- Slug: Sports-Big 12 Schedule Release, 570 words.
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By Walker Smith
Cronkite News
PHOENIX – As their time in the Pac-12 nears its end, the Arizona and Arizona State football teams learned how their new era in the Big 12 will start.
The Big 12 conference announced Wednesday the upcoming matchups for the next four seasons starting in 2024, including the home and away schedules for newcomers ASU and UArizona.
The Sun Devils will play four home games and five away games in 2024. They will host BYU, UCF, Kansas and Utah, while facing Arizona, Cincinnati, Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech on the road.
The Wildcats will travel to BYU, Utah, TCU and UCF, and welcome ASU, Colorado, Texas Tech, Utah and West Virginia to Arizona Stadium.
“It’s exciting. It’ll be a great challenge for our guys,” ASU coach Kenny Dillingham said. “New environments, I think that is one of the best parts. Everybody talks about the tradition of leaving the Pac-12 and there’s a part of you that’s sad, but there should be a big part of the fanbase that says, ‘Man, I get to watch teams at home that we have never got to see ever. I get to go on the road and travel to places that I’ve never traveled to in my entire life.’
“So there’s the other side of it that says let’s create new traditions and new rivalries that we didn’t think could be created.”
This is the first official schedule since the conference announced in August the acquisition of ASU, Arizona, Colorado and Utah. The new-look Big 12 will have 16 teams in 2024 with the Pac-12 additions and the loss of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC. The conference will not be formatted by divisions to allow for teams to cycle through all opponents in the conference as “quickly and equitably as possible.”
“As we look towards the future of this conference, we are thrilled to introduce the first football scheduling matrix for the new-look Big 12,” Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said in a statement. “I’m grateful to our membership for their support throughout the scheduling process. In this model, competitive balance and student-athlete wellness was prioritized. Rivalries will be protected, and new matchups will be introduced – the excitement and parity this conference is known for will continue for years to come.”
The school schedules will cycle through the remaining Big 12 programs a minimum of two times between 2024 and 2027. The Territorial Cup is the only matchup that will be played all four years between ASU and Arizona.
“The conference looked to maintain the current 5/4, 4/5 home/away rotation for all 16 members to minimize non-conference scheduling disruptions,” according to Arizona’s press release. “Other important factors were balancing annual travel by distance and time zones and maintaining connectivity to rivalries without compromising a balanced rotation for all teams.”
ASU will face only two of three other Pac-12 teams that are moving to the new 16-team conference. It will not play Colorado until 2025. The Sun Devils have played against their new Big 12 opponents, excluding Pac-12 transfers, 60 times and are 39-21 in those matchups. In total, ASU holds a 116-86-1 record against the 15 teams in next year’s Big 12. ASU has never played Kansas State or Iowa State, which will play ASU in 2025.
Arizona has played 91 games against its future Big 12 opponents, including 32 matchups against Texas Tech. West Virginia and UCF are the teams in the new Big 12 that the Wildcats haven’t faced in their history but will play in 2024.
Dates and times of all the matchups have yet to be announced.
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