In a recent list from 247Sports’ Brad Crawford, one team from the Big 12 Conference was listed as a College Football Playoff bubble team.
Chris Klieman and the Kansas State Wildcats joined seven different CFP bubble teams on the list, including Memphis, Missouri, Clemson, Iowa, LSU, Michigan, and Tennessee.
“Anyone else anxious to watch the Big 12 this fall? This is easily the toughest league to handicap in terms of picking a projected champion given how even a half-dozen teams are at the top of the conference,” Crawford said. “With Utah and Arizona among the new notables, the Utes and Wildcats just increased the difficulty of winning the conference substantially for programs like Oklahoma State, Kansas State, and Kansas. We’re expecting a single game to separate those in the league title game conversation down the stretch, which means there’s going to be a couple with reason to complain if the Big 12 only puts one team in the expanded playoff.”
The Wildcats have become a trendy pick to win the league and earn an auto bid to the College Football Playoff this season, largely due to their new quarterback under center. Rising sophomore Avery Johnson has earned substantial praise despite having just one career start in the 2023 Pop-Tarts Bowl.
Johnson, a four-star quarterback from Kansas, earned the No. 93 spot on ESPN’s top 100 college football players list and is currently receiving the best odds of anyone in the Big 12 to win the Heisman (+2500). The next closest to that are Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders (+3500), Kansas’ Jalon Daniels (+3500), and Arizona’s Noah Fifita(+4000).
It goes without saying that if Johnson can hit his ceiling early on in his college career, the Wildcats should have a decent shot of leaping off the bubble and into the CFP.
Kansas State kicks off its 2024 season on Saturday, August 31st, vs. UT Martin.
