How does the new big12 compare to the SWC when Arkansas was still in it and the Big East when Miami joined?
My take is it’s close and especially if Cincy doesn’t fall off which I don’t think they will bc Ohio is good recruiting grounds and Cincy now can continue to recruit as a big 12 member. Forgot the names the names of the schools and focus on what can be vs bias of big name schools only.
The big 12 has more depth than either the old SWC or big East in my opinion with Byu, k state, Iowa st, west vir ,cincy, ucf, ok state, etc. you’d have to compare top to bottom in both leagues.I think it’s better than the old big East and at least close to the old swc
New B12 is better imo than old SWC or BE. More fertile recruiting grounds. UH should be able to recruit nationally once we regain momentum. I see us being able to recruit Texas, Louisiana, Florida and pick off a few in Ohio & California occasionally for a kid who wants to get away from home and play in the," Great State of Texas"
Not sure the new Big 12 is up to par with the old SWC…remember the old SWC had teams like UT, Agy, Arkansas, UH, TT and Baylor all ranked in the top 10-15 in various years…it was also a really good hoops conference, although the new Big 12 might just be better right off the bat…
But IMO, we have a ways to go in football…
I think you need to clarify what decades you’re talking about. I don’t know that the new Big 12 would compare with the SWC in the 60s and 70s when you’d often have two teams going to one of the four major bowls and sometimes a third making one of the few second-tier bowls like the Gator or the Sun. That doesn’t mean the Big 12 can’t get there. But if you move into the 80s and 90s then I would think the Big 12 is as good as the SWC.
True but hopefully Cincy , etc or us becomes a reg top 10 team. I’d say baylor and tcu are better now than in the SWC where as we need to catch up. If the new big 12 can have a top 10 team along with 3 others in the rankings which is doable then it’s a strong league. I think that can happen. Fan bases matter for perception so we have Byu helping replace UT along with ok state, k state, Iowa st, for fan bases. I’d say the SWC was better bc of the big 3 in arky, Ut and A&M but we’re close and better top to bottom in fan bases than the old swc.
So we’re better than the old big East but maybe not the old swc yet. I like having west vir in the league bc they have a strong fanbase and can be good. I also think we can start selling out or getting close once in the league bc if we scheduled any big 12 team to play at UH if we we’re stuck in the aac , it would be a huge draw, now it will be reg games with multiple good home games vs now.UH’s fanbase should be better than the old swc bc we’ve grown as a school.
Actually, the old SWC had UH, UT, Aggy and some times SMU or Arkansas,. TT never dominated nor did BU or Rice (of course). The new Big 12 has gotten better with the departure of UT/OU with four strong (yes we are /can be strong) additions in both BB and FB.
Arkansas went to one of the 4 later 5 major bowl games in ‘60, ‘61, ‘62, ‘64, ‘65, 68, ‘69, ‘75, ‘77, ‘78, ‘79, ‘86, ‘88, and ‘89 with appearances in good bowls like the Gator, Liberty, and Holiday practically every other year. Only Texas was as successful throughout the 60s-80s.
I was talking about the SWC in its prime. When Arkansas left and then Agy things went downhill.
I do believe the new Big 12 can be very balanced. Texas and Agy will continue to dominate recruiting but I think we will be on equal footing with our new playmates