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The Big 12 is one of the deepest leagues in college football, and while it may not have the same top-end talent that the SEC and the Big Ten has, there will be plenty of drama up and down the standings throughout the season.
Last year, the race to Dallas for the conference title game came all the way down to the last week of the regular season. Four teams finished in a tie for first place with a 7-2 conference record, but Arizona State and Iowa State edged out BYU and Colorado for the two spots in the conference title game.
The Sun Devils completed their Cinderella season, winning the conference title in dominant fashion before nearly upsetting Texas in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals at the Peach Bowl.
Arizona State will be one of the top teams in the league again, but there will be plenty of squads right on its heels chasing a conference title. With just over a month to go until the regular season gets going, here's an early look at the favorites, the bottom feeders and everyone in between.
1. Arizona State
The top two spots were nearly a tie, something that very well could happen in the final standings, but the defending champs get the nod here. Sam Leavitt is one of the best returning quarterbacks in the conference and Jordyn Tyson could win the Biletnikoff Award as the best wide receiver in the country if he stays healthy.
Cam Skattebo is gone, but the Sun Devils still have more returners than just about anyone else in the conference. Kenny Dillingham and company should be competing for a CFP spot once again in 2025.
2. Kansas State
Kansas state had a somewhat rocky season last year, dropping a couple of winnable games and falling out of the conference title race. The Wildcats were still a very formidable opponent, but they will feel like they let a chance to win a conference title get away considering the talent they had.
Outside of running back DJ Giddens, Kansas State has a lot of returning talent on both sides of the ball. Avery Johnson is arguably the most athletic quarterback in the Big 12, and Dylan Edwards gives Chris Klieman and company one of the most explosive weapons in America. Another year of growth from those two should allow Kansas State to be right at the top of the conference.
3. TCU
TCU has had a pair of middling seasons since its Cinderella run to the National Championship Game in 2022, but Sonny Dykes now has a squad that he will feel can compete at the top of the conference. It all starts with quarterback Josh Hoover, who can throw it all over the yard and might be the best quarterback nobody is talking about heading into the season.
Replacing star wide receivers Savion Williams and Jack Bech will be a challenge, but TCU will still be able to throw the ball on just about anyone. The defense will dictate just how far up this list the Horned Frogs can rise.
4. Texas Tech
The offseason champions of the Big 12 may be a year or two away from truly contending at the top of college football, but Joey McGuire's squad should still be competitive and have a big say in the Big 12 race this season. Behren Morton is back at quarterback for the Red Raiders, giving them some continuity even after an offseason of change.
McGuire and company completely redid a defense that was up and down at best in 2024, especially on the edge. Georgia Tech transfer Romello Height and Stanford transfer David Bailey should immediately give Texas Tech a great pass rush, and that should be a catalyst for them the rest of the way.
5. Iowa State
Iowa State is another group that lost its two top pass catchers to the NFL in Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel, but quarterback Rocco Becht should be one of the top passers in the Big 12 for Matt Campbell's group. The Cyclones also have a ton of experience returning on the offensive line, so there will be plenty of continuity on that side of the ball.
Campbell has usually been able to field a strong defense, and Iowa State will also get linebacker Caleb Bacon back after missing all of last season due to injury. While they come in fifth on this list, it would be no surprise to see the Cyclones back in Dallas again in December.
6. Utah
Utah had a nightmare season in 2024, suffering injury after injury throughout the season including to quarterback Cam Rising. Now, the Utes have brought in New Mexico signal caller Devon Dampier to run the offense and should have a bruising offensive line led by one of the top tackle duos in the country in Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu.
Defensively, Kyle Whittingham always has a tough, physical unit that is well-coached and performs well no matter who is healthy. That should be the case once again, and even in a high-flying league, there is still a place for a bruising team like the Utes that gets it done at the line of scrimmage.
7. Baylor
Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson is high on my list of potential NFL Draft risers over the course of the 2025 season, and he has a chance to lift the Bears back into conference title contention. Dave Aranda and company came closer to that conference title than many realized last season, finishing one game out of the top spot after losing an early-season game against Colorado on a Hail Mary and a fumble at the six-inch line.
Aranda is still a great defensive mind despite not having a ton to work with last season during a disappointing campaign on that side of the ball. If a transfer-heavy infusion lifts the defense to the top half of the league, the Bears can be dangerous.
