Big 12 Favorite Texas Needs To Avoid Misstep With Conference 'Parity'

The Texas Longhorns have +105 odds to win the Big 12, according to SI Sportsbook.

The Texas Longhorns are the betting favorite in the Big 12, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are going to walk to a conference title.

Last season, conference champion Kansas State was selected to finish fifth in the Big 12 and College Football Playoff semifinalist TCU was picked seventh. Head coach Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy and Houston's Dana Holgorsen both said that there's enough parity in the Big 12 that being a favorite doesn't necessarily make it a cake walk.

"Are we basing that on history? Are we basing that on the last five years? Are we basing that on the last 50 years?" Gundy said at Big 12 Media Days. "I'm not sure how anybody really comes up with who's a favorite right now. I'm going to go back to what I said earlier, I think one of the fun things about the Big 12 is we don't really know who's going to win based on what's happened in the last few years."

Gundy brought up the point that the year prior to Baylor's 2021 conference championship, it won just two games in 2020.

Holgorsen said "every year is different" and that the Big 12 a deep conference.

"There's just so much parity in this league," Holgorsen said. "Without getting too much into it, there used to be a few lay-ups back in the day. There aren't any lay-ups. There's just the parity is good, the coaching is unbelievable, the facilities are spectacular, the support is unbelievable."

Texas doesn't leave the Lone Star State but twice in 2023, but with opponents like Alabama, Kansas, Oklahoma, Houston, Kansas State and TCU, the Longhorns will need to fire on all cylinders to avoid a misstep in their quest for the first conference title since 2009.

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