Big 12 Football: 5 incredibly early bold predictions for the 2023 season
By John Buhler
Big 12 football fans are only going to have to wait a few months to see this puppy play out.
The league may be going through a state of major transition, but what if I told you the Big 12 is actually operating from a vantage point of strength?
Outside of the Big Ten and the SEC, the Big 12 looks like it is going to most definitely survive the latest wave of realignment. Even more impressively, the league seems to have a forward-thinking newish commissioner in Brett Yormark, one who could be the guy to get the most out of quirkiest sport in the quirkiest league possible. As an eclectic, I am totally here for it, as you should be, too.
Here are five things that are 100 percent going to happen in a 14-team Big 12 this college season.
Big 12 football: 5 way-too-early bold predictions for the 2023 college season
5. Every man can’t be a Wildcat and there won’t be no purple frogs in Jerryworld!
Over the last three Big 12 Championship games, we have been blessed to have a completely different pair in each ballgame. All three conference title bouts have been decided by six points or less. Oklahoma edged out Iowa State during the COVID year. Baylor kept Oklahoma State out of the College Football Playoff by a yard. And K-State beat TCU, but didn’t knock them out of the CFP.
Although Kansas State and TCU have outstanding head coaches at the helm of their purple Power Five programs, I expect for both the Wildcats and definitely the Horned Frogs to pull back. Oh, they’re going to win like eight or nine games apiece and be fixtures in the AP Top 25. I just don’t think we are going to see either of them in Arlington next season. Luck will not be on their sides.
Between the two, I believe in K-State more because the Wildcats return more than do the Horned Frogs. Plus, I also subscribe to the notion that Chris Klieman is the best head coach in the league. Sonny Dykes is really strong as well, but he was kind of considered an afterthought before becoming a holy servant to the sacred Hypnotoad. I would sell out, too. That thing is so awesome!
For the fourth year in a row, we will have two different teams playing for a Big 12 championship.