BYU fans will forever love and be loyal to the Big 12 for giving the Cougars the Power Four status it had craved for decades.
As the No. 2 BYU Cougars rocket up the national polls, BYU fans aren't just rejoicing in isolation. The majority of us are aware enough to know that as BYU's star rises, the entire Big 12 rises with us. This virtuous cycle of rejoicing for our team while simultaneously celebrating with the entire conference that gave us this Power Four platform is thrilling.
There's an old saying that goes like this: A burden shared is a burden divided. Joy shared is joy multiplied.
The Big 12 relieved BYU of the burden of playing in non-Power Four obscurity. We as BYU fans are now having our joy multiplied as we share our current success with this wonderful Big 12 conference that made it possible.
BYU's burden of non-Power Four irrelevance
The Brigham Young Academy played its first football game in 1896.
In the 130 years that have followed, the Provo, Utah-based school has been constantly fighting in vain to earn national respect.
LaVell Edwards was hired as BYU's football coach in 1972 and transformed the Cougars into a pass-happy, high-scoring oddity in the overlooked Western Athletic Conference. Under Coach Edwards in 1984 the undefeated Cougars were crowned unanimous national champions, and the team's success continued. BYU beat Ohio State the following year in the Citrus Bowl. In 1996 the 14-1 Cougars won the Cotton Bowl and finished No. 5 in the country.
Since LaVell Edwards' hiring it hasn't been surprising for BYU to rack up double-digit wins and receive bowl game invitations as a member of the WAC, Mountain West, and then a 12-year slog as a football independent. But even as the wins mounted, the enduring national respect frustratingly never followed.
The only fruits of BYU's non-power conference success was for the college football powers that be to introduce playoff systems that blatantly excluded BYU and its "lower-status" ilk from ever competing for a national championship again. The introduction of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) in 1998 seemed blatantly designed to prevent any future BYU-type national champions.
BYU felt the sting of the BCS in 2001 when it was a perfect 12-0 and coming off a win over the SEC's Mississippi State only to be informed it would not be selected for a major BCS bowl game. Even a perfect season leading up to the BCS bowl games wasn't enough, and BYU would be denied a shot at the national championship. Instead, the Cougars were destined for the Liberty Bowl.
Since the introduction of the BCS in 2001, BYU fans knew the Cougars would never get a fair shot at a second national championship unless it was a member of a power conference.
As BYU desperately looked for a power conference home, the Pac-12 repeatedly snubbed the Cougars out of a combination of snobbish elitism and religious bias. Ironically, that decision helped seal the once-proud conference's fate. In 2016 BYU fans were hopeful they would get a Big 12 invite as the 10-team conference eyed expansion, but in the end were deflated as the conference stood pat.
But then on September 10, 2021 the invitation to join the Big 12 arrived.
BYU and its fans have been grateful -- and joyful -- for their new conference ever since.
BYU's joy shared is joy multiplied
As BYU's national profile ascends, so does that of the Big 12 as a whole.
A Big 12 team in BYU just hosted ESPN's College GameDay, got slotted from the prime 7:30 PM Eastern game on ABC which drew over nine million eyeballs, then handled No. 2 Notre Dame in Provo. The Big 12 conference needed this.
Since expanding to a 12-team College Football Playoff two years ago, the Big 12 is 0-for-14 in securing at-large bids to the postseason. Conference champs Arizona State (2024) and Texas Tech (2025) have been the conference's only representatives up to this point. Most at-large bids seem predetermined to go to SEC and Big Ten teams. The Big 12 has been viewed as a lesser conference because it lacks true national championship contenders.
Since the departures of Texas and Oklahoma, the predominant national view of the Big 12 is it can field a handful of good teams, but it lacks great ones. It doesn't have a Georgia, Alabama, or Ohio State
The Big 12 needed to prove it can produce a football team (if not teams, plural) that can legitimately compete for national championships. BYU proved they are that team in clearly handling Notre Dame, and doing so without running back LJ Martin, the reigning Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year. The No. 2 Cougars are ranked higher than any SEC or Big Ten team at the season's halfway point.
BYU is forcing the national media to put respect on its name.
As respect for BYU grows among the national media, so does the respect for the Big 12 as a whole.
This reality brings joy to BYU fans. We are joyful to elevate the conference that elevated our Cougars.
The BYU community will always love the Big 12 for giving the Cougars this Power Four platform. BYU's rapid rise to national prominence would not have been possible without this outstanding conference that has largely welcomed us with open arms.
As BYU fans we are rejoicing in this thrilling moment for our team, but our joy is multiplied knowing we are sharing it with the entire and outstanding Big 12 conference.
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