BYU Would Enter Big XII / Big 12 Near Upper Eschelon: > CU, = Nebraska
Yes, I've seen Chip Brown's Tweets and I know that the current scuttlebutt is that the Big XII is staying pat at 10 teams . . . but consider the data below. I think it's clear that BYU is the most logical choice for addition if/when Beebe and his crew decide to expand.
The first half of this chart below is where BYU fits in with the current Big XII members. The second half lists many of the schools whose names have been bantered about as possibles schools the Big XII could/should add. Following the chart, I address many points of clarification and discuss some other advantages BYU brings that are hard to put in a tabular format.
Disclaimer: This chart was compiled by me, myself and I, and as a labor of love for my Cougs. I'm a retinal surgeon by day, a father of 6 kids (aged 10 yrs - 7 mo) by night, and a Bishop in my local LDS congregation in Louisiana on the weekends. So, I'm a pretty busy guy and it's taken me a while to compile all of this. However, I find it therapeutic somehow during these weeks of realignment chaos to put the pencil to the paper and lay out my team's resume as I see it. If there are inaccuracies they are inadvertant (though almost assuredly favor my Cougs).
Due to Formatting issues . . . scroll down and down please
TOP NEWS
Report: 24-Team CFP Gaining Steam
B/R's Updated Top 25 after Spring Practices and Games 🔢
Mark Cuban Talks Mendoza NIL
Keep Scrolling . . . .
Keep Scrolling . . . .
Keep Scrolling . . . .
Keep Scrolling . . . .
Keep Scrolling . . . .
Keep Scrolling . . . .
Keep Scrolling . . . .
| 2009 Football Attendance (capacity) #National Rank* | 2010 Basketball Attendance (capacity) #National Rank | (Conf rank)
| Enroll-ment (total)** | Enroll- | Endow- | Media Market *** |
| |
Texas | 101,175 #4(100,119) | 14,629 #14 (16,755) | 47 (1) | 49,984 | 37,389 | $2,772 | 8 | 48 |
|
Oklahoma | 84,778 #12(82,112) | 10,650 #39(12,000) | 102 (7) | 30,071 | 20,736 | $807 | 25 | 45 |
|
Texas A&M | 76,800 #16(82,600) | 9,889 #46(12,500) | 61 (2) | 48,039 | 38,430 | $380 | 18 | 89 |
|
BYU | 64,236 #27(64,000) | 14,029 #17(22,700) | 71 (3) | 34,244 | 30,912 | $868 | 26 | 31 |
|
Missouri | 64,120 #28(71,004) | 10,349 #40(15,061) | 102 (7) | 30,200 | 23,042 | $550 | 53 | 21 |
|
Oklahoma St . | 53,719 #38(60,218) | 11,585 #35(13,611) | Tier 3 (9) | 22,768 | 17,986 | $313 | 41 | 45 |
|
Kansas | 50,581 #41(50,071) | 16,433 #9 (16,300) | 96 (6) | 29,365 | 21,332 | $1,232 | 66 | 32 |
|
Texas Tech | 50,249 #43(58,930) | 9,290 #54 (15,098) | Tier 3 (9) | 28,422 | 23,107 | $393 | 47 | 143 |
|
Kansas St . | 46,763 #45(52,200) | 11,885 #31 (13,500) | Tier 3 (9) | 23,520 | 18,491 | $337 | 111 | 136 |
|
Iowa St. | 46,242 #51(55,000) | 12,491 #26 (14,092) | 80 (4) | 26,856 | 21,607 | $99 | 73 | 72 |
|
Baylor | 36,306 #66(50,000) | 7,457 #69 (10,284) | 80 (4) | 14,541 | 12,162 | $1,068 | 41 | 89 |
|
Current Big XII (10 team) average | 61,073 | 10,395 | n/a | 30,376 | 23,428 | $795 | 48 | 74 |
|
THE CANDIDATE SCHOOLS COMPARISON | 2009 Football Attendance (capacity) #National Rank | 2010 Basketball Attendance (capacity) #National Rank | Enroll | Enroll- | Endow-ment (millions) | Driving Miles from Norman , OK | |||
BYU | 64,236 (64,000) #27 | 14,029 (22,700) #17 | 71 (1) | 34,244 | 30,912 | $868 | 26 | 35 | 1054 |
Akansas | 65,112 (76,000) #24 | 13,128 (19,368) #25 | 128 | 19,194 | 15,426 | $858 | 31 | 56 | 235 |
Lousiville | 32,450 (60,000) #71 | 19,397 (22,000) #3 | Tier 3 | 20,834 | 15,352 | $783 | 28 | 49 | 780 |
Air Force | 35,656 (52,480) #66 | 2,522 (5,939) | N/A | 4,537 | 4,537 | n/a (your tax $ via deficit spending) | 201 | 92 | 602 |
Memphis | 25, 795 (62,380) #81 | 16,489 (18,400) #8 | Tier 4 | 20,214 | 15,813 | $213 | 126 | 50 | 478 |
TCU | 38,187 (44,000) #63 | 3,686 (7,166) | 110 | 8,696 | 7,471 | $974 | 52 | 5 | 183 |
