CFB: Where Each Big 12 Team Could Land In Final AP Top 25 Poll

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The college football season comes to a close Monday night as No. 8 Ohio State and No. 7 Notre Dame battle it out inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia for the National Championship.

For Big 12 fans around the country, while the conference doesn’t have any participants in the title game this year, the good news is that the perception around the Big 12 has dramatically improved after No. 10 Arizona State went toe-to-toe with No. 4 Texas in the Peach Bowl. In addition, No. 17 BYU and No. 18 Iowa State both got Top-25 bowl wins showing just how talented and deep the conference was this season.

With Texas and Oklahoma leaving the Big 12 for the SEC this year, many national pundits and analysts across the country didn’t think highly of the Big 12 with the blue blood programs leaving the conference. The Big 12 didn’t help itself either as many preseason favorites (Utah, Kansas, Arizona, and Oklahoma State) all finished at the bottom of the conference, while those picked to finish near the bottom (Arizona State, BYU, Colorado and Iowa State), ended up in a four-way tie for first place.

While preseason expectations shouldn’t determine who competes for a championship, that’s the way it is in college football as teams that start the season ranked can drop a game or two and be just fine, while non-ranked teams have to go undefeated and hope and pray the Playoff Committee will be kind to them and give them a spot.

The good news for the Big 12 is that other conferences fell flat on their face, particularly the SEC which had 3 teams in the playoffs and was clamoring that they deserved a fourth. Turns out, three was likely too many as the SEC only had one member in the CFP semifinals — Texas — which until this year, was a member of the Big 12. The ACC, which had two teams in the CFP compared to just one for the Big 12, proceeded to go 2-11 in bowl games this year, exposing just how overrated the ACC was this year.

It’s no secret the Big 12 was robbed with just one playoff spot, despite arguably being the second or third best conference this year. It’s too late to do anything about it, but that’s what makes the release of the final AP Poll this week so interesting.

It’s very possible that the Big 12 could have multiple teams in the Top 10 because of all the teams that lost in front of BYU and Iowa State. Of the teams in the 7-18 range, nine of them lost, with only three of them winning a bowl game (Ole Miss, BYU and Iowa State).

Check out my latest article which goes over how many Big 12 teams will make the Top 25, as well as a projection of where each team will land and why.

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