After years of anticipation and preparation, BYU's athletic department is wrapping up its first year in the Big 12. In its first year in the Big 12, BYU's football team stumbled at the finish line, losing its final five games and missing a bowl game, while BYU basketball exceeded expectations, finishing fifth in the Big 12 and earning a sixth seed in the NCAA Tournament.
After the basketball season, Mark Pope transferred to Kentucky and BYU made a splashy hire of Kevin Young, who and his staff added several promising players to the team and also managed to retain Darin Hall and Richie Sanders, who entered the transfer portal. Interest in BYU basketball increased to its highest level since Jimmer Fredette as BYU basketball enjoyed a successful first Big 12 campaign.
Despite all the attention on basketball over the past few months, interest in BYU football has outpaced interest in BYU basketball in the first year of the Big 12. According to Google Trends, peak search interest in BYU football exceeded peak interest in BYU basketball by 6%.
Search volume for BYU football peaked in late September, after BYU had a major upset win over Arkansas and was preparing for its Big 12 opener against Kansas.
However, BYU basketball has certainly closed the gap on BYU football in the 2023-2024 school year. From 2011-2022, interest in BYU football outpaced interest in BYU basketball by an average of 65%. You have to go back to Jimmer Fredette's senior year in 2010-2011 to find the last time interest in BYU basketball outpaced BYU football.
The graph below shows Google search queries for BYU Football and BYU Basketball, with the royal colors indicating more interest in football than basketball and the navy blue years indicating more interest in BYU Basketball than football.
BYU is a football school. The data from the past decade proves that. But winning generates interest, and BYU basketball had a much higher winning percentage than football last year. Basketball's success has allowed the school to quickly close the gap on football.
For the long-term health of the athletics department, BYU needs football success. Football success is like a rising tide that floats all boats. In reality, BYU football is not in competition with BYU basketball. The success of one feeds the success of the other, and success builds the entire BYU brand.
If BYU Football can become more competitive in the Big 12 and compete for the Big 12 Championship, interest in BYU Football will reach an all-time high. BYU has never had this much access and exposure in college football before. BYU Football has a lot of potential, but it's up to the current staff and players to realize that potential.
Meanwhile, as long as BYU remains in the Big 12, interest in BYU basketball will continue to grow.
