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By Justin Williams ARLINGTON, Texas — For months, so much of the talk about the Big 12’s latest round of expansion was about a dream realized for the four incoming programs. That theme continued at the conference’s media days this week at AT&T Stadium, with BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF joining for the first time. But with the inaugural season just a few weeks away, that sense of aspiration is beginning its shift toward a new reality and a fresh batch of expectations. “Just couldn’t be more thrilled with the situation that we’re in currently. But I keep coming back to, let’s not celebrate this too much right now,” Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen said. “I know how much work is ahead of us. You can celebrate it, but you better roll your sleeves up and embrace it.” For his part, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark was still in a celebratory mood while introducing the new-look conference, which will feature 14 teams in 2023 before Texas and Oklahoma depart for the SEC. “It’s going to be a year of celebration,” Yormark said Wednesday. “We’re going to celebrate our continuing eight, celebrate our new four, and in fact, we’re going to celebrate Texas and Oklahoma and all the contributions they’ve made to this conference since Day 1 because they will always be a big part of this conference.” On the heels of four different teams appearing in the conference’s past two championship games, including a league title for Kansas State and a national title appearance for TCU last season with Texas and Oklahoma on the outside looking in, parity was another hot topic at Jerry World for a conference that feels wide open in 2023 and beyond. “I think one of the great things about this conference is the parity from top to bottom,” Cincinnati head coach Scott Satterfield said. “From the teams that were here last year, some of the teams that were at the bottom could beat the teams that are at the top. You’ve just got to show up and play on that particular day.” The newcomers hope to be part of that equation sooner rather than later, despite the inherent resource challenges that come with new membership. The four new schools won’t be full revenue members until the extended television contract kicks in ahead of the 2025 season, their third in the league. All of those programs are in the midst of elevating their infrastructures from staffing, recruiting and facilities perspectives, including major facility projects in the works at Cincinnati, Houston and UCF. But all of that accompanies the requisite transition period before they can reap the full benefits of their power-conference lifeline. “The only way we’re going to be full share is with time. It’s going to be three years before we’re on an equal playing field,” Holgorsen said. “That doesn’t give you any excuses to not be successful and not be competitive. That’s just going to take time.” That anticipated learning curve was reflected in the Big 12’s preseason media poll, which voted UCF eighth and BYU, Houston and Cincinnati 11th, 12th and 13th, respectively. As those programs get up to power-conference speed from a roster- and resource-development perspective, is it fair for fans to expect on-field success or even competitiveness before the programs are fully integrated on the financial front? “Well, according to the media, no. Most of us were voted pretty low,” Satterfield quipped. “As a newcomer into the league, you don’t know the makeup of the other teams. The travel piece is going to be different. The revenue piece, that’s going to take a few years. … We haven’t played a game yet, so that’s going to take a few years for that to get ingrained into high school players and coaches. It will take time, there’s no question about it. But we’re also in a world, the football world, where you don’t have a lot of time. You’ve got to be good now.” Combatting that impatience is the next hurdle. Cincinnati is only two years removed from a College Football Playoff run, but it’s confronting a coaching change and significant roster turnover. Houston is coming off a respectable yet disappointing eight-win campaign in 2022 against a much easier schedule and with some notable talent drain. Same for BYU, which lost four straight in October. UCF has the most juice and is the only incoming program that returns its starting quarterback, but in some ways, that only amplifies the pressure to make an immediate impact with minimal margin for error. UCF's breakneck realignment rise, and what might come next “When you look at your schedule, there’s no off weeks,” UCF head coach Gus Malzahn said. “You’ve got to bring your A-game every week. That’s really what stands out to me coming in as a new kid on the block.” There are advantages and long-term reasons for optimism for the new programs. UCF and Cincinnati have former Power 5 head coaches at the helm and are in fertile recruiting footprints outside the Texas nucleus. BYU always has had a national reach and played a Power 5-heavy schedule as an independent, and coach Kalani Sitake experienced the Group of 5 to Power 5 jump while on staff at Utah. “I mean, I’m looking at the last six teams that played for championships here in the last three years, and there’s a lot of parity,” Sitake said. “I’m hoping that our team can add to that.” Houston might have the most relevant ties, being in a major market in the state of Texas, as well as Holgorsen having nearly two decades of experience in the Big 12, first as a longtime assistant at Texas Tech and then as the head coach at West Virginia. Not that Holgorsen is leaning too heavily into that familiarity. “Without getting too much into it, there used to be a few layups back in the day. There aren’t any layups,” Holgorsen said. “After 17 years in this league, I know what it looks like, but those advantages stop now. Leading into game day when we tee it up in the Big 12, all those experiences go away. Because everyone else we’re playing now has Big 12 experience.” There will be a grace period for the newcomers, and rightfully so, but it might not be the three years it takes for the money to flow in on a level playing field, and certainly it won’t be much longer. The clock is ticking, and the thrill of joining a new conference will get tempered as on-field results determine future celebrations. After years — and in some respects, decades — of BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF waiting for and working toward this moment, they earned a moment to bask in it. But media days made clear that a new type of anticipation is about to take hold. “This is a huge moment for our program, to be a part of the Big 12,” Malzahn said. “It’s just the excitement of playing some of the best teams in college football week in and week out and that grind that goes with it. That’s what excites me. Just the profile of our program taking that next step.”