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Big 12 2012 Football Schedule

February 11, 2012 by · Comments Off on Big 12 2012 Football Schedule 

Big 12 2012 Football Schedule, The verbal agreement between West Virginia and the Big East Conference that will allow the school to join the Big 12 on July 1 still has some details to be ironed out and has removed one of the major hurdles in announcing the 2012 Big 12 football schedule.

It hasn’t removed all of the hurdles, however.

Despite the tentative agreement, the Big 12 still has not released the league’s 2012 football schedule. Published reports Thursday in Texas had indicated that it would be finalized and announced Friday.

“There are other issues, not just ours,” a WVU source said. “I don’t know when we’ll have the schedule, but we were told [Friday] morning not to expect it [Friday].”

On Thursday, Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt said it was his understanding that the schedule was ready to be released, but also indicated that discussions about various adjustments within that schedule – adjustments aside from the WVU issue – were still taking place as recently as Wednesday night.

Apparently they have not all been worked out.

West Virginia officials know the basics regarding their portion of the schedule, but are remaining quiet because of the possibility of change. The Mountaineers do seem certain that of the Big 12’s traditional marquee teams, Texas and Oklahoma, one will play in Morgantown this season. The most common speculation is that it will be Oklahoma that visits Mountaineer Field.

WVU officials are also hoping to start Big 12 play with a five-game league home schedule, rather than four. Because there are 10 schools in the league, the nine-game schedules can’t be balanced, as was the case in the eight-team Big East. So schools will alternate five-game and four-game home schedules each year.

A five-game Big 12 home schedule would certainly benefit West Virginia, which is expected to have to pay at least $11 million to escape the Big East. WVU makes roughly $1 million from home football games, and a five-game league home slate would mean seven home games this season. The Mountaineers also have non-conference games against Marshall and Maryland and a game at FedEx Field in Landover, Md., against James Madison, which is expected to generate as much or more profit as a home game after expenses.

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