ESPN was probably closest as far as predicting where Tech finishes. Surprisingly.
Except for OU and ku the other predictions were really not very accurate. So, pretty much what many folks were saying at the beginning of the year. Preseason predictions usually aint close except for maybe a couple of teams.
They all undervalued osu, way undervalued bu, and overvalued ut (CFN had ut finishing tied for second with isu
) and isu. It just goes to show a lot of these predictions are based on the results of the previous year. Which is the lazy way to predict.
Having said that, I guess there is still time for some of those predictions to align more with preseason predictions. But I doubt it.
Preseason predictions
CFN
1. Oklahoma
T2. Iowa State*
T2. Texas
T4. Oklahoma State
T4. TCU
T6. Kansas State
T6. West Virginia
T8. Baylor
T8. Texas Tech
10. Kansas
*Iowa State predicted to win tie-breaker with Texas for No. 2 spot
CBS sports - top their credit they had ut as the most overrated team. Much to ESPN's dismay.
The word: What a wild offseason it was for Kansas. After mutually parting ways with Les Miles following sexual harassment allegations surfacing from his days at LSU, the program also fired athletic director Jeff Long. Kansas hired Northwestern deputy AD Travis Goff on April 5, who hired Lance Leipold away from Buffalo. Leipold has a track record of winning everywhere he’s been, but he inherits a roster that went 0-9 in the unorthodox 2020 season. Under Miles in 2019, Kansas defeated Boston College and Texas Tech. Kansas has not won multiple Big 12 games since 2008. Should Leipold somehow do that in his first year, it would be a massive success.
The word: Year one of the Dave Aranda era brought a lot of challenges. On top of dealing with multiple COVID-19 related postponements, Aranda had to spend his first year as a head coach navigating through a pandemic. The Bears went 2-7 with wins coming against Kansas and Kansas State, which they needed a last-second field goal to accomplish. On top of last year’s struggles, Baylor lost quarterback Charlie Brewer and will be breaking in a new one this coming season Jacob Zeno and Gerry Bohanon are the top contenders for the starting job while Blake Shapen and incoming freshman Kyron Drones also give Aranda and Co. other options.
The word: A 4-1 start that included an upset win on the road over Oklahoma had some thinking about a Big 12 title in year two under Chris Klieman, but things got bad after that. The Wildcats lost their last five games of the season, largely due to the loss of quarterback Skylar Thompson in the third game of the season, finishing at 4-6. Kansas State will get Thompson back this year, which is an encouraging sign and an inexperienced offensive line got much-needed reps this year. But until we see how Thompson works with a receiving corps that lost its top receiver in tight end Briley Moore, there are questions. Deuce Vaughn was spectacular as a true freshman, but Kansas State will need some other guys to step up.
The word: West Virginia just couldn’t seem to find its momentum in 2020. The Mountaineers won back-to-back games just one time this year and that was due to playing the likes of Baylor and Kansas. West Virginia’s defense blew away the rest of the conference, ranking No. 1 in scoring defense (20.5 points per game) and total defense (291.4 yards per game) but there’s work to do on offense. That starts at the quarterback position with either Jarret Doege or freshman Garrett Greene. The Mountaineers return running back Ledee Brown and four of the top five receivers from a year ago.
The word: Matt Wells enters a crucial year three in Lubbock, and after losing quarterback Alan Bowman to the transfer portal, Wells got a major boost by landing Oregon transfer signal-caller Tyler Shough. The Red Raiders won just four games last year, matching the total wins in Wells’ first year on the sidelines with the school. Texas Tech started out 2-5 this year and salvaged a 4-6 record by beating up on Baylor and Kansas late in the year. Shough played and started in all seven games for Oregon in 2020. He finished the season throwing for 1,559 yards and 13 touchdowns, completing 106 of his 167 attempts. Shough also took off running 66 times in 2020 and finished the year with 271 yards on the ground and two more touchdowns. He’ll provide a big boost to the Red Raiders.
The word: Things are really looking up for Gary Patterson’s bunch in Fort Worth. TCU finished the year winning five of six games to end the year and had a chance for a bowl win before it was canceled. Max Duggan will be back for his third season and will likely be healthy, so that should give the Horned Frogs a nice boost, or perhaps Chandler Morris takes over at quarterback if Duggan doesn’t meet expectations. Could TCU be a dark horse pick to reach the Big 12 title game?
