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PROVO — The Rumble in the Rockies is changing conference affiliations.
After 12 years in the Pac-12, Colorado made it official Thursday when the Buffaloes' board of regents voted unanimously to rejoin the Big 12 Conference for the 2024-25 season.
The move, which has been speculated for months and reported for weeks, is another shot against the Pac-12, which loses more than a program that went 1-11 in 2022 and won more than five games just once during its dozen years in the Pac-12. The Buffaloes are the third team to leave the league in 13 months, joining USC and UCLA who left to the Big Ten, and leaves the conference with just nine members — pending further defections.
Colorado was a founding member of the Big 12, a member of the Big Eight since 1948 that helped form the new conference from a merger with the Southwest Conference in 1996. But before the mostly Texas, Oklahoma and Central time zone-based conference extended an invitation, the Buffs were central figures in a conference that straddled both sides of the Rocky Mountain.
In returning to the Big 12, Colorado reignites former rivalries with the likes of Baylor, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Kansas State that it may have had prior to 2012. But it also reaches further back to unifying a decaying branch of history with BYU.
"We are excited for Colorado to join the Big 12 and hope the Buffaloes feel as welcomed as we have as new members of the conference," BYU president Shane Reese said in a statement from the university.
Thrilled to have a partner out west. pic.twitter.com/tp66GJXbKF
— BYU Cougars (@BYUCougars) July 27, 2023
On Dec. 3, 1937, Colorado joined with BYU, Colorado A&M (now Colorado State), Denver, Utah, Utah State and Wyoming in breaking away from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and forming the Mountain States Athletic Conference. Commonly called the Skyline Six or Big Seven and eventually dubbed the Skyline Conference, the Buffs were members of the league until accepting an invitation to join the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1947 and became the Big Six (and eventually, Big 8) Conference.
Despite its shared history, the Cougars and Buffs have only faced off 12 times in school history, with Colorado holding an 8-3-1 advantage in the series that dates back to 1923.
BYU currently boasts a two-game winning streak over Colorado, including the last meeting — a 20-17 victory in the 1988 Freedom Bowl in Anaheim, California. Current NFL offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy rushed for 144 yards and a pair of short touchdowns for the Buffaloes. BYU freshman quarterback Ty Detmer threw for 129 yards and a touchdown, and former Utah congressman Jason Chaffetz kicked two fourth-quarter field goals to win the game.
Perhaps the most famous game that BYU fans will remember came seven years prior, when quarterbacks Jim McMahon and Steve Young combined to throw for over 300 yards and five touchdowns in a 41-20 win in Boulder, Colorado, in the series' first-ever nonconference game.
No BYU team has more wins over the Buffs than men's and women's basketball, which each boast seven victories, per BYU broadcaster Greg Wrubell. The Cougar cagers are 7-17 all-time against Colorado, while women's basketball is 7-8. Women's volleyball boasts a 6-1 margin over Colorado, while women's soccer holds a 4-3-2 edge in the all-time series.
"This is a great addition to the Big 12 that will continue to make the conference stronger," BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe said. "We look forward to many great Big 12 competitions between BYU and Colorado within the Intermountain West in the years ahead."