Houston | 25,242(32,000) #82 | 3,202 (8,500) | Tier 4 | 36,104 | 28,800 | $497 | 92 | 10 | 432 |
New Mexico | 26,944 (38,634) | 13,595 (16,290) #22 | Tier 3 | 25,754 | 20,047 | $279 | 65 | 44 | 564 |
Colorado State | 23,643 (32,500) | 3,329 (8,745) | 128 | 27,800 | 21,783 | $148 | 123 | ?? | 750 |
Boise State | 32,782 (34,000) #70 | 3,061 (12,820) | Unranked (Not "National University") | 19,667 | 17,574 | $76 | 97 | 112 | 1,518 |
Cincinatti | 33,957 (35,000) #68 | 8,076 (13,176) #64 | Tier 3 | 29,617 | 20,914 | $1,095 | 196 | 33 | 877 |
Nebraska | 85,888 (81,067) #10 | 9,964 #45 | 96 | 23,573 | 18,526 | $191 | 27 | 76 |
|
Colorado | 50,088 (53,750) #42 | 6,267 #86 | 77 | 32,191 | 26,725 | $354 | 37 | 16 |
|
Utah | 45,155 (45,634) #52 | 9,202 (15,000) #56 | 126 | 28,211 | 21,526 | $507 | 60 | 31 |
|
*The most recent NCAA report of Football attendance (2009) only ranked the top 30 teams . . . but for the others, I made an educated guestimation based on the 2008 rankings and 2009 attendance figures.
**All of the Academic rankings, enrollment and endowment figures are from the current online figures that US News and World Report has posted.
***Obviously, the Media Market of the school/area doesn't necessarily define the penetration. Even though TCU is in DFW and Houston is in Houston, more sets in those cities are tuned in to Big XII team by a LONG shot. Conversely, way more sets are tuned to a UT game OUTSIDE their Austin media market than there are within it.
A National (potentially worldwide) Following for BYU
Total living Alumni (active satellite chapters):
BYU: 370,000 (105)
BYU can claim significant fan bases (whether BYU grads, or LDS-homers) in the following top-50 media markets: LA #2, Bay-area #6, Phoenix #12, Seattle #13, Denver #16, Sacramento #20, Portland #22, San Diego #28, and Las Vegas #42. Then, add high concentrations of BYU fans in niche markets (Idaho, Hawaii, smaller CA markets), and respectable clusters of fans/alumni/LDS in other top media markets (Dallas/FW #5 and D.C. #9) and you truly have a national following of which TV contracts negotiators will take note. In fact, during the '90s the Cougs frequently appeared on ESPN and, according to our associate athletic director, BYU had five of the top 10 highest-rated football telecasts in ESPN history (at least up until that point).
As far as BYU's nationwide/worldwide-sprawl appeal goes, last year's BYU-Florida NCAA Basketball Tournament opening round game may give a hint as to BYU's potential and upside in the burgeoning market of online sports viewership. CBS reports that this BYU game had the highest online viewership of any sports event in history at 1.12 million unique viewers (I'm convinced more Cougar fans were tuning in to watch Jimmer and crew try to win their first NCAA Tourney game in around 20 years than Gator fans were watching their underachieving team who had 2 NCAA championships so recently).
LDS population by State
Arizona: 381,235
California: 757,895
Colorado: 139,887
Florida: 133,805
Hawaii: 68,858
Idaho: 410,757
Iowa: 24,229
Kansas: 33,798
Missouri: 65,122
Nebraska: 22,372
Nevada: 174,639
New Mexico: 66,187
Oklahoma: 42,515
Oregon: 146,429
Texas: 286,902
Utah: 1,884,377
Washington: 263,710
Wyoming: 61,430
Current demographic trends also favor the future for BYU, the state of Utah, and the LDS church in general. Currently, there are around 6 million "Mormons" in the USA. Due to higher than average fertility rates and new members joining, the current projections are that this figure will nearly double (to 11.2 million) by 2030. And the state of Utah has very encouraging population trends too as it and Idaho have both recently ranked in the top 5 states for population growth (by percentage). Utah's media market is expected to jump from 31st up into the top 25 within ten years.