The word: It might be a surprise to some to see Texas at the fourth spot here. Texas made the decision to fire head coach Tom Herman and hired Steve Sarkisian away from Alabama. Herman went 32-18 and was 4-0 in bowl games at Texas, but that wasn’t enough for the Longhorns, which clearly shows they have high expectations for the program. And Sarkisian will be expected to meet those expectations, despite losing his starting quarterback, his best offensive linemen and other players. It’ll be Casey Thompson or Hudson Card at quarterback, and they’ll have one of the conference’s most explosive players to hand the ball off to in Bijan Robinson.
The word: This past season looked like Oklahoma State’s best chance in a while to win a Big 12 Championship, so missing out on the title game completely hurt. The Cowboys still have pieces they can get excited about on defense but the offense is questionable right now. Spencer Sanders will be back but he lost his top weapon in Tylan Wallace and running back Chuba Hubbard is gone as well. It will be an interesting year in Stillwater.
The word: When it comes to teams returning a large amount of experience, Iowa State is right at the top of the list. Out of 22 starters on offense and defense, the Cyclones return 20 of them from a team that played for the Big 12 Championship. With players like Brock Purdy and Breece Hall back along with star tight end Charlie Kolar, the Cyclones will be a popular pick to return to the title game where they fell just short against Oklahoma last season.
The word: Oklahoma started off the season a bit rough last year as it transitioned into a new quarterback under center with Spencer Rattler. After blowing out Missouri State in the first week of the season, Oklahoma then lost its first two Big 12 games of the year, as the redshirt freshman Rattler threw four interceptions in those two games. But after that 0-2 start, the Sooners got hot. They won’t only open the season as the preseason pick to win the Big 12, but some think this is the year they can get back to the College Football Playoff and make some noise.
“I think you have to be (on this bandwagon),” ESPN SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum said Monday on WJOX FM’s The Roundtable. “And there will be some … pick them No. 1 in the country, and I can see that. There are some faults with Clemson. There are some minor faults with Alabama, Georgia — the obvious fault being Georgia. And Oklahoma, you can’t find any. And the schedule is pretty good. I think their big non-conference game is at home and nobody’s going to get too concerned about Texas anymore.”
Records include games against Division I opponents only.
Streaks include games against all opponents.
ELO Quadrant 1 (Q1): FBS Opponents (1-25)
Except for OU and ku the other predictions were really not very accurate. So, pretty much what many folks were saying at the beginning of the year. Preseason predictions usually aint close except for maybe a couple of teams.
They all undervalued osu, way undervalued bu, and overvalued ut (CFN had ut finishing tied for second with isu
) and isu. It just goes to show a lot of these predictions are based on the results of the previous year. Which is the lazy way to predict.Having said that, I guess there is still time for some of those predictions to align more with preseason predictions. But I doubt it.
Preseason predictions
CFN
1. Oklahoma
T2. Iowa State*
T2. Texas
T4. Oklahoma State
T4. TCU
T6. Kansas State
T6. West Virginia
T8. Baylor
T8. Texas Tech
10. Kansas
*Iowa State predicted to win tie-breaker with Texas for No. 2 spot
CBS sports - top their credit they had ut as the most overrated team. Much to ESPN's dismay.
Dennis Dodd | 
Tom Fornelli | 
Chip Patterson | 
Barrett Sallee | 
Ben Kercheval | 
David Cobb | 
Jerry Palm | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oklahoma | Oklahoma | Oklahoma | Oklahoma | Oklahoma | Oklahoma | Oklahoma |
| 2 | Iowa St. | Iowa St. | Iowa St. | Iowa St. | Iowa St. | Iowa St. | Iowa St. |
| 3 | Okla. St. | Texas | Texas | West Virginia | Okla. St. | TCU | Texas |
| 4 | TCU | Okla. St. | Okla. St. | Texas | Kansas St. | Texas | Okla. St. |
| 5 | Kansas St. | Kansas St. | TCU | Okla. St. | Texas | Kansas St. | TCU |
| 6 | West Virginia | TCU | West Virginia | TCU | West Virginia | West Virginia | West Virginia |
| 7 | Texas | West Virginia | Kansas St. | Baylor | TCU | Okla. St. | Kansas St. |
| 8 | Texas Tech | Baylor | Texas Tech | Texas Tech | Texas Tech | Texas Tech | Baylor |
| 9 | Baylor | Texas Tech | Baylor | Kansas St. | Baylor | Baylor | Texas Tech |
| 10 | Kansas | Kansas | Kansas | Kansas | Kansas | Kansas |
ESPN
10. KANSAS JAYHAWKS (FPI: -7.7)
(Photo: KU Athletics)The word: What a wild offseason it was for Kansas. After mutually parting ways with Les Miles following sexual harassment allegations surfacing from his days at LSU, the program also fired athletic director Jeff Long. Kansas hired Northwestern deputy AD Travis Goff on April 5, who hired Lance Leipold away from Buffalo. Leipold has a track record of winning everywhere he’s been, but he inherits a roster that went 0-9 in the unorthodox 2020 season. Under Miles in 2019, Kansas defeated Boston College and Texas Tech. Kansas has not won multiple Big 12 games since 2008. Should Leipold somehow do that in his first year, it would be a massive success.
