No Big 12 Expansion means BYU will come to Starkville in 2017

Oct 14, 2016; Provo, UT, USA; Brigham Young Cougars running back Jamaal Williams (21) runs the ball against Mississippi State Bulldogs linebacker Richie Brown (39) at Lavell Edwards Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports

The Big 12 announced they are not going to expand their conference, leaving BYU and others out in the cold.

The Big 12, or XII, should really change it’s name because now they’ve officially decided to stay at 10 teams. BYU was one of the major candidates for inclusion into an expanded Big 12 but it’s not going to happen.

That means BYU will complete the home and home with Mississippi State and make the return trip to Starkville in 2017.

BYU is currently an independent so all of their current contracts would be on the chopping block. They have 12 games on the books and none of them were against Big 12 teams so eight of those contracts would’ve had to been bought out…..leaving a 67% chance MSU would be one of them.

If BYU had joined the Big 12 and cancelled the 2017 game at Mississippi State, it would’ve left our eventual new athletic director scrambling for another game – which has to be a power five game per SEC rules. Options would’ve been extremely limited, and likely forced MSU into a kickoff game at a neutral site….perhaps against one of BYU’s other canceled opponents.

That would have also meant having only six home games in 2017, just like we’ve had in 2016, because MSU is traveling to Louisiana Tech next year.

Tulane canceled on us for the 2016 season which forced the game at UMass. Back-to-back years with only six home games for a SEC school is pretty bad. Most SEC teams have at least seven and sometimes eight.

So it didn’t happen, and now we can be assured of seven home games in 2017 and a chance at revenge for the loss to BYU.