Big XII back to even dozen with addition of 4 schools … The Big XII actually hasn’t had 12 teams for years and the conference’s very existence, at least as a Power-5 entity, was very much in doubt after the league’s two power programs – Texas and Oklahoma – announced earlier this summer that they would be moving to the SEC. However, the Big XII may have saved itself as the conference announced earlier today that it was adding four new teams including Houston, BYU, Cincinnati and Central Florida. And while none of the four has the gravitas of an Oklahoma or Texas, they are each solid programs that give the conference a presence in important geographic areas. It also should be enough to keep the Big XII in the Power-5 axis. Nothing is going to change any time soon, though. Both Texas and Oklahoma, for example, say they intend to stay with the conference until their current contract expires in 2025, although there is always the possibility that one or more likely both pay the rather hefty exit penalty and leave early. At the same time, BYU which is currently an independent, could move to the Big XII in 2023, while the other three are free to move without penalty in 2024. Houston, Cincinnati and UCF are currently members of the American Athletic Conference which now in turn may be looking for as many as 4 new schools as the AAC will be down to just 8 when all the shuffling is done. Stay tuned!
