What opposing Big 12 coaches told Athlon Sports about the Cougars … “They have the most questions of any new team in the league by far. In the short term, they’ve got to replace a lot of their best playmakers, and they were really streaky last year and don’t look like they’re league-ready at all. The obvious concern is how they recruit because they didn’t have enough depth to hold up on an independent schedule. Now they’re going to be playing more physical teams every week, so you could really see the bottom fall out, at least at first.”

A grueling 2023 schedule may be hard for BYU to overcome in its abrupt transition to the Big 12. The Cougars have road trips to Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas and West Virginia, in addition to a non-conference matchup at Arkansas in mid-September. The offensive line may have multiple transfer starters, but if the pieces mesh together, it could be a strength in front of former USC and Pittsburgh quarterback Kedon Slovis, as well as UNLV transfer running back Aidan Robbins.