Football: Big 12 Conference Announces Future Schedules

The Big 12 conference will get another remodel next season, with Texas and Oklahoma leaving the league while Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and Arizona State join. On Wednesday, the Big 12 announced its future schedule planning for the first four seasons of the new-look league, detailing opponents and locations for the 2024-2027 season. Per the conference release, the 16-team scheduling model prioritized geography, historic matchups and rivalries, and competitive balance with a nine-game conference schedule,

Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark emphasized the introduction of new contests while maintaining the key historical rivalries, “In this model, competitive balance and student-athlete wellness was prioritized. Rivalries will be protected and new matchups will be introduced – the excitement and parity this Conference is known for will continue for years to come.”

Over the four years scheduled, every team will play at least one home and one away game versus each league member; the format also prevents any repeated game locations in 2024 that occurred in 2023. With the nine game conference slate giving unbalanced home-away splits, TCU will have five home league games in 2024 & 2026 and four home games in 2025 & 2027.

TCU has one protected annual rivalry, taking on the Baylor Bears in all four seasons; traveling to Waco in 2024 and 2026, with the Bears visiting Amon G. Carter Stadium in 2025 and 2027. The Big 12’s only other protected annual rivalries are Arizona-ASU, BYU-Utah, and Kansas State-Kansas.

The Horned Frogs have four opponents that it will face in three of the four scheduled seasons: Cincinnati (away 2024 & 2025; home 2026), Houston (away 2025; home 2024 & 2027), Texas Tech (away 2026; home 2024 & 2027), and Utah (away 2024 & 2027, home 2026). The remaining teams will only play TCU twice in this four-year span, once in Fort Worth and once on the road: Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas. Kansas State, Oklahoma State, and West Virginia.

Other notable nuggets from TCU’s future schedules:

• Despite being full time conference mates together, TCU will have games in Stillwater separated by six seasons, with the Frogs’ last road game vs. Oklahoma State coming in 2021 and the programs not set to meet at Boone Pickens Stadium again until 2027.
• TCU’s 2024 & 2025 schedule will feature 11 Power 4 opponents, including six true away games vs. opponents from Power 4 conferences. In 2024 it’s non-conference road trips to the ACC’s Stanford Cardinal and SMU Mustangs added to Big 12 away games in Waco, Cincinnati, Lawrence, and Salt Lake City. In 2025 it’s a non-conference road trip to the ACC’s North Carolina Tar Heels added to Big 12 away games in Provo, Tempe, Houston, Manhattan, and Morgantown.
• The Horned Frogs won’t get a trip to the Bounce House in Orlando until 2026, but do get to see the UCF Knights in Amon G. Carter Stadium in 2024, the first ever meeting between the 2010 National Champions and the 2017 National Champions.
• TCU’s Mountain West rivalry with the Utah Utes will be renewed in 2024 with a trip to Rice-Eccles Stadium, the site of the last meeting between the two MWC juggernauts, which resulted in a 47-7 TCU romping victory with ESPN’s College GameDay in town.