BYU Football: Exploring different Big 12 pod options

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Florida Gators linebacker Brenton Cox Jr. (1) tries to stop UCF Knights wide receiver Ryan O’Keefe (4) in the second half.The UCF Knights defeats the Florida Gators, 29-17 in the Gasparilla Bowl Thursday, December 23, 2021, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL. [Doug Engle/Ocala Star-Banner]2021Oca 122324 Ufvsucfgasbowl /

16 Team Pods

As mentioned on the last page, if the Big 12 were to expand to 16 teams, here are the most likely pod, again with a brief explanation.

Western Pod: BYU, new team, new team, new team

While the Big 12 likely wouldn’t want four new teams all in one pod, geographically it may just have to be that way. There is no way that SDSU or Boise St would be in the same pod as Houston while BYU stays. However, at the same time, this would immediatly be a decent pod as whoever the Big 12 would be adding, they would be teams who would likely be around .500 in year one.

Great Plains Pod: Kansas, Kansas St, Texas Tech, Iowa St

This is essentially the old west pod with the addition of Iowa St and losing BYU. Geographically this makes sense and would create natural travel partners with ISU and the Kansas schools. The odd one left out is Texas Tech, but the Red Raiders are already isolated geographically so finding a nice fit would be difficult unless a team like New Mexico or North Texas (which won’t happen) joins the conference.

Central Pod: Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma St, Houston

Same pod.

Eastern Pod: UCF, Cincinnati, West Virginia, new team

Similar to the Great Plains pod, this is essentially the same pod with the exception of ISU leaving and a new team joining. Yes, this pod has a new feel similar to the western pod, but WVU adds some experience to make this pod seem healthier than the western.

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