8. Colorado
There will be a lot of noise around the Buffs after losing Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter, but Colorado still returns a lot of what helped it improve last season. A majority of a very good pass rush is back along with an elite cornerback in DJ McKinney that has a chance to be a first-round pick next spring.
The offense will be the big question, and the addition of Kaidon Salter at quarterback means that Pat Shurmur will have to overhaul his scheme. Based on some of his adjustment issues throughout the last two seasons, it could take a while to get this CU offense off the ground in 2025.
9. Kansas
Kansas had its big breakout in 2023, but Lance Leipold and company fell far short of expectations in 2024. Still, a late-season win over Colorado put an exclamation point on a surge for the Jayhawks at the end of the year, and they will look to take that momentum into 2025.
Jalon Daniels is one of the most explosive quarterbacks in the country, but he needs to bring the consistency that he showed in the second half of the season for this team to thrive. On defense, a strong defensive line should anchor a unit that experienced a lot of turnover in the back seven, including losing star cornerbacks Cobee Bryant and Mello Dotson.
10. BYU
BYU would have found itself much higher up on this list before the departure of Jake Retzlaff, and now it's hard to call where Kalani Sitake and the Cougars might end up. On one hand, the rest of the roster is still very strong and that should keep BYU in a lot of football games throughout its schedule.
On the other hand, there just isn't a proven quarterback who can lead this offense, and there doesn't appear to be an avenue to changing that. In a league that will be very close week in and week out, having the second-best quarterback on the field more often than not will be a major factor.
11. Arizona
Arizona was another one of the most disappointing teams in the Big 12 last season, and now it has lost Tetairoa McMillan to the NFL. The Wildcats still haven't recovered from the shocking departure of Jedd Fisch before the 2024 season and have another chance to pick up the pieces in 2025.
Brent Brennan and company fielded one of the worst offenses in the Big 12 even with Noah Fifita and McMillan last season, but now Seth Doege is on the sidelines as the new offensive coordinator to lead Fifita and company into 2025. That, combined with some better injury luck on a defense that was ravaged a year ago, could lead to some improvement in Tucson.
12. Houston
Houston was arguably the worst team in the Big 12 last season, but it has made two of the biggest offseason additions in the entire conference. Former Texas A&M quarterback Conner Weigman is in after being benched in 2024 in College Station, and he will be throwing to one of the best tight ends in the country in Ball State transfer Tanner Koziol. If Weigman can get back to the player he was supposed to be coming into 2024, this ranking may seem low in a few months.
Defense is going to be the problem for Willie Fritz and company. They lost plenty of starters to the transfer portal and haven't been able to replace them, leaving Houston without a complete defense heading into next season.
13. Cincinnati
Cincinnati badly needs quarterback Brendan Sorsby to take a leap this fall and become one of the top players in the Big 12. He has the talent to do so, but he will have to take that leap without almost any of his top targets from last season. That will make it tough for an already challenged Bearcats offense to improve.
The big man Dontay Corleone is back in the middle of the Cincinnati defense, but the secondary has been completely redone after losing its five best players from last season. In a league with as many talented quarterbacks as this one, that will be a tough hurdle to make it over.
14. West Virginia
The Mountaineers will lean heavily on star running back Jahiem White this season, as he is one of the only returning players on this offense. Garrett Greene is gone at quarterback, so West Virginia's quarterback competition will be one to watch this offseason. The offensive line has also been completely redone, so it could take some time for them to mesh.
The defense will have to carry West Virginia this season, and UTSA transfer Jimmori Robinson was one of the top players in the transfer portal before coming to Morgantown. However, it will be very difficult to overcome the growing pains that the offense will undergo this fall.
15. UCF
It's time for the Scott Frost era, part two, at UCF, but the former Nebraska head coach has a lot of work to do to get the Knights back to where they were when he left the first time. The offense will be the big question mark after losing KJ Jefferson and RJ Harvey from last year's squad. Frost will oversee a quarterback competition between returner Jacurri Brown and transfers Cam Fancher and Tayven Jackson.
Defensively, returning pass rushers Malachi Lawrence and Nyjalik Kelly will be two of the top players on the team and will have to turn this defense into a force to keep them competitive in this conference next year.
16. Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State is in the brutal position of coming off of the worst season of Mike Gundy's time there, and also the fact that it returns almost nothing from that team. The Cowboys lost Ollie Gordon and many of its defensive stars that were injured during the 2024 season.
Both sides of the ball will need some serious work with a patchwork offensive line and a pair of unproven quarterbacks battling for the starting job heading into the fall.
