
Predicted order of finish
The conference is deep, as eight or nine of its 10 teams should be competitive (sorry Kansas). They play a full round robin schedule, so there should be plenty of good matchups throughout the season.
Oklahoma is still the favorite, but they are vulnerable with their losses on offense.
TCU leads a second tier with four teams that could steal the conference crown. Texas, Oklahoma State, and West Virginia are the other contenders.
Iowa State, Kansas State and Texas Tech wonāt be pushovers. They will likely land in the six to eight win range.
Baylor is a wild card, getting to a bowl game is a likely attainable goal.
Kansas gonna Kansas.
While a team could leapfrog (foreshadowing?) the Sooners, thereās no clear candidate to do so.
- Oklahoma-The Sooners still have plenty of pieces on offense to go with a young, improving defense. Theyāll likely be challenged, but itās hard to identify who the specific challenger will be.
- TCU-For a team thatās only been in a Power 5 conference for six years, Gary Patterson has steadily built the Horned Frogs into a consistent contender in the Big 12. They should have the conferenceās top defense, with plenty of weapons on offense.
- West Virginia-While the Mountaineers donāt have the systemic depth of the conferenceās top programs, they return all the big names on offense. The defense has been steady in recent years. With the other losses across the conference, 2018 could line up as their year to come out on top.
- Texas-Despite a few big losses on defense, they otherwise return mostly intact and strong on that side of the ball. The success of the offense with Shane Buechele and Sam Ehlinger will determine how dangerous of a threat the Longhorns are in Tom Hermanās second year.
- Oklahoma State-2018 will be a test of the infrastructure Mike Gundy has built in Stillwater. Losses of Rudolph and receivers James Washington and Marcell Ateman leave the Pokes looking for answers in the passing game. Jim Knowles comes over from Duke to replace Glenn Spencer as defensive coordinator.
- Iowa State-The Cyclones were the conferenceās surprise team in 2017, pulling off upsets of both Oklahoma and TCU. Star running back David Montgomery and quarterback Kyle Kempt return to lead the offense, and most of the defense is back as well, but they wonāt sneak up on anyone in Matt Campbellās third year.
- Kansas State-Last year, KSU dealt with several injuries and used some luck to get to eight wins. Bill Snyder has most of the team returning this year, but will have to replace both coordinators.
- Texas Tech-Kliff Klingsbury has some work to do, as his offense lost nearly every significant skill position player from 2017. Instead, the Red Raiders will count on their defense (yes, Iām serious), led by preseason All-Big 12 selections LB Dakota Allen, CB Justus Parker, and S JahāShawn Johnson
- Baylor-Matt Rhule went 1-11 in his first season in Waco. Now the Bears are eyeing bowl eligibility as they continue to rebuild from the ugly scandal under Art Briles.
- Kansas-college footballās version of Hue Jackson, David Beaty better show some progress in his fourth year after going 3-33 in his first three seasons. Running back Khalil Herbert could be worth watching. He ran for 291 yards in last yearās loss to West Virginia.