Big 12 making no official predictions, so no last-to-first narrative this year like Arizona State
Going into its 30th football season, the Big 12 didn't conduct a preseason media poll predicting the order of finish for the 16-team conference. The results were way off last year.
'I try to ignore it as best I can,' Kansas State coach Chris Klieman said Tuesday at Big 12 media days. 'It's one of the reasons we as coaches did not do a coaches poll because I think the narrative has really hurt our league. I know it hurt Arizona State and I know it hurt BYU last year.'
Arizona State won the Big 12 championship game last season after being picked to finish at the bottom of the Big 12 standings. The Sun Devils were in a four-way tie for first place in the regular-season standings, beat Iowa State in the title game and were the only league team to make the College Football Playoff.
Sun Devils coach Kenny Dillingham said he couldn't care less about any of the predictions last year, or what anybody might have guessed for this season. They do have back quarterback Sam Leavitt, who was picked as the league's preseason offensive player of the year since media still voted on a preseason All-Big 12 team.
'I don't really care where people put us. Vote us first, vote us last, vote us in the middle. If we're so focused on other people's expectations of us, then you're going to limit yourself,' Dillingham said Tuesday. 'Who knows? Are we supposed to win six games? Are we supposed to win nine games? Are we supposed to go undefeated? Are we supposed to win zero? ... All I know is when we show up to work, we should be the very best version of ourselves. And if we compete in something, you better compete to win.'
BYU was picked to finish 13th in the Big 12, and was part of that four-way tie at the end of the regular season with 7-2 conference records. The Cougars finished 11-2 overall, including a 9-0 start in which they had an early win over ACC newcomer SMU, which made the 12-team playoff field even after losing its conference championship game.
Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said there's no value to such preseason football polls, especially with the ever-changing landscape in the game these days. He felt Arizona State was disadvantaged because of being picked 16th long before even playing its first game.
'With the transfer portal and with roster management and what goes on as you build that roster, no one knows what they really have. They know what they have on paper, but it hasn't played out,' Yormark said. 'And that was the case with Arizona State last year. So I don't know if it's a trend or not but certainly it's the right thing for the Big 12 and I'm glad we did it.'
The Big Ten Conference has long forgone doing preseason polls.
Arizona State went into the Big 12 title game last December at 15th in the CFP rankings, behind three SEC teams with three losses and Mountain West Conference champion Boise State. The Sun Devils were then 12th in the final CFP rankings, but got a first-round bye as one of the top four-ranked conference champions before the format changed for this season to more-direct seeding.
A series of tiebreakers had put Arizona State and Iowa State in the Big 12 title game, and eliminated BYU and Colorado from title contention.
Utah, which like Arizona State made its Big 12 debut last year, was the preseason favorite to win the league. The Utes won all three of their non-conference games, but went 2-7 otherwise to finish near the bottom of the Big 12 standings.
Oklahoma State was last after going 0-9 in conference play. The Cowboys had been picked third.
Global stages
The Big 12 season will open Aug. 23 with Kansas State playing Iowa State in Ireland. TCU will play its 2026 season opener there against North Carolina.
'I've been on the record to say that I want this conference to be a global conference," said Yormark, who is going into his fourth year as Big 12 commissioner. 'I think we can win globally big time. Playing in Ireland obviously is that first step.'
Football isn't the league's only sport going international for a league in which Yormark said 11% of the student-athletes are from outside the United States.
'Just from a recruitment standpoint, it makes sense to carry that flag outside of the domestic marketplace,' he said.
Baylor's women's basketball team will open the upcoming season in Paris. Yormark said there is a good chance of a baseball game in Mexico City next spring, and that there are conversations about events in other international markets, like Germany.
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