Kansas Jayhawks football schedule in the new-look Big 12 is released

Since the 2011 season, the Big 12 has operated with just 10 teams. There were 9 conference games and every single team played each other once. What used to be a simple concept has now become more complex. Now that the conference has expanded to 14 schools, KU’s football schedule has become something to monitor.

The team opens the year with two consecutive games in Lawrence versus Missouri State and Illinois. Kansas will then travel to Nevada for their final non-conference game before matching up against a new Big 12 foe in Week 4.

Central Florida, Cincinnati, BYU, and Houston are the new additions to the Big 12. Lance Leipold’s team will be playing against the majority of those schools in conference play, excluding Houston.

This is a lot to take in at the first glance. KU will have to square off against 9 schools that reached a bowl game in 2022. That might have been a menacing number in previous seasons, but the Jayhawks were a bowl team last year as well. We now know that the Jayhawks do not shy away from competition. A late-season collapse blemished their final record — regardless, their 6 wins were far more important than they seemed on the surface.

KU is just one of the four schools in the conference that have to face off versus both Oklahoma and Texas. Although those two are usually considered some of the powerhouses in the Big 12, the Jayhawks also avoid playing Baylor and the National Championship runner-ups, the TCU Horned Frogs.

Will the four additional schools in the conference hurt the Jayhawks? It might make the conference more competitive, but it should not create more adversity for Kansas. If anything, the Big 12 might be a bit weaker in the 2023 football season.

Even if some of these schools have very talented squads, their current group of players have not competed against Big 12-caliber schools on a week-to-week basis. Additionally, with Texas and Oklahoma eventually moving to the SEC in 2024, more wins could be in store for the Jayhawks in future seasons.

Quarterback Jalon Daniels announced he is returning for his senior season, a move that provided Jayhawk fans with lots of hope for the upcoming year. The team is returning 17 of its 22 starters and brought in some intriguing recruits during the offseason. New conference opponents and the termination of divisions give the Big 12 an interesting dynamic, and how the Jayhawks respond to it remains to be seen.