9. BAYLOR BEARS (FPI: 5.3)
(Photo: John Rivera/Icon Sportswire, Getty)The word: Year one of the Dave Aranda era brought a lot of challenges. On top of dealing with multiple COVID-19 related postponements, Aranda had to spend his first year as a head coach navigating through a pandemic. The Bears went 2-7 with wins coming against Kansas and Kansas State, which they needed a last-second field goal to accomplish. On top of last year’s struggles, Baylor lost quarterback Charlie Brewer and will be breaking in a new one this coming season Jacob Zeno and Gerry Bohanon are the top contenders for the starting job while Blake Shapen and incoming freshman Kyron Drones also give Aranda and Co. other options.
8. KANSAS STATE WILDCATS (FPI: 5.7)
(Photo: David Purdy, Getty)The word: A 4-1 start that included an upset win on the road over Oklahoma had some thinking about a Big 12 title in year two under Chris Klieman, but things got bad after that. The Wildcats lost their last five games of the season, largely due to the loss of quarterback Skylar Thompson in the third game of the season, finishing at 4-6. Kansas State will get Thompson back this year, which is an encouraging sign and an inexperienced offensive line got much-needed reps this year. But until we see how Thompson works with a receiving corps that lost its top receiver in tight end Briley Moore, there are questions. Deuce Vaughn was spectacular as a true freshman, but Kansas State will need some other guys to step up.
7. WEST VIRGINIA MOUNTAINEERS (FPI: 11.0)
(Photo: Ben Queen, USA TODAY Sports)The word: West Virginia just couldn’t seem to find its momentum in 2020. The Mountaineers won back-to-back games just one time this year and that was due to playing the likes of Baylor and Kansas. West Virginia’s defense blew away the rest of the conference, ranking No. 1 in scoring defense (20.5 points per game) and total defense (291.4 yards per game) but there’s work to do on offense. That starts at the quarterback position with either Jarret Doege or freshman Garrett Greene. The Mountaineers return running back Ledee Brown and four of the top five receivers from a year ago.
6. TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS (FPI: 11.5)
(Photo: Ben Queen, USA TODAY Sports)The word: Matt Wells enters a crucial year three in Lubbock, and after losing quarterback Alan Bowman to the transfer portal, Wells got a major boost by landing Oregon transfer signal-caller Tyler Shough. The Red Raiders won just four games last year, matching the total wins in Wells’ first year on the sidelines with the school. Texas Tech started out 2-5 this year and salvaged a 4-6 record by beating up on Baylor and Kansas late in the year. Shough played and started in all seven games for Oregon in 2020. He finished the season throwing for 1,559 yards and 13 touchdowns, completing 106 of his 167 attempts. Shough also took off running 66 times in 2020 and finished the year with 271 yards on the ground and two more touchdowns. He’ll provide a big boost to the Red Raiders.
5. TCU HORNED FROGS (FPI: 12.1)
(Photo: Reese Strickland, USA TODAY Sports)The word: Things are really looking up for Gary Patterson’s bunch in Fort Worth. TCU finished the year winning five of six games to end the year and had a chance for a bowl win before it was canceled. Max Duggan will be back for his third season and will likely be healthy, so that should give the Horned Frogs a nice boost, or perhaps Chandler Morris takes over at quarterback if Duggan doesn’t meet expectations. Could TCU be a dark horse pick to reach the Big 12 title game?
