The college football season got underway with a soft Week 0 schedule, but now it’s time to look ahead and give you my Big 12 football predictions and full standings breakdown for the 2024 season.
I went through every Big 12 football game on the schedule and here’s how I see the season shaking out in the standings. I’ll have more of a breakdown below.
Big 12 Standings Prediction
- Utah (8-1)
- UCF (7-2)
- Iowa State (6-3), Kansas State (6-3), Oklahoma State (6-3), West Virginia (6-3), TCU (6-3)
- Arizona (5-4), Texas Tech (5-4)
- Kansas (4-5)
- Colorado (3-6), BYU (3-6), Houston (3-6)
- Baylor (1-8), Cincinnati (1-8), Arizona State (1-8)
Big 12 Championship Prediction: Utah vs. UCF
This will mean that the Utah Utes and UCF Knights will play each other in back-to-back weeks as the teams are set to play during Week 14 on Black Friday in Orlando. I believe Utah will be undefeated going into that game and while it might be appealing to keep the undefeated streak going, Kyle Whittingham will realize that being undefeated really doesn’t matter, because winning the Big 12 and getting a bye is the most important thing to focus on based on the new 12-team Playoff. And it’s more important to be rested as the potential No. 4 seed in the Playoff, than try and focus on being the No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the Playoff as an undefeated.
So Utah will take the foot off the pedal in Week 14 match up with UCF, which the Knights end up winning to get to 7-2 in the Big 12.
What Else Has to Happen?
I predict Iowa State and West Virginia will both be 6-2 in Big 12 play going into the final week of the regular season. Based on my game-by-game predictions, both ISU and WVU will have wins over UCF, so they will go into the final Saturday of the season with a chance to play for a Big 12 Title, because despite being 6-2, both teams will have the head-to-head tiebreaker over UCF.
However, both teams will lose. Iowa State will lose to a Kansas State team looking for revenge after last year’s Farmageddon game. Plus, K-State will be the looser team with no Big 12 title implications on their end. And then, West Virginia will go on the road and fall in Lubbock to Texas Tech, which will be Senior Day for the Red Raiders.
If you’re on YouTube, or on iTunes/Spotify, I explain these predictions more thoroughly on the show!
Schedule Notes
Utah (8-1)
As noted, I have Utah going 8-0 before falling to UCF in Week 14.
UCF (7-2)
Also noted above, I see UCF with two losses vs. Iowa State and West Virginia, which is why they need a couple of breaks in Week 14 to reach the Big 12 Title game.
Iowa State (6-3)
I have Iowa State losing games at West Virginia, at Utah and vs. Kansas State.
Kansas State (6-3)
Kansas State’s year is 2025. New QB, new OC, new offensive line. These three items are being overlooked as a whole because the Avery Johnson hype train is off and running. He’s worthy of the hype, but I see K-State losing games to Oklahoma State, at West Virginia and then a hangover game at Houston, which comes the week after KU, which I predict they win.
West Virginia (6-3)
It’s a brutal schedule for the Mountaineers, but they will be in the mix until the end. They’ll lose at Oklahoma State and at Arizona, along with a heart-wrenching Week 14 loss at Texas Tech.
Oklahoma State (6-3)
The Cowboys will get picked off in their Big 12 opener vs. Utah, at BYU on a late Friday night game that is always tricky, along with TCU on the road.
TCU (6-3)
TCU’s three losses will come vs. UCF, at KU and at Utah. They will be one of the surprise teams in this league.
Arizona (5-4)
Arizona is a team that is also getting too much love. There’s talent back at the sexy positions, but a new coaching staff means growing pains, plus losses against Utah, Texas Tech, UCF and TCU.
Texas Tech (5-4)
The Red Raiders will lose four games against TCU, Iowa State, Colorado and Oklahoma State. But if you look closer, that means I have Tech starting off 4-0 in league play, which will make for a fun October 26th game at TCU, where the Red Raiders could be ranked in the Top 15, if they are undefeated.
Kansas (4-5)
Kansas will have its struggles this season, despite many predicting the opposite. The schedule is favorable, but I see this team slipping up with losses at West Virginia, at Arizona State, at Kansas State, vs. Iowa State and vs. BYU.
Houston (3-6)
Houston will catch on and get hot late, with a couple of big wins. I see this team with victories over Cincinnati, Baylor and BYU, plus a handful of solid, close losses to build upon in 2025 with Willie Fritz.
Colorado (3-6)
Colorado won’t live up to the hype. There will be close losses like last year, but this isn’t horseshoes. The wins for Colorado will come against Baylor, Cincinnati and Texas Tech.
BYU (3-6)
The Cougars end up with three wins in league play against Oklahoma State, Kansas and Arizona State.
Baylor (1-8)
The Bears are going to struggle, no way around it. And while they might have some close losses, Dave Aranda’s team wins one game over BYU. And it might not even be Dave Aranda’s team by the season’s end.
Cincinnati (1-8)
Cincinnati is another team that will have a couple of tight games where they don’t get it done, but only win one Big 12 game at home against Arizona State for Homecoming Weekend.
Arizona State (1-8)
The Sun Devils pick up one win at home over Kansas in a game where they will be coming off a bye week and KU will be playing its 6th game in six weeks.
