Holy War Prioritized in new BIG 12 Future Matchups

'Utes vs Cougars' Photo Credit: the_robio via Flickr

The BIG 12 unveiled their future matchups for the 'new look' conference from 2024-2027. After the PAC 12 crumbled earlier this year we saw Utah, Arizona, Arizona State, and Colorado find their future homes with the BIG 12. With the reveal of the future matchups, the BIG 12 said they prioritized geography, historic matchups, and rivalries while keeping a competitive balance throughout the conference. Any matchups that were or will be played in this 2023 season will not be repeated at the same location in 2024.

The Holy War, Territorial Cup (Arizona and Arizona State), Sunflower Showdown (Kansas and Kansas State), and the Revivalry (the unofficial name for the Baylor and TCU matchup), are all protected rivalries in the conference and will be played in all four years that were announced. BYU has scheduled SMU to replace the non-conference matchup that BYU and Utah had scheduled next year since this will now be a conference matchup. Utah and Baylor's matchup next year will still be considered a non-conference matchup and Utah hasn't announced a replacement for their BYU game.

"It's exciting to see more clearly what our future schedule in the Big 12 will look like," BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe said. "The conference has done a nice job of preserving historic matchups and rivalries along with a component of competitive balance. I can't wait to welcome all Big 12 opponents into LaVell Edwards Stadium and show the strength of Cougar Nation, at home and on the road."

The game next season was originally scheduled to be at Rice Eccles and it seems the BIG 12 has honored that and kept the game in Salt Lake City for the conference matchup. I was really hoping the BIG 12 would switch it to Provo just to stick it to the Utah fans who have been ungrateful to the BIG 12 for saving them and giving them a home and thinking that they won't be in the conference for long before the BIG 10 comes calling.

Over this four-year cycle, each team will play each other at least twice, once at home and once on the road. The BIG 12 has not yet announced any dates or order to the games and has said that will come at a later date so hold off on buying plane tickets just yet. Here is a breakdown of BYU's games for 2024 including the non-conference games that are already set.

Home: Southern Illinois (Aug. 31)

Arizona

Houston

Oklahoma State

Kansas Kansas State

Away:

Wyoming (Sept. 14)

SMU

Arizona State

Baylor

UCF

Utah

I'm excited for the dates to get announced hopefully soon so I can start to pick out away games to attend. The goal is to eventually attend a game at each BIG 12 location, much to the chagrin of my wife.

Go Cougs!