Here are four takeaways from the Big 12 media’s college football preseason poll.
The conference is wide-open
The departures of Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC left an opening atop the Big 12, potentially creating a vicious power struggle for conference control.
The Sooners and Longhorns won the Big 12 championship in 18 of the 29 seasons they were both in the conference (1996-2024). With them out of the picture, Baylor and Kansas State are tied for the most conference titles among active members (three).
Among those two programs, Big 12 media likes the Wildcats more in 2024. They’re among five teams to receive a first-place vote and rank No. 2 overall. Meanwhile, the Bears were one of five teams to receive fewer than 300 voting points, ranking 12th out of 16 teams.
Newcomers might have a chance
Utah leads the pack after a tight vote, receiving one more first-place vote (20) than Kansas State (19). The former Mountain West member (1999-2010) has won wherever it’s played, including most recently in the Pac-12, where it won back-to-back conference titles in 2021 and 2022.
Arizona nabbed three first-place votes and finished fifth in the poll, trailing Oklahoma State (No. 3) and Kansas (No. 4), in addition to Utah and Kansas State. Despite 2023 head coach Jedd Fisch leaving the program for Washington, it retained Noah Fifita, one of the best returning quarterbacks in college football.
Arizona replaced Fisch with Brent Brennan, who coached San Jose State from 2017-23. Brennan led the Spartans to three bowl appearances over his last four seasons, the same number of bowls the program played from 1991-2019.
Don’t sleep on Kansas
Most years, Kansas football is just something fans in Lawrence watch to pass the time until basketball season starts. But not this year.
As noted above, the Jayhawks are fourth in the preseason media poll, having received five first-place votes. Oft-injured quarterback Jalon Daniels, if he stays healthy, gives Kansas a legitimate chance to win its first conference championship.
He’s dealt with shoulder and back injuries that have cut his past two seasons short.
In 12 games since the start of 2022, Daniels is 208-of-305 (68.2 percent) for 2,719 yards, 23 touchdowns and five interceptions.
Head coach Lance Leipold took over a program that former head coach Les Miles ran into the ground and has turned it quickly, going from 2-10 in Year 1 to 6-7 in 2022 and 9-4 last season.
Realistic expectations set at Colorado
We can rule out Big 12’s media members as the source of Colorado’s absurd power rankings in “EA Sports College Football 25.” Instead, voters set realistic expectations for Deion Sanders in the Buffaloes’ first season back in the conference after leaving for the Pac-12 in 2011.
Colorado placed 11th in the preseason poll, indicating that its porous defense and shoddy offensive line play from a season ago hasn’t been forgotten by everyone.