IRVING, Texas — Editor's Note: The attached video is from June 2022
The highly-anticipated Big 12 Conference football schedule for the 2023 season has finally been released.
The conference office released the schedule Tuesday, after the college football world awaited it since the end of the 2022 season, as it's the first schedule with new members Houston, UCF, Cincinnati and BYU.
Texas and Oklahoma remain members of the league in 2023 and Baylor will not face the Sooners this fall, while opening with four consecutive home games.
The 2023 schedule includes four Friday games and four Thursday games, with two of those Thursday games coming in the opening week as non-conference games.
West Virginia (Oct. 12th at Houston, Oct. 28th at UCF, Nov. 4th vs. BYU, Nov. 18th vs. Cincinnati) and Oklahoma State (Oct. 28th vs. Cincinnati, Nov. 11th at UCF, Nov. 18th at Houston and Nov. 25th vs. BYU) are the only current members of the conference scheduled to face all four new members in 2023 .
Baylor's 2023 schedule is below and includes eight home games, but does not feature new member BYU or longtime opponents Oklahoma and Oklahoma State (* denotes Big 12 Conference game):
- Sept. 2nd vs. Texas State
- Sept. 9th vs. Utah
- Sept. 16th vs. Long Island
- Sept. 23rd vs. Texas*
- Sept. 30th at UCF*
- Oct. 7th vs. Texas Tech*
- Oct. 14th Bye
- Oct. 21st at Cincinnati*
- Oct. 28th vs. Iowa State*
- Nov. 4th vs. Houston*
- Nov. 11th at Kansas State*
- Nov. 18th at TCU*
- Nov. 25th vs. West Virginia*
The schedule for new-member Houston includes home games against national runner-up TCU, Texas and Oklahoma State:
- Sept. 2nd vs. UTSA
- Sept. 9th at Rice
- Sept. 16th vs. TCU*
- Sept. 23rd vs. Sam Houston
- Sept. 30th at Texas Tech*
- Oct. 7th Bye
- Oct. 12th vs. West Virginia (Thurs.)*
- Oct. 21st vs. Texas*
- Oct. 28th at Kansas State*
- Nov. 4th at Baylor*
- Nov. 11th vs. Cincinnati*
- Nov. 18th vs. Oklahoma State*
- Nov. 25th at UCF*
Baylor and Iowa State are the only of the 14 schools without a weeknight game on their initial 2023 football schedules, with TCU scheduled for two in the final four weeks of the regular season.
Other notable games on the 2023 schedule are listed below:
- Sept. 2nd: West Virginia at Penn State
- Sept. 9th: Texas at Alabama
- Sept. 16th: Pitt at West Virginia
- Sept. 23rd: BYU at Kansas, UCF at Kansas State, Oklahoma at Cincinnati - The Cougars, Knights and Bearcats make their conference debuts
- Oct. 7th: Oklahoma vs. Texas at Cotton Bowl in Dallas
- Nov. 2nd: TCU at Texas Tech
- Nov. 4th: Oklahoma at Oklahoma State
- Nov. 24th: TCU at Oklahoma, Texas Tech at Texas
The 2023 Dr. Pepper Big 12 Football Championship Game is scheduled for Dec. 2nd at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
Some other notes from the schedule include Oklahoma State playing just one Texas team in its entire schedule (Nov. 18th at Houston) and TCU opening its season against Deion Sanders and Colorado in Fort Worth.
According to Mitch Harper at KSL-TV in Salt Lake City, BYU's Sept. 29th home game against Cincinnati was set for Friday night in order to accomodate the LDS Church's General Conference.
Kickoff times for the first three weeks of the season are normally released in late May or early June.