A new era begins as ASU and UofA prepare for Big 12 era
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Signage at the 2024 Big 12 Conference Football Media Days in July in Las Vegas. Photo: Louis Grasse/Getty Images
College football kicks off this weekend for the Sun Devils and Wildcats, and it'll be a season of big changes as they adjust to life in the Big 12.
The big picture: The Pac-12 has officially dissolved and its teams scattered to a handful of conferences, with ASU and UofA joining Utah and Colorado in the Big 12.
- Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington jumped into the Big Ten.
- Stanford and Cal are now in the ACC.
- Oregon State and Washington State went to the West Coast Conference after finding themselves as the last teams left in the Pac-12.
State of play: Except for the other teams that joined the Big 12, ASU and UofA don't have any games scheduled this year against their former Pac-12 rivals.
- If you want to get a look at the Sun Devils' new conference rivals, catch home games against Kansas (Oct. 5), University of South Florida (Nov. 9) and BYU (Nov. 23).
- UofA hosts Texas Tech (Oct. 5), West Virginia (Oct. 26) and Houston (Nov. 15).
By the numbers: Where the Pac-12 made geographic sense, the Big 12 sprawls across regions with little rhyme or reason.
- ASU's farthest conference opponent was a little over 1,400 miles away in Seattle, but now it's more 2,100 miles away in Orlando, home of the University of Central Florida
- West Virginia University, in Morgantown, is nearly 2,100 miles from ASU, and the University of Cincinnati is about 1,800 miles away.
Yes, but: If you're looking to take in a conference road game, Utah, BYU and Colorado aren't far.
Why it matters: The Sun Devils and Wildcats had a lot of history with their Pac-12 rivals after nearly five decades in the same conference.
- Fans know USC, Oregon and Washington in a way they likely won't know Baylor, Kansas State and TCU for years to come.
Catch up quick: ASU and UofA's jump to the Big 12 ended their 46-year tenure in the Pac-10/Pac-12.
- Both schools joined the old Border Conference in 1931.
- They were part of the Western Athletic Conference from 1962 until 1978, when they joined the Pac-10.
Between the lines: ASU won the Pac-12 outright twice and shared the conference championship with USC in 2007.
- The Sun Devils went to the Rose Bowl twice, winning once, with a 1987 victory over Michigan.
- UofA never won the conference outright — the Cats ended in a three-way tie with UCLA and USC — and, sadly, never went to the Rose Bowl.
What's next: If Cincinnati and Tampa seem far, just wait — UConn is in talks to join the Big 12, which would dramatically expand the geography of the newly enlarged conference.
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that the farthest conference opponent for ASU is the University of Central Florida in Orlando (not the University of South Florida in Tampa).