With the Big 12 football season less than 100 days away, excitement is starting to brew around the new field of competition ready to take a shot at the title.

With four new teams looking to make waves in the Big 12, this season could be a defining moment in the Big 12. How will the new teams adapt to a different level of competition, and how will each school make a name for themselves going forward?

UCF

One of the most intriguing teams entering the Big 12 in the upcoming season is UCF.

UCF finished last season with a 9-5 record while making the AAC (American Athletic Conference) Championship game. Although the Knights lost to Tulane, they are still geared up to take on elite competition.

The Knights are predicted to be the most ready team entering the Big 12. UCF retained a majority of its roster while continually adding Power 5 athletes over the recent years.

A big returner in terms of consistency is starting quarterback John Rhys Plumlee who led the team to a conference championship and a bowl game.

Although the team is ready to compete from day one, it will take more than talent alone to survive in the Big 12. With many schools ready to give the new four teams a rude awakening, UCF be better off than its new counterparts.

The Knights face a tough gauntlet right off the bat as they take on Kansas State, Baylor, Kansas and Oklahoma with only Baylor being played at home. However, if UCF survives the first stretch of the Big 12 season, there is a good chance that the Knights could finish strong and still land among the top teams in the conference.

Cincinnati

The Bearcats have been a consistently good team as of late.

Cincinnati holds a 53-11 record over the last five seasons and won the AAC Championship in 2020 and 2021. Along with the success in the AAC, the Bearcats also made an appearance in the College Football Playoffs where they picked up their only loss of the season to a top-ranked Alabama team.

However, that success looks to be in the past. The Bearcats finished the 2022 season with a 9-4 record and a big loss to Louisville in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl.

After the lackluster 2022 season, Cincinnati moved on from its head coach Luke Fickell. The Bearcats picked up Scott Satterfield, who coincidentally was the head coach of Louisville, the team that gave Cincinnati its most recent loss.

Satterfield earned back-to-back Coach of the Year honors, as he picked up the 2018 Sunbelt Coach of the Year and the 2019 AAC Coach of the Year awards. Although Satterfield found success at Louisville, there tend to be growing pains with new leadership.

Along with the new head coach, Cincinnati is without many of its star players from the past. Whether they moved onto the NFL or transferred to other schools, the Bearcats will be working with nearly a clean slate.

After a hard-fought battle to try to cement his spot as starting quarterback, Ben Bryant transferred to Northwestern. Along with him, starting running back Charles McClelland finished his time with Cincinnati as well.

On the other side of the ball, the defense lost a good chunk of talent including two stars in Ivan Pace Jr. and Ja’Von Hicks. The Bearcats will be looking to rebuild across the board going into the upcoming season.

When looking at all the pieces together, Cincinnati will have its work cut out for itself if it wants to compete with the strong competition that the Big 12 brings. Although anything can happen, the first year of Big 12 Bearcat football might be a learning curve as they figure out their new identity in the conference.

Houston

Houston is in a similar boat to Cincinnati in its inaugural season in the Big 12.

Although the Cougars are retaining their head coach, many star players left for bigger and better things—one of which is Clayton Tune.

Tune was the longtime starting quarterback for Houston, starting 41 games since 2019. He led the team to varied success over the years.

Houston had some up-and-down years, but the team peaked in the 2021 season alongside Cincinnati. The Cougars went toe-to-toe with the Bearcats at the top of the standings throughout the season and eventually lost in the AAC Championship.

Houston went on to beat Auburn in the Birmingham Bowl to finish its 12-2 season. Although the Cougars slid a little last season, finishing 8-5, they came away with a bowl game win over Louisiana.

After finding himself riddled among the program’s leaderboards, Tune moved on to the NFL, getting picked up in the fifth round by the Arizona Cardinals.

Although Houston has some options for the future of the quarterback position, rarely does a player take the reins and lead the team to a breakout season right away. With the added competition of a new conference, the new starting quarterback for Houston will have his plate full.

Also on offense, star running back Alton McCaskill entered the transfer portal. McCaskill broke out in his freshman season to earn the 2021 AAC Rookie of the Year award but missed the 2022 campaign with a torn ACL. He was expected to lead the team on the ground in 2023 but is now running for Colorado.

With the hit Houston took to the offensive side of the ball, it could be a rough season as the Cougars look to find footing for themselves in a conference riddled with offensive dominance.

BYU

BYU is another weird team to place in the Big 12.

Although the Cougars have found success in recent years, they did send another quarterback to the NFL in Jaren Hall. Along with the need for a new quarterback, BYU has been one of the most active college teams in the transfer portal following the 2022 season.

In total, 41 players are either leaving or coming to BYU in the 2023 season. On top of that, the incoming transfer class is ranked second in the Big 12 just behind Oklahoma.

New players do bring new challenges, and figuring out a new conference’s playstyle at the same time could cause issues for a fresh BYU team. However, BYU has some experience already against Big 12 teams.

BYU faced off against Baylor in each of the last two seasons, taking down a top-10 ranked Baylor 26-20 in double overtime last season. BYU also beat Houston and UCF in its 2020 season where it finished 11-1.

There really is no telling what version of BYU will show up at the start of Big 12 play or how good the Cougars will end up being. One thing is for sure—the wild card team could cause problems for any team in the conference as they look to prove that the “any given Saturday” moniker is true.