Big 12 Score Predictions for Week 1

Predicting every game on the Big 12 opening week slate.

James Snook-USA TODAY Sports

College football is officially back. Each week throughout the 2024 season, I'll predict the score of every game on the Big 12 schedule. Last season, I finished with a record of 71-34 (.676). Let's see if we can top that this fall, starting off with a perfect 16-0 Week 1. Wishful thinking, I know.

UCF 54, New Hampshire 10

Expect a big day for RJ Harvey. I could see him rushing for 150+ yards and a couple of scores as the Knights make easy work of the Wildcats.

Kansas 70, Lindenwood 3

Lindenwood? Come on, Kansas. You have to find a more intriguing opponent to open up your season with. At least schedule Central Arkansas or Eastern Illinois. This is an absolute snooze fest. Rock chalk wins bigs.

Colorado 30, North Dakota State 24

Deion Sanders admitted that if it were up to him he would never play a school with "Dokota" in it. I mean, can you blame him? Every single one of those teams plays hard, smart, and gives FBS teams a scare on a regular basis. I'm going Buffs > Bison but it'll be a dandy of a game.

Utah 44, Southern Utah 14

This feels like one of those games where the Utes come in expecting to win big and kind of sleepwalk through the first half. They'll eventually snap out of it and win comfortably.

TCU 27, Stanford 20

Stanford is expected to finish dead last in the weak ACC. The Cardinal may be in rebuild mode, but I don't trust TCU that much, especially on the road. The Frogs win a tight one.

Penn State vs. West Virginia

This score prediction will be included on Thursday once our WVU-Penn State prediction article has been published.

Oklahoma State 34, South Dakota State 24

How many times have we seen Mike Gundy teams struggle in these types of games? I mean, it was just last year when they got stomped at home by South Alabama. They'll avoid the loss this time around, but the Jackrabbits will give them all they can handle.

Cincinnati 41, Towson 10

There doesn't appear to be very many opportunities for Cincinnati to rack up Ws in 2024. This is one of them.

Iowa State 30, North Dakota 13

Another Dakota, so that means another rock fight, right? Well, maybe, but not for the full game here. The Cyclones defense will take care of business, giving the offense plenty of time to settle in.

Kansas State 48, UT Martin 6

The Skyhawks are a pretty solid FCS opponent, but K-State just has way too much for this to ever really be a game.

Baylor 45, Tarleton State 14

Tarleton State hasn't fared that well against the Big 12's TCU and Texas Tech the previous two seasons and although Baylor isn't a top of the league team, they'll still have issues with the Bears. Baylor wins big.

Houston 27, UNLV 23

Willie Fritz will have the Cougars turned around soon, but it's not going to be this year, though. They'll get out of Week 1 with a win, getting a scare from the Running Rebels.

Texas Tech 48, Abilene Christian 0

I won't spend much time with this one. Do I really need to? Tahj Brooks runs wild, making a case for Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week.

BYU 33, Southern Illinois 17

Because BYU has so many question marks offensively, I see the Salukis making this one interesting. The Cougars will pull away midway through the fourth quarter on the right arm of Jake Retzlaff.

Arizona 55, New Mexico 10

This one's already over. The question really should be - Does Arizona hang more than 55?

Arizona State 24, Wyoming 23

Why wait until Week 2 to predict a walk-off field goal when you can do it in Week 1? Arizona State trails for much of this game, but leaves the field happy thanks to a 45-yard game-winner from Parker Lewis.

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