How does USF compare to future Big 12 teams UCF, BYU, Cincinnati and Houston?
Big 12 expansion ramped up Wednesday when UCF and Cincinnati formally applied to to join the league, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer and UCF’s Rivals site. The Big 12 is also expected to add Houston and BYU with an announcement coming as soon as Friday.
As those four programs prepare to join a Power Five conference, USF is stuck in the AAC. To see why, you have to understand what the Big 12 values in this round of realignment. Those factors include TV audience, football relevance/success, market size and a fan base’s engagement, according to reports from The Athletic, Sports Illustrated, CBS and The Action Network’s Brett McMurphy.
Let’s see how USF compares to the others in those areas:
Football record since 2011
USF: 55-66
UCF: 84-43
Cincinnati: 85-42
Houston: 78-47
BYU: 82-48
Recent football success
USF: Top-25 finishes in 2016-17, rose to No. 2 nationally in 2007 before finishing unranked
UCF: Three New Year’s Six/BCS bowl games since 2013, undefeated in ‘17
Cincinnati: Three New Year’s Six/BCS bowl games since 2008, now ranked in top 10
Houston: Three coaches have won double-digit games since 2006, beat Florida State in 2015 Peach Bowl
BYU: Six seasons with double-digit wins since 2006, including 11-1 record last year
NFL draft picks since 2011
USF: 14
UCF: 21
Cincinnati: 16
Houston: 15
BYU: 11
Social media following (Instagram + Twitter + Facebook)
USF: 197,000
UCF: 387,000
Cincinnati: 167,000
Houston: 247,000
BYU: 348,000
TV market rank (homes)
USF: No. 13 (2 million)
UCF: No. 17 (1. 7 million)
Cincinnati: No. 36 (926,000)
Houston: No. 8 (2.6 million)
BYU: No. 30 (1.1 million)
Average TV viewership on ESPN/ABC/Fox (2015-19)*
USF: 1.8 million
UCF: 3.3 million
Cincinnati: 2.1 million
Houston: 2.3 million
BYU: 2.0 million
Games with more than 2 million viewers (2015-19)*
USF: 5
UCF: 7
Cincinnati: 8
Houston: 10
BYU: 8
Average home attendance (2015-19)*
USF: 33,266
UCF: 38,424
Cincinnati: 33,139
Houston: 26,736
BYU: 57,078
Sources: Nielsen, Sports Media Watch
* Note: The pandemic made 2020 an outlier in attendance and viewership, so we excluded it from these categories.
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