4. TEXAS LONGHORNS (FPI: 14.2)
(Photo: © Scott Wachter, USA TODAY Sports)The word: It might be a surprise to some to see Texas at the fourth spot here. Texas made the decision to fire head coach Tom Herman and hired Steve Sarkisian away from Alabama. Herman went 32-18 and was 4-0 in bowl games at Texas, but that wasn’t enough for the Longhorns, which clearly shows they have high expectations for the program. And Sarkisian will be expected to meet those expectations, despite losing his starting quarterback, his best offensive linemen and other players. It’ll be Casey Thompson or Hudson Card at quarterback, and they’ll have one of the conference’s most explosive players to hand the ball off to in Bijan Robinson.
3. OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS (FPI: 15.0)
(Photo: Raymond Carlin III, USA TODAY Sports)The word: This past season looked like Oklahoma State’s best chance in a while to win a Big 12 Championship, so missing out on the title game completely hurt. The Cowboys still have pieces they can get excited about on defense but the offense is questionable right now. Spencer Sanders will be back but he lost his top weapon in Tylan Wallace and running back Chuba Hubbard is gone as well. It will be an interesting year in Stillwater.
2. IOWA STATE CYCLONES (FPI: 22.8)
(Photo: Rob Schumacher, USA TODAY Sports)The word: When it comes to teams returning a large amount of experience, Iowa State is right at the top of the list. Out of 22 starters on offense and defense, the Cyclones return 20 of them from a team that played for the Big 12 Championship. With players like Brock Purdy and Breece Hall back along with star tight end Charlie Kolar, the Cyclones will be a popular pick to return to the title game where they fell just short against Oklahoma last season.
1. OKLAHOMA SOONERS (FPI: 26.6)
(Photo: Kevin Jairaj, 247Sports)The word: Oklahoma started off the season a bit rough last year as it transitioned into a new quarterback under center with Spencer Rattler. After blowing out Missouri State in the first week of the season, Oklahoma then lost its first two Big 12 games of the year, as the redshirt freshman Rattler threw four interceptions in those two games. But after that 0-2 start, the Sooners got hot. They won’t only open the season as the preseason pick to win the Big 12, but some think this is the year they can get back to the College Football Playoff and make some noise.
“I think you have to be (on this bandwagon),” ESPN SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum said Monday on WJOX FM’s The Roundtable. “And there will be some … pick them No. 1 in the country, and I can see that. There are some faults with Clemson. There are some minor faults with Alabama, Georgia — the obvious fault being Georgia. And Oklahoma, you can’t find any. And the schedule is pretty good. I think their big non-conference game is at home and nobody’s going to get too concerned about Texas anymore.”
Current standings as of today
Big 12 Standings
Records include games against Division I opponents only.
Streaks include games against all opponents.
ELO Quadrant 1 (Q1): FBS Opponents (1-25)
| Conference | Overall | ELO | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Team | Record | Win % | Games Back | Record | Win % | Rank | Q1 | Last 10 | Streak | |
| 1 | Oklahoma | 6-1 | 0.857 | - | 9-1 | 0.900 | 6 | 0-1 | 9-1 | 1 Loss | |
| 1 | Oklahoma State | 6-1 | 0.857 | - | 9-1 | 0.900 | 8 | 1-0 | 9-1 | 3 Wins | |
| 3 | Baylor | 5-2 | 0.714 | 1 | 8-2 | 0.800 | 22 | 2-1 | 8-2 | 1 Win | |
| 4 | Kansas State | 4-3 | 0.571 | 2 | 7-3 | 0.700 | 31 | 0-2 | 7-3 | 4 Wins | |
| 4 | Iowa State | 4-3 | 0.571 | 2 | 6-4 | 0.600 | 28 | 1-2 | 6-4 | 1 Loss | |
| 6 | Texas Tech | 3-4 | 0.429 | 3 | 6-4 | 0.600 | 53 | 1-1 | 6-4 | 1 Win | |
| 7 | Texas | 2-5 | 0.286 | 4 | 4-6 | 0.400 | 75 | 1-3 | 4-6 | 5 Losses | |
| 7 | TCU | 2-5 | 0.286 | 4 | 4-6 | 0.400 | 80 | 1-2 | 4-6 | 1 Loss | |
| 9 | West Virginia | 2-5 | 0.286 | 4 | 4-6 | 0.400 | 82 | 0-3 | 4-6 | 2 Losses | |
| 10 | Kansas | 1-6 | 0.143 | 5 | 2-8 | 0.200 | 114 | 0-3 | 2-8 | 1 Win |
