Welcome back, oh great and wonderful college football fans. We have finally reached the final 4. Each of the Core 4 have made impactful changes in their conference line-ups. All told these 4 have a total of 67 teams, or 16.75 per conference. The sheer number of conference teams has wreaked a little havoc on scheduling. Welcome to college football 2024.
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In 4th place is the 16-team Big 12 conference. Since last season, Oklahoma and Texas both moved to the SEC and previous Pac 12 teams Arizona, Arizona St, Colorado, and Utah joined. Only 3 of the 16 won 10 games last year and 2 of those are from Arizona. When the GCR calculated the pre-season strength of schedule, only 1 team landed in the top 25 most-challenged schools. Two are outside of the top 100. We already discussed the Pac (1)2 was the biggest loser of the latest round of realignment, but the Big 12 broke even at best. Sure, the Arizonas were both 10-win teams last season (2 losses fewer than what the conference lost to the SEC), but Utah and Colorado combined to just 12-13 last season.
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In the table below, (F) indicates an FCS foe, (G) indicates a Group of 5 opponent, (&) indicates a previous Pac 12 team left behind, (*) indicates a game against SMU who promoted from Group of 5 to Core 4, and (4) indicates a non-conference Core 4 challenge. There are no scheduled neutral site games. In 4th position, I offer the 2024 Big 12 conference:
| Team | 2023 Record (Rank) | 2024 PS SOS (Rank) | Home Games | Away/Neutral Games | Opp 2023 Rec |
| Arizona St Sun Devils (1) | 10-3 (17) | 9.11 (15) | (42-34/.553) Mississippi St (4)Wyoming (G), Kansas, Utah, UCF, BYU | (47-31/.603) Texas St (G), Texas Tech, Oklahoma St, Kansas St, Arizona, Cincinnati | 89-65 (.578) |
| Houston Cougars (2) | 4-8 89) | 8.56 (28) | (42-36/.538) UNLV (G), Rice (G), Iowa St, Utah, Kansas St, Baylor | (42-33/.560) Oklahoma (4), Cincinnati, TCU, Kansas, Arizona, BYU | 84-69 (.549) |
| BYU Cougars (3) | 5-7 (58) | 8.55 (29) | (50-28/.641) S Illinois (F), Kansas St, Arizona, Oklahoma St, Kansas, Houston | (47-31/.603) SMU (*), Wyoming (G), Baylor, UCF, Utah, Arizona St | 97-59 (.622) |
| Colorado Buffaloes (4) | 4-8 (88) | 8.21 (35) | (44-35/.557) North Dakota St (F), Baylor, Kansas St, Cincinnati, Utah, Oklahoma St | (42-34/.553) Nebraska (4), Colorado St (G), UCF, Arizona, Texas Tech, Kansas | 86-69 (.555) |
| Baylor Bears (5) | 3-9 (96) | 8.15 (38) | (46-29/.613) Tarleton (F), Air Force (G), BYU, Oklahoma St, TCU, Kansas | (39-37/.513) Texas Tech, Colorado, Iowa St, Utah, West Virginia, Houston | 85-66 (.563) |
| West Virginia Mountaineers (6) | 9-4 (31) | 8.09 (39) | (55-37/.598) Albany (F), Penn St (4), Kansas, Iowa St, Kansas St, Baylor, UCF | (33-31/.516) Pittsburgh (4), Oklahoma St, Arizona, Cincinnati, Texas Tech | 88-68 (.564) |
| Iowa St Cyclones (7) | 7-6 (32) | 7.95 (44) | (41-47/.466) North Dakota (F), Arkansas St (G), Baylor, UCF, Texas Tech, Cincinnati, Kansas St | (40-25/.615) Iowa (4), Houston, West Virginia, Kansas, Utah | 81-72 (.529) |
| Kansas St Wildcats (8) | 9-4 (16) | 7.93 (45) | (50-26/.638) Tennessee Martin (F), Arizona, Oklahoma St, Kansas, Arizona St, Cincinnati | (40-36/.526) Tulane (G), BYU, Colorado, West Virginia, Houston, Iowa St | 90-62 (.592) |
| TCU Horned Frogs (9) | 5-7 (84) | 7.82 (51) | (41-35/.539) Long Island (F), UCF, Houston, Texas Tech, Oklahoma St, Arizona | (37-39/.487) Stanford (4), SMU (*), Kansas, Utah, Baylor, Cincinnati | 78-74 (.513) |
| Cincinnati Bearcats (10) | 3-9 (90) | 7.43 (67) | (33-28/.541) Towson (F), Houston, Arizona St, West Virginia, TCU | (47-43/.522) Pittsburgh (4), Miami OH (G), Texas Tech, UCF, Colorado, Iowa St, Kansas St | 80-71 (.530) |
| Texas Tech Red Raiders (11) | 7-6 (39) | 6.95 (85) | (39-46/.459) Abilene Christian (F), North Texas (G), Arizona St, Cincinnati, Baylor, Colorado, West Virginia | (37-27/.578) Washington St (&), Arizona, TCU, Iowa St, Oklahoma St | 76-73 (.510) |
| Arizona Wildcats (12) | 10-3 (17) | 6.80 (91) | (43-43/.500) N Arizona (F), New Mexico (G), Texas Tech, Colorado, West Virginia, Houston, Arizona St | (33-30/.524) Kansas St, Utah, BYU, UCF, TCU | 76-73 (.510) |
| Utah Utes (13) | 8-5 (40) | 6.68 (98) | (36-37/.493) S Utah (F), Baylor, Arizona, TCU, BYU, Iowa St | (40-37/.519) Utah St (G), Oklahoma St, Arizona St, Houston, Colorado, UCF | 76-74 (.507) |
| Oklahoma St Cowboys (14) | 10-4 (23) | 6.67 (99) | (53-26/.671) South Dakota St (F), Arkansas (4), Utah, West Virginia, Arizona St, Texas Tech | (30-43/.411) Tulsa (G), Kansas St, BYU, Baylor, TCU | 86-69 (.555) |
| Kansas Jayhawks (15) | 9-4 (24) | 6.64 (101) | (35-41/.461) Lindenwood (F), UNLV (G), TCU, Houston, Iowa St, Colorado | (41-34/.547) Illinois (4), West Virginia, Arizona St, Kansas St, BYU, Baylor | 76-75 (.503) |
| UCF Knights (16) | 6-7 (73) | 6.50 (108) | (39-46/.459) New Hampshire (F), Sam Houston (G), Colorado, Cincinnati, BYU, Arizona, Utah | (36-27/.571) Florida (4), TCU, Iowa St, Arizona St, West Virginia | 75-73 (.507) |
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That’s it for today. Thank you for reading and especially for sharing with others, G
