Big 12 Preseason Favorites Continue to Disappoint
Oklahoma State entered this season as a Big 12 favorite with College Football Playoff hopes, and its disappointing season is far from the only one in the conference.
The Cowboys finished third in the Big 12 preseason poll, coming off of a 10-win season and conference championship appearance in 2023. With almost every starter returning, they looked poised to compete for a championship.
Since their top 15 matchup against preseason favorite Utah in Stillwater, neither team has won a game. This season has been a disaster for both programs, but it has become a disappointment for almost every other team near the top of the preseason poll as well.
On Saturday, Kansas State fell at home to Arizona State to fall to 7-3. Although the Wildcats are not technically eliminated from Big 12 contention, it would take a lot of chaos in the final two weeks for any three-loss team to make it to Arlington.
The Wildcats entered as the No. 2 team in the preseason poll and were the only team in the top 5 still in contention in November. Kansas finished fourth and, despite its recent upset wins, started 1-6 to quickly be out of the Big 12 race.
Meanwhile, another Pac-12 newcomer, Arizona, was slated to finish fifth but is staring at a 4-6 record through 10 games. Iowa State, at sixth, had the highest preseason spot of any team still in serious contention.
BYU (13) and Colorado (11) are the only teams remaining with one conference loss and were both expected to finish outside the top 10. Arizona State was picked to finish last in the preseason poll, yet an 8-2 record has the Sun Devils still holding out hope for a trip to Arlington, with a matchup against BYU next week.
Needless to say, the Big 12 has been unpredictable this season, but the teams expected to compete are the teams on the outside looking in as December approaches.
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Ivan is a sports media student at Oklahoma State University. He has covered OSU athletics since 2022 and also covers the OKC Thunder for Inside The Thunder and Thunderous Intentions.