Total AP Poll Appearances for the new Big-12 since 1980
- Thread starter Vernon
- Start date
Cincy, Houston and UCF have really only began to take football seriously about a decade and a half ago. BYU arguably has the strongest history once Oklahoma and Texas leave. Pretty amazing jump for the three newcomers not including BYU.
West Virginia was put in an island. They wanted that ACC invite but Louisville got it instead. West Virginia had two options, go independent like BYU or take the P5 lifeline. Cincy was one of those Big East squads that lost out because they hadn't invested in their football program. UCF was in the Big East for a year, they won it before losing it's spot as a power league.
BYU really should have been a Pac 12 candidate. Houston was always going to be a future candidate if they ever decided to invest. So yeah I agree the Big 12 is a much easier conference for these four to come in and compete right away. Especially with Texas and Oklahoma departing. It would be like going to the B1G without Ohio State or Michigan.
I'm fairly certain WVU was not waiting on the ACC invite. If I recall, the ACC took Pitt and Syracuse to make them full up. The Big 12 had lost Missouri along with Texas A&M and were looking for a 10th member to add along with TCU. Both WVU and Louisville were lobbying hard for that spot, but WVU ultimately got it. Only AFTER WVU was invited to the Big 12 did the Big 10 grab Maryland along with Rutgers putting the ACC short one program. That is when the ACC invited Louisville.
Louisville wanted Big 12 invite but WVU got it, ACC has said no to WVU for 70 years. UCF was never in Big East that was USF.
I am curious that had Louisville gotten the invite over WVU to the Big 12 if the ACC would've taken WVU after losing Maryland or still thumbed their noses our way.
I would say they would take Connecticut and say FU to WVU. Then we would have been 1 of the 4 invited this past year to Big 12. IMO.