Big 12 Blitz: Meet KSU, Utah, UCF, BYU, Colorado and more as we introduce Arizona's new conference rivals (2024)

Arizona Daily Star

The "Blitz" is how we introduce you — the discerning Wildcat season ticket holder, would-be road-tripper or local cardinal and navy die-hard — to the teams, towns, campuses, fanbases and more that the UA coaches, athletes and supporters will experience across the Big 12 Conference landscape in the years to come.

Over the coming weeks, find stories, insider interviews, podcast episodes and history lessons from longtime Star sports columnist Greg Hansen on the each of the Wildcats' 12 newest rivals, plus the few that are riding alongside the UA as all embark on this new athletic adventure.

COLORADO BUFFALOES

Boulder, Colorado

Getting to know Colorado: Like its former Pac-12 cohorts at Arizona, Arizona State and Utah, the Colorado Buffaloes are considered one of four newbies in the Big 12. Except Colorado isn’tnewto the Big 12.The Buffaloes just renewed their membership for the conference, after spending the last 13 years in the Pac-12. Before CU moved to the Pac-12, the Buffs were charter members of the Big 12 in the 1990s, joining after nearly five decades prior as part of the Big Eight.

From columnist Greg Hansen: The Four Corners schools were not united in their move to the Big 12. Proof? Colorado jumped to the Big 12 eight days before Arizona, ASU and Utah. Why were the Buffaloes so eager? It goes beyond the $2.5 million “bonus’’ they were given to join the league. It could be as simple as wins and losses. It could be that they were in over their heads in the Pac-12, Deion Sanders or no Deion Sanders.

UCF KNIGHTS

Orlando, Florida

Getting to know UCF: The University of Central Florida fittingly calls itself “SpaceU”; the institution was, after all, created 61 years ago to serve the space industry that’s long called the Atlantic coast 30-some-odd miles east of UCF’s campus home. Just as appropriate: since 2017, the Knights football team’s annual “Space Game” is talk of the school’s Orlando campus each fall. This year, another higher education brand with deep connections to NASA, space science education and astronomical exploration will visit Orlando for the game’s 2024 rendition: the Arizona Wildcats.

From columnist Greg Hansen:In Arizona’s more than 100 years of college football — exactly 1,165 games — the Wildcats have played everywhere from Tokyo to Toledo, but only one game in the state of Florida.So bring on Central Florida, you say? The Wildcats will play new Big 12 rival UCF in Orlando, Florida, on Nov. 2. What wedon’tknow about UCF could fill the pages of a very thick football magazine.

BYU COUGARS

Provo, Utah

Getting to know BYU: Whenever the Arizona Wildcats play sporting events in Phoenix or Las Vegas, more often than not the UA faithful take over the venue with their Cardinal-red and Navy-blue clothes. That isn't as much the case when BYU is on the other side, though. Tucsonan Matt Bushman, a Sabino High School grad, former BYU tight end, and contributor to the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, gives the lowdown on the Cougars, BYU's Provo, Utah, campus, and more.

From columnist Greg Hansen: BYU, we hardly know you. Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say, we sort of forgot you. The Cougars have only played football in Tucson twice in the last 47 years, twice in men’s basketball. ... but when Arizona was absorbed by the Big 12 a year ago, I found comfort that the Wildcats and Cougars would become big-game rivals in all sports. The relationship that quietly went dark in 1977 has been revived.

UTAH UTES

Salt Lake City

Getting to know Utah: This isn't Utah's first — or second, or third — rodeo in conference realignment in the last two decades. When Kyle Whittingham took over for Urban Meyer as Utah's head football coach in 2005, the Utes were in the Mountain West. For a decade prior to that Utes were in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). In 2011, the Utes transitioned to the Pac-12, and now it's on to the Big 12.

From columnist Greg Hansen: After 100 years of sports competition, 1924-2024, Arizona and Utah have never been more closely matched. In the just-completed Learfield Director’s Cup final standings, Utah ranked No. 47 and Arizona No. 48. ... The unpredictability of the all-time series between Salt Lake City's Utes and Tucson's Wildcats could make quite the compelling TV documentary as it shifts to the Big 12 conference.

KANSAS STATE WILDCATS

Manhattan, Kansas

Getting to know KSU: It’s not common for two teams both with “Wildcats” as their mascots to share the same conference. But now, as Big 12 foes, whenever Kansas State and Arizona see each other in any sport, referring to either team as the Cats could get confusing. Wyatt Thompson, longtime KSU play-by-play voice is among those to help straighten us out on KSU and Manhattan, Kansas.

From columnist Greg Hansen: Arizona came within a whisker of hiring Kansas State's successful basketball coach, Jack Hartman, 40-plus years ago. He said no, but only after initially saying yes. Had he made the trek to Tucson, a certain Iowa Hawkeye boss named almost certainly would not have ended up in Southern Arizona. Also, KSU's rags-to-riches football history under legendary coach Bill Snyder had an early date at Arizona Stadium.

Coming soon:

•ASU Sun Devils | Tempe

• TCU Horned Frogs | Fort Worth, Texas

• Baylor Bears | Waco, Texas

• Texas Tech Red Raiders | Lubbock, Texas

• Cincinnati Bearcats | Cincinnati

• Iowa State Cyclones | Ames, Iowa

• West Virginia Mountaineers | Morgantownn, West Virginia

• Oklahoma State Cowboys | Stillwater, Oklahoma

• Houston Cougars | Houston

• Kansas Jayhawks | Lawrence, Kansas