Big 12 schedule with dates and locations will be released at a later time.
A closer look at #Big12FB in 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣4️⃣ pic.twitter.com/q5AD8mYM0B
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) November 1, 2023
Coach Prime joins the Big 12
Colorado, a Big 12 member from 1996-2010, is rejoining its former conference in 2024 for Year 2 under coach Deion Sanders. He’s been a strong advocate for making the move from the Pac-12 to the Big 12 since taking over and opened his debut season with the Buffaloes with a 45-42 road win at TCU.
GO DEEPER
Big 12 votes to accept Colorado as member
In Colorado’s first season back, the Buffaloes will host five home games against Baylor, Cincinnati, Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Utah in 2024. The road games they drew in the new schedule will be Arizona, Kansas, Texas Tech and UCF.
One key reason for Sanders’ interest in Big 12 membership was boosting his recruiting opportunities with blue-chip prospects in Texas and Florida, so he should be pleased to get road games in both states next season.
Required reading
(Photo: Andy Cross / MediaNews Group / The Denver Post via Getty Images)
