Football Players In Big 12 Try To Guess What City BYU Is In
Aug 18, 2023, 6:39 PM | Updated: 6:48 pm
BYU football is preparing for their first season in the Big 12 Conference. (Matthew Norton/BYU Photo)
(Matthew Norton/BYU Photo)
PROVO, Utah – The Big 12 Conference is still getting used to the addition of the four new schools, specifically the BYU Cougars.
Multiple football players and coaches from schools in the Big 12 tried to name the city that BYU calls home with varying levels of success.
❔❔❔🤔🤨🤔 pic.twitter.com/IW5KT1hjwy
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) August 18, 2023
Every single coach in the video knew that Provo was the correct answer.
Of the 18 players featured, eight knew that BYU played in Provo.
Some who got it wrong were on the right track though. A few said Salt Lake City and another knew it was in Utah.
Stadium of the Night 🌚
🏟️ LaVell Edwards Stadium
✅ Capacity: 63,470
📍 Provo, UT pic.twitter.com/fNkmzOkJOV— CFB Home (@CFBHome) April 5, 2023
Some of the answers were questionable, to say the least.
One player thought BYU was in New York, another thought the city’s name began with an ‘I’, and one thought the name of the city was just Brigham Young.
Maybe a year of traveling to LaVell Edwards Stadium will improve BYU knowledge in the Big 12.
New Conference. New Look. pic.twitter.com/yXtHvduCIg
— BYU FOOTBALL (@BYUfootball) June 30, 2023
How Big 12 Coaches View BYU Entering Inaugural Season
Joey McGuire, Texas Tech
“Love what BYU does and the style of play,” McGuire said.
Texas Tech landed three of the four newcomers (BYU, UCF, Houston) on its 2023 Big 12 schedule. KSL Sports asked McGuire how much study he has already placed into the new Big 12 teams.
“Well, we played two of them,” McGuire said, referencing his time as an assistant coach at Baylor. “So in 2021, when I was at Baylor, we played BYU. I’ve prepped for BYU. Man, they’ve got a phenomenal program. I’m really anxious to play there. I hear their fan base is absolutely incredible.”
Lance Leipold, Kansas
KSL Sports asked Leipod his thoughts on opening Big 12 play against BYU this season. The former Wisconsin-Whitewater quarterback then went into a story about his days as a recruit.
“I got a letter from LaVell Edwards when I was in high school. … I thought I was a good quarterback, but obviously, I probably wasn’t that good of a quarterback. No, I wasn’t that good,” Leipold said jokingly.
Matt Campbell, Iowa State
The eighth-year Iowa State head coach shared some admiration for the BYU football program when he was a player.
“As a young kid, I always dreamed of playing against BYU, and that Provo area is something that I grew up watching those games late night on ESPN, and really look forward to the opportunity to go compete there,” said Campbell.
Chris Klieman, Kansas State
The defending Big 12 Champion coach acknowledged that he hasn’t looked at a single snap of BYU this offseason. That’s because Kansas State doesn’t play BYU in 2023. He said he will probably look at the Cougars next winter.
But he did speak on the BYU program.
“BYU is one of the prettiest settings in college football,” Klieman said.
Then Klieman referenced his previous visit to BYU. He was an assistant coach at Northern Iowa when the Panthers rolled into Provo in 2008.
“They had a really good football and I thought we had a really good team,” said Klieman. “But it’s a great atmosphere for football and those guys will travel really well.”
Scott Satterfield, Cincinnati
Satterfield was asked by KSL Sports about his thoughts on Cincinnati’s first Big 12 road game being in Provo on a Friday night.
Cincinnati 🏈 is not looking forward to playing #BYU on a short week.
“I hate short weeks.” – Head coach Scott Satterfield #KSLBig12 #Big12 #Bearcats https://t.co/Y20lyvIe3E
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) July 13, 2023
“That’s a long trip for us and that’s going to be a night game. I think maybe 10:30 eastern time on that Friday night. We know that’s a hostile environment, going out to BYU. They’ve got a great football team and a great fan support there.”
For more commentary from Satterfield on BYU, you can check out Matt Baiamonte’s recap.
Sonny Dykes, TCU
KSL Sports asked Dykes if he was aware of the history between BYU and TCU during the late 2000s in the Mountain West Conference.
He acknowledge that he was aware and sees similarities between the two institutions.
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“Two, I think, institutions that both have had a lot of success and I think they’ve kind of done it the same way. You go back and look at TCU’s history and BYU’s history; they have both been kind of blue-collar institutions. And what I mean by that is, you know, you look at BYU, throwing the ball around and all the numbers passing and all that. BYU was always really good because they were really physical up front and had a great offensive line and they played a really good defense. I think that they kind of shared that characteristic with TCU.”
Steve Sarkisian, Texas
The former BYU quarterback gave a lot of praise to his former teammate, Kalani Sitake, and his alma mater.
“You know, people have asked me before about BYU now being in the Big 12 and how that’ll be. To me, BYU has been a national brand for decades, and going back to Coach Edwards and what he was able to do and some of the great teams and great programs and now to be in a Power Five situation in the Big 12, I’m happy for them. I’m happy for BYU. I’m happy for their alumni and those players. I think it’s a great opportunity.”
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Chandler Holt is a co-host for the Jazz Notes podcast and a Digital Sports Producer for sports.ksl.com, specializing in all things basketball and football. Follow Chandler on Twitter @ChandlerHoltKSL or on Threads @chandlerho1t.