Athletic Revenue (2007-8)
BYU's Athletic Department took in $36.7 million which ranked it only at 64th nationally. However, this was the #2 revenue figure for a non-AQ school (TCU was 57th) in the entire nation. If BYU can do this without the benefit that AQ conference teams have/earn from large bowl pay-outs and fat TV contracts, imagine what it could do WITH such additional funds!
ATHLETIC TRADITION:
1984 National Champions (in all major polls)
Bowl Apperances: 28
Hardware:
Heisman Trophies: Ty Detmer (1991)
Doak Walker Award: Luke Staley (2001)
Davey O'Brien Award: Four QBs (1981-91)
Sammy Baugh Trophy: Seven QBs (1974-1996)
Outland Trophy: Two (1985-9)
Wooden Award: Danny Ainge (1981) . . . oh yeah, and Jimmer Freddette will win it this year.
All-Americans (all-time and all sports): 1060
RECENT ATHLETIC STRENGTH:
- How many schools in the nation can say they've finished the last four years both ranked in football AND gone to the NCCA Basketball tourney? TWO: Texas and BYU.
- How many teams have finished four consecutive years at 20th or better in the final BCS rankings (pre-bowl)? FOUR: BYU, Texas, Florida, and Ohio State.
- How many teams have won 43 or more games in the last 4 years? Only 5, Texas, Ohio State, Boise State, BYU, and Florida.
Not bad company, eh?
ROAD TRIP!!
One commenter (Texas fan) on a previous thread stated the following: "(Big XII fans should know) how nice it would be to roadtrip up to Provo, Utah for a game. While living in Utah I attended a BYU/TCU game. I went there cheering for TCU but by the end of the game I was pulling for BYU. It was a fabulous experience. I had my son with me and he loved it also. If anyone has ever been to Aspen Colorado, they would love Park City, Utah." It's ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL there. Skiing is closer than in Boulder. National parks galore within a short days drive (Zion's, Bryce, Arches, and Yellowstone's reachable for an overnight/weekend trip). Someone summed up Provo as follows: "Think Boulder, except with nice people instead of snobs"
Payback
Shouldn't BigXII teams want to get a chance to get back at BYU on the gridiron? BYU holds a 8-2 record vs current Big XII teams over the last 25 seasons (only 3 of those games played in Provo). And that's not just beating up on the "small fries" of the conference either. This includes a 2-0 record vs Oklahoma (I was present at both games . . . woo hoo!!!) and 2-0 vs Texas.
Further Academic Credentials
Quick quiz . . . what college is ranked by US News & World Report as the most popular University in the nation? Interestingly, it's BYU. A full 78% of students accepted by BYU choose to enroll there. Harvard is second on the list at 76%. The average ACT score and GPA for BYU's most recently admitted students was 28.2 and 3.8, respectively. BYU is ranked #10 nationally for the number of students who go on to earn PhDs, #1 nationally for students who go on to dental school, #6 nationally for students who go on to law school, and #10 nationally for students who go on to medical school. University presidents love to add schools with high academic standing, and I see this as a big positive for BYU.
Drawbacks
Distance and "Sunday Play" are the only two negatives BYU brings to the table for joining the Big XII. It remains to be seen how much of an issue the latter will be and I hope that it will not be a "deal breaker." Up until a few years ago no NCAA sports were played on Sunday. Our conference survives quite well without Sunday games . . . and we wouldn't care if other conference teams played on Sunday, as long as our team would have an alternate schedule allowing respect to this tenet of our faith.
Conclusion
I think the data shows that BYU would be a very attractive add to the Big XII. I've personally lived a lot of places around the country and have seen first hand games and fans in the SEC, Big XII, Big 10, PAC 10, and ACC. I've felt for a long time that BYU athletics belongs in a BCS conference. The Big XII could shore up it's weakened status by adding BYU and another good program. BYU's program would be an upgrade from Colorado and, in my opinion, is reasonably on par with Nebraska. BYU to the Big XII would be a mutually beneficial maneuver.
