Speaking of Houston, Big 12 athletic directors and presidents have reportedly had more debate regarding its inclusion The Athletic reports the Big 12 is willing to set aside past differences and include the program as part of a decision that's best for the conference's long-term future. Other than Houston, each program also represents a new media market for the Big 12. BYU is coming off a 2020 season in which it went 11-1 - its lone loss to Coastal Carolina in a last-minute rescheduled game - and finished 11th in the Associated Press Poll. Those four schools make sense in that each one has experienced recent success on the gridiron: Houston (2015 Peach Bowl), UCF (2018 Peach Bowl, 2019 Fiesta Bowl) and Cincinnati (2021 Peach Bowl) have all made a New Year's Day Six bowl since 2015. MORE: Big 12 talking expansion again, and BYU belongs at the top of the list The first blow to that hope was the announced alliance among the Pac-12, ACC and Big Ten. That ended any hope the Big 12 had of joining forces with the conference. It appears poaching schools from other conferences is the best way for the Big 12 to remain relevant after the Pac-12 announced Aug. If the current Big 12 schools, sans Texas and Oklahoma, vote to approve the additions, then they would not need the Longhorns' or Sooners' support. The conference's 10 schools would need a supermajority vote - 80 percent - to add the programs. The Athletic, citing sources close to the situation, reports the Big 12 is most seriously considering independent BYU and American Athletic Conference members Houston, Cincinnati and UCF. The Big 12 - facing an uncertain future on the outside of both the SEC and the ACC-Big Ten-Pac-12 alliance - has reportedly zeroed in on four schools to replace Oklahoma and Texas.

Big 12 conference adds four new members