Texas and Oklahoma departures will open doors for BYU in 2024
The best thing Texas ever did for BYU was deciding to leave the Big 12. The next best thing will be when they do it.
In the Cougars’ first half-year of competition, the Longhorns have been a pain in their steer. Texas defeated BYU for the Big 12 women’s soccer title. They also swept the Cougars and won their second straight women’s volleyball national title.
In addition, the No. 7 Longhorns, with former BYU quarterback Steve Sarkisian as head coach, throttled the Cougars in football 35-6 on their way to the conference championship and the College Football Playoff.
The only area where Texas took a backseat to BYU was in men’s and women’s cross-country, where the Cougars outperformed the Longhorns at both the conference and national levels.
There will be more tangles with Texas in the coming weeks and months as BYU’s men’s and women’s basketball, softball, track and field, baseball and golf begin their inaugural Big 12 competitions.
Strangely, the schedule makers, in the only year BYU and Texas will share the same conference, decided to ship the Cougars to Austin in football (lost), volleyball (won), soccer (won), women’s basketball (March 2), softball (March 14-16) and baseball (April 4-6). Only men’s basketball has a home game against the lofty Longhorns (Jan. 27).
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Oklahoma didn’t enjoy the same scheduling perks, but BYU did travel to Norman for soccer (won) and volleyball (won) and will go there for men’s basketball (Feb. 6), and softball (April 11-13).
The Sooners pose a significant challenge in softball where they have won three consecutive national championships and will bring a 53-game winning streak into the new season. Oklahoma is also the two-time defending Big 12 champions in men’s golf.
As they did with football, the Sooners will send their women’s basketball team to Provo (Jan. 3) and their baseball squad to Miller Park (April 18-20).
For the fall sports, which have already tasted life in the Big 12, the absence of the two superpowers in 2024 opens the door for the Cougars to seize or retain league dominance in soccer, volleyball, and cross-country, although the Oklahoma State men’s distance runners may have something to say about that.
The football landscape changes greatly, too. Even with the additions of Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado to the Big 12, the loss of Texas and Oklahoma opens the door for BYU and everybody else to fill the void.
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There is no shortage of high-level talent in all sports throughout the Big 12. Men’s basketball is arguably the toughest conference in America, but this 16-team league was created for football. That’s where the money is and that’s where the fans are.
Remember, it was Texas and Oklahoma that started the wave of conference realignment, which led to the expansions of the SEC, Big 12 and Big Ten and to the contraction of the Pac-12. None of the movements were based on anything but football.
The war drums will begin pounding again in mid-January when the Big 12’s fall schedule is expected to be released. For the first time, Texas and Oklahoma won’t be on it, but Utah will be and that might be the second-best thing about their departure.
The new year will bring BYU and Utah together in every sport but men’s volleyball when the Utes join the Big 12 on July 1, 2024. If it took a relocation of two of the most storied programs in college athletics, Texas and Oklahoma, to restore one of its greatest rivalries, the Cougars and Utes — so be it.
Without question, BYU owes so much to the Longhorns and Sooners for deciding to skip town, but they will enjoy 2024 a lot more once they actually leave.
Dave McCann is a contributor to the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.
