Today is the last day of July, and when the calendar turns over to August at midnight, we won’t have to go without college football for a single month again until February. In other words, we’ve made it.
Football season is here with the start to fall camp this week, and around the country teams are gearing up for the season ahead. While we still have a few weeks until the results on the field actually count for something, we have a tool at our disposal that we haven’t in over a decade: a college football video game.
One of my favorite things to do as the season approached back when NCAA Football was out was simulate the full season, write down the conference standings in the Big 12, and then compare those to the actual results at the end of the year.
Now, the brand new College Football 25 game from EA Sports offers an opportunity to dust this idea off and share it with you. So, I simulated the entire 2024 college football season, and here’s how the Big 12 played out.
2024 Big 12 Race: Chalk & Shock in Top 5
| Rank | Team | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Kansas State | 12-0 (9-0) |
| 2. | Oklahoma State | 10-2 (8-1) |
| 3. | Utah | 10-2 (8-1) |
| 4. | Cincinnati | 9-3 (7-2) |
| 5. | Kansas | 9-3 (6-3) |
| 6. | Iowa State | 7-5 (5-4) |
| 7. | Arizona | 6-6 (4-5) |
| 8. | Colorado | 6-6 (4-5) |
| 9. | Baylor | 7-5 (4-5) |
| 10. | TCU | 5-7 (4-5) |
| 11. | UCF | 5-7 (4-5) |
| 12. | BYU | 5-7 (4-5) |
| 13. | Texas Tech | 6-6 (3-6) |
| 14. | Arizona State | 3-9 (2-7) |
| 15. | West Virginia | 3-9 (1-8) |
| 16. | Houston | 2-10 (0-9) |
Takeaway: Chalky Top Three
Kansas State (12-0, 9-0) has one of the easier schedules in the Big 12 conference and it shows up here, with the Wildcats going a perfect 12-0 during the regular season, including a league-best 10-0 against fellow Big 12 opponents. Of the 12 opponents on the Wildcats’ schedule, only seven finshed with record of .500 or better, while four of their wins came against teams who finished nine or more wins in the regular season.
Oklahoma State, who claims the second place spot in the standings by virtue of a 56-35 win over third-place Utah, put together a 10-2 campaign during the regular season with losses to Arkansas (L, 24-19) and Kansas State (L, 24-16). The Pokes and Wildcats will face off in the Big 12 Championship Game in this simulation, which we will discuss in the near future.
Utah finished one game behind Oklahoma State in the standings with a 10-2 (8-2) and just missed the chance to play for a Big 12 title after losing a head-to-head against OSU (L, 56-35) and being shocked in Week 2 by the Baylor Bears, who came into Salt Lake City and won, 38-28. The game couldn’t distinguish the Baylor game as a nonconference matchup, but the head-to-head loss to Oklahoma State would’ve kept the Utes out of Arlington regardless of that.
Takeaway: Cincy Sneaks Into Top Four
Perhaps the biggest surprise on the list is Cincinnati, who finished fourth in the Big 12 with a 9-3 (7-2) record. The Bearcats started off the year with a 38-28 loss to FCS Southeast before rattling off eight straight wins to enter their game against Iowa State at 8-1 (6-0). They would drop back-to-back road games after that though, losing a heartbreaker to the Cyclones (L, 31-28) and getting blown out on the road by Kansas State (L, 35-16). The Bearcats would finish their season with a 38-32 win over TCU to get to 9-3 on the regular season.
Kansas rounds out the top five in the Big 12 standings after finishing the regular season with a 9-3 record. The Jayhawks managed to go a perfect 6-0 at Arrowhead, but was just 3-3 on the road with losses at Arizona State (L, 38-28), Kansas State (L, 42-35), and BYU (L, 42-24).
Other Things of Note: Colorado, Baylor, Texas Tech
First off, Colorado managed to do just enough to get to a bowl game in Deion Sanders’ second season, going 6-6 in the regular season. They entered the final stretch of their season at 6-3 but ran into trouble from there agaisnt back-to-back-to-back ranked opponents in Utah (L, 31-28), Kansas (L, 35-27), and Oklahoma State (L, 41-15).
The Dequan Finn experiment works wonders in Waco in this simulation, boosting the Baylor offense and helping the Bears go 7-5 in the regular season to get back to the postseason. The 4-5 record in Big 12 isn’t what they were hoping for, but it’s enough to keep Dave Aranda around if they can win the bowl game.
Texas Tech comes into the 2024 season with expectations to compete for a Big 12 title, but in this simulation, that never came to fruition. A 2-2 record in September followed by a 1-3 record in November ensured that the Red Raiders didn’t start or finish hot, bnut they still manage to get to a bowlg ame after closing out the year with a win over West Virgina to get to 6-6 (3-6).
Note: Ranking adjustments were necessary to remove Arizona vs. Kansas State, Baylor vs. Utah games from conference records in CFB25 simulated season.
What’s Next: Postseason Awards and Stat Leaders
