Big XII, two ranked teams. Neither of which will be there next year. Meh.

[UTE98]

I’ve not been excited about the move, and with each passing week, it gets less exciting. I’ve tried to get to games in SLC, or Colorado when possible. Not sure I’m excited to go to SLC to see Kansas, WVU, UCF, Texas Tech, or Oklahoma State.

I’ve gone to away games at Michigan, NC, Notre Dame, and Louisville. Not sure I’m excited to go to Big XII destinations.

I’ll probably still hit the Colorado game in Boulder, and maybe a game every couple years in Utah. But no plans to travel to away Big XII sites.

And right now, Utah is the only ranked team making the move to the Big XII. Meh!

[The Miami Ute]

Totally understand where you’re coming from. One of the fun things about the PAC is that its universities were located in interesting places and made for cool away trips. I mean LA, the Bay Area, Seattle, Oregon in general, etc…there really isn’t one place like that in the entire Big XII. LOL, we’ve traded LA for Waco.

[RedRocks]

It is unfortunate that the Pac12 imploded. However, joining the Big12 is definitely better than ending up in the MWC version of the Pac12.

Hopefully the Pac12 dissolves, Washington State / Oregon State end up in the Big12, and the Pac12 reconstitutes itself in a few years after everyone regrets moving to other conferences.

Hey, one can wish…

[Roy Rangum]

Redrocks: I have the same wish (short of getting into the Big10)

[The Miami Ute]

I’d prefer the PAC reconstitute itself rather than joining the B1G. The travel issues that are going to affect the West Coast B1G teams would affect Utah as well. And is anyone really going to get excited to play Rutgers or Maryland or Illinois, etc…?

[GameForAnyFuss]

Truck stop conference.

[The Miami Ute]

LOL….boy, the legacy members absolutely hate that moniker.

[GameForAnyFuss]

Sounds harsh, but it’s true.

– Most of the member schools are located in mid-size, semi-rural cities with low economic development that reside on major interstate corridors.
– Most of the member schools have low to mid-level academics.

Truck stop conference in every sense of the word.

[fosternano]

Agreed, the Big 12 is better than a G5. Buts it’s tough to get excited about playing teams like Kansas, Iowa state, Houston etc. vs playing usc, ucla, Washington, Oregon.

It’s a shame that the pac12 leadership sucked it up so bad, especially with the Utah USC rivalry taking off.

[UofU Fanatic]

I am oddly excited about big12. I like the culture of the teams. They love their football and attending games etc. I look forward to playing Kansas (since they have finally been playing decent but at same time it is nice to have cellar dwellers to help the top teams), Kstate been great, OSU mixed, TCU, and Baylor. I don’t know enough about cyclones other than coach campbell has helped them grow. I don’t know WV but I hear they are great football fans and been overachiever this yr from their projections. Cincinnati, Houston, UCF I don’t know except that Cincinnati been a great G5 team and ucf has had excellent recruiting classes and have a lot of potential.

I look forward to continuing games against AZ, ASU, and Colorado.

I seem to be 1 of the few Utah fans who is really excited to bring back conference rivalry game against BYU (hopefully the last game).

This yr the rest of the big12 conference lacking but it is just an off yr. Pac has had awful amount of CFP participants too. We just happen to be stacked this yr. Last yr TCU made it to the championship.

Bonus, it is the best basketball conference.

I’ve gone through different stages… grief, anger, jealousy…. now I am actually getting excited for this conference change.

[2008 National Champ]

It’s hard to get excited about what amounts to a lateral transfer. Roughly the same money Utah is currently getting with no more prestige in the competition level, at least in football. Resuming the series with the parochial school and all that entails is not a net positive since they were already on the schedule the next 5 years and 6 of the next 7.

Without relitigating the last 16 months or so, the move feels more like change for the sake of change than a destination the school was striving for like the move from MW to PAC.

[Utah]

You are absolutely right. Look. We will always recruit behind USC, UCLA, UW and Oregon.

In the Big 12, we are the best recruiting team by a few spots.

We go from history and elite institutions (on and off the field) to us being the cream of the crop.

It’s not ideal. BUT, the people seem cool, the fans are excited and I think it will be fun. But for the first time EVER, we aren’t clawing to the top. We are the top and everyone is clawing to get to us.

The only constant in life is change, and this will be a fun new challenge.

Here’s to staying on top and becoming a constant prescence in the playoffs!

[DrahtUte]

The only thing about the Big 12 that I’m really down about is that it takes years for rivalries to develop. It’s going to be a long while before the games against anyone in the new conference have as much emotion as last night’s USC game. At least we have history with CU, ASU and UA though.

I am looking forward to playing again against team’s whose fans actually care about their team.

[Charlie]

I will miss the west coast destinations as much as anyone. I was getting ready to do another Oregon coast thing since we were going every year. Now I will try to put some advantages together, if possible.

I have lived in Cali and was back in May but Cali is not the same place any more. I miss what it once was and don’t like where it is now. That’s 4 schools. We can still go to Az and Colo, that 3 stay the same. I have been a guest at TCU for a Utah game and the stadium, tailgate and nearby Stockyards is awesome. Never been to the Huston campus but being in the energy industry for decades I have been to the city more that you can ever imagine. It is on everyone’s top 10 restaurant city list for a reason. I don’t know anything about Baylor or TT but I am curious. At least the culture fits me. If I take grandkids to Orlando it now needs to come with a FB game. Now I give up and have no more spin. It will be hard for much of the conference, maybe there will be some interesting OOC games.

[alexsmith]

This may be a hot take, but I think that we will be able to get excited for the games with finer conference members, specifically TCU, BYU, Arizona, and Colorado (for however long they have Prime). Additionally, I think we will get up for games against Oklahoma State and whatever program is doing well at the time that hasn’t been listed.

College Football is changing and I personally don’t expect these conferences to last past 2031 (I think it’ll be shorter, but this is about when all media deals expire)