Getting to know U(niversities) Big 12 Expansion Candidates: Brigham Young University
By HawkeyedFrog@Hawkeyedfrog Jun 12, 2012, 7:30am CDT
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Could BYU slide into the Big 12 after all this time? (Photo by Sarah Glenn/Getty Images)
With the wheels of realignment kicking into gear once again the only conference that has been consistently linked with expansion is ours, the Big 12. What does this mean? Firstly it means that the Big 12 is seen as a solid enough to be desirable to other schools, despite being the victim of the last two realignment raids, which is all good news from the TCU standpoint. Secondly, it means that there are a lot of schools out there who may covet entry into the Big 12 conference- which is all well and good, but what do we really know about these schools and how attached they are to their conference, or which ones would be the best fit for the Big 12? Fortunately Frogs O' War is here to enlighten as we share some basic information and interesting facts about the universities rumored to be interested in Big 12 membership. Make the jump if you will and learn what there is to know about the seventh school to be investigated: Brigham Young University.
Tale of the Tape: Brigham Young Cougars
Stadium: LaVell Edwards Stadium
Championships: One National Championship (1984) Twenty Three Conference Championships (Nineteen WAC, Four Mountain West)
Conference History: Joined Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (1918-1937), Founding member of the Mountain States Conference in 1938-1961, founding member Western Athletic Conference after dissolution of Mountain States Conference in 1962-1998, founding member of the Mountain West Conference 1999-2010, left for independence in 2011.
Traditions: They don't play on Sundays in any sport, they have a huge Y written in stone on the mountain which overlooks the campus (apparently they were going to have the full BYU, but got lazy. Seriously.)
Rivals: Utah Utes and Utah State Aggies, with a significant degree of emphasis placed on the former. BYU and Utah hate each other enough to not take the "War" out of their "Holy War" rivalry name- The rest of college football could learn from those two. I'm looking at you, Texas and Oklahoma. Red River Rivalry indeed.
You may remember them from such TCU games as: A veritable smorgasbord compared to the scant series of the other teams featured. TCU leads the all time series 6-5, with wins in 1987, 2005 and 2008-2011 compared to losses in 1988, 1996, 1997, 2006 and 2007.
Are they interested in making the jump?: They're very interested, as they've been linked with the conference before on several occasions.
Insisting on bringing any rivals with them?: The Utes aren't coming, and loyalty to Utah State hasn't been on the BYU radar for a long time- considering the Mountain West was going to invite Utah State in in an effort to keep BYU from going independent. BYU is loyal to BYU.
Is the Big 12 their dream conference?: Yes it most certainly is. There may be some BYU fans who pine for the Pac 12, but there seem to be many more who are insulted that the gates to the west have been so firmly barred against them due to their religious leanings. Know which major conference has multiple religious schools? The Big East you say? I said major conferences, SMU fan. The Big 12 is the correct answer, with both TCU and Baylor having religious histories. The fact that BYU could keep their Tier 3 rights and show the games on BYU TV is incredibly appealing to them as well.
Any factors we should count against them?: They don't play any sports on Sundays which can really throw a wrench into the works for scheduling purposes, they're pretty far away and don't open any new fertile recruiting grounds (if you're a Mormon who can play football, you play football for BYU- very few exceptions to this rule exist).
March to Madness: 2023 NCAA Tournament Bracketology, January 27 With two massive wins, the Horned Frogs have leapt into conversation for a top-4 seed