2023 College Football Predictions: Big 12

Photo by William Wotring from The Dominion Post

For one final time, Texas and Oklahoma will compete for a Big 12 championship. For Oklahoma, it’ll be a chance to add one more to their dominant run.

For Texas, it’ll be a way to get one final one after years of disappointment.

It’s up to the other 12 to stop them.

Here is how the Big 12 will turn out in 2023.

1. Kansas State Wildcats

All Chris Kleiman knows how to do is win.

He did it at North Dakota State, and he’s done it so far at K State.

Will Howard showed he has the quarterback play K State needs, and they’ve replaced Deuce Vaughn with Florida State transfer Treshaun Ward.

I’ve seen Chris Kleiman win titles.

It’s what he does.

2. Oklahoma Sooners

Last year was, let’s call a spade a spade, a disaster for Oklahoma.

Brent Venables first year saw the Sooners go a measly 6-7, but don’t expect that to become a trend.

The OU offense last season was actually quite good, and returns many starters from that same squad.

The defense, however, was a disaster, but with Venables being a defensive mind and OU having putrid defenses for years and years before he arrived, it will take some time to make a change.

I think the Sooners get much better defensively, and find their way back to Dallas one final time.

3. Texas Longhorns

The more important factor for both Kansas State and Oklahoma, however, is that they’re not Texas.

If you’re making Big 12 predictions, Texas should be first on the list. Period.

Whether they start Quinn Ewers or Arch Manning, they’ll be solid. They have Xavier Worthy who is likely the best receiver in the conference.

But, it’s Texas.

They’ve consistently been more talented and had better coaching than the other Big 12 squads, and they still fall short.

Who will start between Ewers and Manning?

Who replaces Bijan Robinson’s production?

There’s no roster based reason to not pick Texas to win this conference.

But I can’t do it.

4. UCF Knights

Our first of the newbies has arrived.

UCF comes to the Big 12 with a good roster, but more importantly, a coach who has a point to make.

Gus Malzahn was fired by Auburn for, I don’t know, not making them Alabama or Ohio State I guess, even though he went 3-5 against the most dominant Nick Saban teams ever.

Now, Malzahn is back in a power 5 conference, and he wants to show that he is still a top coach in this sport.

There’s good reason to believe in them. John Rys Plumlee was playing at an incredibly high level before his injury last year.

Now he’s healthy, and UCF should find success immediately.

5. Oklahoma State Cowboys

Last year, OK State had some very high expectations that they didn’t live up to, which is extremely Mike Gundy.

This year, OK State doesn’t really feel like much of a title contending team.

So of course they’ll have an excellent season.

It’s what Gundy does.

6. Baylor Bears

Baylor can’t seem to put two good seasons together consistently.

The good news is, they went 7-6 last year, so this one should be a good one!

7. TCU Horned Frogs

Don’t mistake this for recency bias after watching the Horned Frogs get stomped by Georgia in the title game. That was never a matchup they were going to win.

The reason TCU is here is simply due to losing too much talent.

No more Max Duggan. No more Quentin Johnson. No more Garrett Riley.

Sonny Dykes is a very good coach who will continuously have TCU fighting for Big 12 titles, but this is too much to love in a year like this.

8. Kansas Jayhawks

The defense for Kansas is not going to be very good.

However, Jalon Daniels is super fun and will have Kansas offense scoring at a high level again, assuming he stays healthy.

And if you’re not going to be a title contender, the best thing you can be is fun.

9. Texas Tech Red Raiders

Speaking of fun, Texas Tech!

Another fast, exciting offense. Another defense that can barely stop a nose bleed.

The difference is, I trust Jalon Daniels at QB for Kansas more than I trust Tyler Shough for Texas Tech.

But these two feel interchangeable to me.

10. Houston Cougars

The team? Talented.

The coach? He’s shown he’s good!

The issue? The coach and the administration really don’t like each other very much.

Do I want Dana to coach against West Virginia again? Of course.

But I doubt it happens.

11. Cincinnati Bearcats

Scott Satterfield had a ton of talent at Louisville, and did not have the hardest conference in the world, and still found a way to underperform every single year.

Now, he has a harder conference and less talent.

I don’t think the Satt experience works well in Cincy.

12. Iowa State Cyclones

When Matt Campbell had Brock Purdy and Breece Hall, the Cyclones looked amazing.

Once they lost them both, they looked putrid.

That’s fine. Regression makes sense in those circumstances.

The issue is, Campbell has done nothing except trust in his player development to get them back to a high level.

Maybe he’s right to do so! But in a transfer era where any team can turn it around in a heartbeat, and projected starting QB Hunter Dekkers being charged with tampering, it seems like a foolish move that will lead towards a bad season.

13. West Virginia Mountaineers

Allow me to introduce you to your Sicko’s Committee team of the year.

WVU’s offense has two quarterbacks who are better at running than they are throwing.

They have two excellent running backs.

They have absolutely no wide receivers.

To top it all off, their play caller is head coach Neal Brown, who is a son of the pass heavy air raid offense.

Is WVU going to be good? No.

Are they going to be wildly entertaining to watch if you like disasters? Probably!

14. BYU Cougars

You know how earlier I mentioned how Kansas and Texas Tech don’t have good defenses?

Neither does BYU.

The difference is, their quarterback, running back, receivers and offensive line are transfer portal guys who have no history together.

That doesn’t exactly bode a bunch of confidence…

Big 12 Championship Game: Kansas State vs Oklahoma

I said it earlier. Chris Kleiman knows how to win.

But his time to push in a new era of K State dominance will have to wait, because OU desperately wants one more title before they go.

After all, they have run this conference over the last decade. It’s only fair.

Oklahoma wins the Big 12