What’s going on in the Big 12 and beyond? I expand and explain every Sunday in Postscripts at Heartland College Sports, your home for independent Big 12 coverage.
This week, everyone got a taste of the “new Big 12” on Friday, the Pac-12 has chosen a path, two women’s hoops programs claimed huge recruiting wins and Chris Klieman has a modest scheduling proposal.
A TASTE OF THE “NEW BIG 12”
A national audience got its first taste of the new Big 12 on Friday night, though it was in the oddest of ways.
The non-conference showdown between Arizona and Kansas State was not just Wildcat-on-Wildcat crime, it was the first opportunity for the conference to show itself off to the nation in its new 16-team configuration.
While the result of the game was not as competitive as I was expecting, the atmosphere at Bill Snyder Family Stadium was, as always, top-notch. The fans there know how to support their team and they know it’s just a taste of what’s coming.
K-State heads to BYU for a true “Big 12 After Dark” game next week, followed by their Big 12 home opener against Oklahoma State, the latter of which is a game that I’ll be covering in person at the end of the month.
Meanwhile, Arizona fans got their first taste of a Big 12 atmosphere. Based on reports from the Tucson Star’s Justin Spears, who was at the game, it sounds like Arizona’s fans enjoyed being in Manhattan, even if the result wasn’t ideal.
The Big 12 is trying to stake out a claim as a national conference. As part of that, the league opted to have a standalone conference opener on Saturday night as UCF traveled to TCU. The league hopes to take those good vibes from Manhattan down to Fort Worth before the full conference slate gets underway next week.
Meanwhile, I was in Pittsburgh for the “Backyard Brawl, as West Virginia took on Pitt for what will likely be the last time for a while. It’s a shame. It was a gorgeous day, the two schools sold out Acrisure Stadium, the home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the atmosphere was second-to-none.
In spite of all of the discombobulation of the past few years (and more to come, see below), college football is still an elite experience in person. Get to a game. Perhaps more to the point, get to a Big 12 game. Things are just starting to heat up.
THE PAC-12 RISES UP
Remember last week when I wrote in this space that Oregon State, Washington State and the Mountain West Conference could not come to an agreement on the scheduling alliance for 2025. Remember I told you to file that away?
Well, check your files.
Earlier in the week the Pac-12, which for now is just OSU and WSU, announced that they were inviting Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State to the conference for the 2026-27 season. Those schools have already accepted.
This will be a costly move for all parties, but especially the Pac-12. Remember that scheduling agreement? It contained some poison pills that were designed to keep the Pac-12 from doing to the Mountain West what happened to them last year. No matter. The Pac-12 must pay $110 million in buyout fees and $43 million in poaching fees to take in the four schools.
At least you can’t say the Pac-12 didn’t, finally, learn its lesson.
What will be interesting is what the Pac-12 does next. In order for it to remain a conference in 2026 the league must have at least eight members. For now, the Pac-12 is operating under a two-year grace period. This is standard practice by the NCAA. Leagues have fallen below that line before and almost always bounce back.
Finding two more members shouldn’t be an issue. Just don’t expect them to be Cal and Stanford. They signed the grant of rights for the ACC just like everyone else and unless that league completely collapses in the next several months they’ll stay where they are.
I think it’s more likely that the Pac-12 looks to the state of Texas for new membership, with UTSA the most likely candidate because it’s in a high population area with a large media market and it would give the Pac-12 access to a new recruiting ground.
I think Tulane is a strong possibility too. New Orleans is a Top 50 media market and the Green Wave has a wealthy alumni base that will likely accelerate the entire athletic department’s move to a better conference.
Memphis, a popular name when it comes to Big 12 expansion, is probably on the list as well.
I think the larger question is how many members the Pac-12 will actually invite? The league only needs two more. But how many does it need for television?
That’s a big question. The Pac-12’s only TV deal for football is a one-year deal for their home games with Fox and The CW. The league will need a long-term deal and one that brings in more money per year to make it worth it for these schools to move. That shouldn’t be too hard to accomplish, but what moves the needle for a school like Tulane or UTSA?
But give it up to Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould and the leadership at OSU and WSU. They’re going to fight. You love to see it. You just hate to see it after the league’s inept leadership and avarice for more TV money nearly killed it.
BIG DEAL RECRUITS
You can always tell when a big recruit is coming in. Or at least I can.
When it’s the Kansas State women I get a Twitter alert of coach Jeff Mittie celebrating with his team in the locker room. When it’s the Oklahoma State women is a GIF of coach Jacie Hoyt pumping her fist after a big play.
Both programs had a big day on Friday.
Kansas State is preparing to lose a lot of players after this season. So grabbing a five-star player — the first of Mittie era — was a huge deal. On Friday, Jordan Speiser committed to the Wildcats.
She’s considered a Top 20 recruit and chose Kansas State over UConn, Iowa and North Carolina. That’s a recruiting win on every level.
Oklahoma State didn’t outdo it, but Hoyt and her crew had to be happy with the commitment of Lena Girardi.
Girardi — the daughter of former Major League Baseball player and manager Joe Girardi — didn’t do the typical social media card. She surprised Hoyt in person.
Girardi is the No. 79 recruit in the country according to ESPNW.
The earliest either of these recruits can sign is during the early period in November.
SCHEDULE MORE? SCHEDULE LESS?
Earlier this week Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman was asked about the conference schedule. He advocated for an even number of league games, either eight or 10. He didn’t seem to care one way or the other. I think he just wanted to move off the odd number of games.
I think it’s an interesting question and something that conference can probably explore further down the line. I could see how 10 games would solve a lot of problems in terms of ensuring that your league plays a maximum number of power conference teams. It would balance the league schedule a little bit more. It would also allow the league to bring on more protected rivalry games such as West Virginia and Cincinnati.
I’m also intrigued by eight games, simply because it gives you four non-conference games and a little bit more freedom in scheduling. If you play all four before league play, then it gives you time to work out player rotations and lineups like a pseudo-preseason. If you’re playing conference games before you’ve played at least three non-conference games, you’re doing it wrong.
The fight for years has been to get the power conferences to align on this. The Big 12 and the Big Ten play nine. The ACC and the SEC play eight. I suppose, at the end of day, I don’t care if its’ eight, nine or 10. I think it just needs to be balanced. That would make it fair.
And, perhaps, that’s a deeper cut into Klieman’s point.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
