Despite nothing new, realignment still looms large in 2023: 72 Days Until Kansas Football

No matter how hard we try to avoid it, conference realignment is going to be a big story this season.

© Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

Last year, conference realignment was THE story of the summer, as the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins announced that they were going to be leaving the Pac 12 to join the Big Ten just a year after the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns announced they were going to leave the Big 12 to head to the SEC. It caused a frenzy in the college football world that had just settled into an uneasy pause, as many had thought that further realignment was at least a few more years away.

But while the story died down a little while the Pac 12 looked to figure out how to stabilize their conference, the lack of a conference media rights deal has kept the topic at the forefront of a lot of people's minds. It's just one way that conference realignment will be front and center in what looks to be a wild 2023 season, even for the Kansas Jayhawks.

New Conference Members

The most direct effect for Kansas is the addition of four new schools in the conference, as the BYU Cougars, Houston Cougars, UCF Knights and Cincinnati Bearcats come to shake up the conference schedule for everyone. The Jayhawks saw huge changes to their schedule, with the previous non-conference home game against Houston canceled and no game between the two as a part of the conference slate. Then the other three new entrants were placed in the schedule, replacing games against TCU, Baylor and West Virginia.

The result is an unbalanced schedule for the first time in over a decade, which currently seems like either a benefit or a net neutral for the Jayhawks. But there are a lot of unknowns about the three teams that Kansas avoids, and just as many questions about the new teams coming in and how they will adjust to life in the Big 12.

Regardless of how it all shakes out, I can guarantee that the conference race will be greatly affected by the addition of these two teams.

Oklahoma and Texas Exiting Early

The two departing members of the Big 12 announced that an agreement had been reached that allowed them to move to the SEC a year earlier than was originally scheduled. That means that every new team will not have the opportunity to play both the Sooners and the Longhorns like they were expecting. And not every current member will have at least one more shot at both of them before they leave.

Kansas, TCU and Iowa State are the only current members that get to play both teams this season, and BYU is the only new member to play both, hosting Oklahoma and traveling to face Texas in Austin. Houston only gets to host Texas, while Oklahoma travels to Cincinnati and hosts UCF.

It is true that the early exit pushes the conference into their eventual 12-member roster earlier. And while the accelerated certainty has some value, I can't imagine that losing the opportunity to play both teams over the next two seasons is something that will be universally welcomed. And I'm sure we are going to here about it a lot this year.

Future Pac 12 Uncertainty

And of course, we couldn't talk about realignment without addressing the rumors that are circling about current Pac 12 schools that may be unwilling to wait much longer for a media deal. With daily cryptic tweets and arguments among self-interested fanbases, there is too much talk to think that it is all made up.

Many are speculating that the Colorado Buffaloes are ready to jump to the Big 12. Arizona is rumored to be not far behind. But many Pac 12 fans are convinced that the deal is just days away and that it will be very similar to what the Big 12 is getting.

But regardless of how it all shakes out, there is no way that potential realignment doesn't find its way into every conversation this season. From open speculation that games between TCU and Colorado or between Baylor and Utah may be conference games next season, to every analyst weighing in with their opinion at every opportunity, prepare for another long summer of realignment rumors.

At least, that is, until something concrete actually happens.

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