2021 Big 12 Football Season Predictions

The college football season is almost upon us, when week 0 begins on Saturday, August 28 we will not be without football for another Saturday until 2022. It feels like it’s been forever, but no conference was more in the media than what has transpired in the media with the Big 12. For all Big 12 fans out there, thankfully you don’t have to worry about that right now. Here is our Big 12 conference breakdown and predictions.

The conference this year is an intriguing one, will the SEC hanging above the head of the conference affect Oklahoma and Texas? I doubt it. Will it bring an even greater rivalry to schools like Oklahoma State when they meet up with Oklahoma? Some questions will still be answered; however, I still believe Oklahoma has one of their better teams in many years that can make a run at the championship this year. The team that will be challenging them. No, not Texas. Iowa State comes into the year ranked 7th in the nation and Ames has very high expectations this year and Matt Campbell will have his guys ready to go. Texas falls into that slot right underneath the top 2. How will year one under Steve Sarkisian look and will the future seem bright for the Longhorns team? I think the hire was right, but I don’t believe this is the year that Texas will be challenging for championships. Finally, that brings us to the rest. 4-9 in the conference could play out just about any way that you want to predict. TCU and Oklahoma State is the better of those teams, but no order would surprise me too much. Then we have Kansas at 10. Kansas is hitting reset once again, although this time I believe they made a great hire and am looking forward to the development of Kansas football in the next few years.

Standings Predictions:

1. Oklahoma Sooners

2. Iowa State Cyclones

3. Texas Longhorns

4. TCU Horned Frogs

5. Oklahoma State Cowboys

6. Texas Tech Red Raiders

7. Kansas State Wildcats

8. West Virginia Mountaineers

9. Baylor Bears

10. Kansas Jayhawks

Offensive Player of the Year:

Oklahoma QB Spencer Rattler

Defensive Player of the Year:

Iowa State LB Mike Rose

Coach of the Year:

Iowa State Matt Campbell

Freshman of the Year:

Oklahoma LB Clayton Smith

Top Newcomer:

Texas Tech QB Tyler Shough

Sleeper Team:

Texas Tech

Breakout Player:

Texas RB Bijan Robinson

Conference Title Game:

Oklahoma over Iowa State

Team By Team Breakdown:

Oklahoma Sooners

Record: 12-0

Lincoln Riley leads what could be his best Oklahoma team yet. Coming off six straight Big 12 titles, the Oklahoma Sooners look to make an even bigger impact on college football this year. They have the chance to compete for not only a Big 12 title but a national championship with this roster. It all starts with Spencer Rattler continuing to live up to the hype. He will have the playmakers around him that Oklahoma always has and with a great play-caller he will have every opportunity to succeed. The defense has progressed over the years and will only continue to do so this season. If there was one concern with Oklahoma it will be the offensive line.

Iowa State Cyclones

Record: 11-1

Iowa State is ranked in the top 10 to begin the season and with good reason. The offense brings almost everyone back from a team that averaged 32.9 points a game last year. I don’t believe in Brock Purdy as much as others might, but I think with Breece Hall on the ground it covers up a lot of weaknesses that Purdy might have. Iowa State will set Purdy in this offense up with success and the defense bringing loads of starters from last year too, you can see why Iowa State is ranked up towards the top. My prediction for defensive player of the year Mike Rose will lead this defense to a great year. The only thing standing in their way is they must travel to Norman to take on Oklahoma.

Texas Longhorns

Record: 9-3

A lot of what happens with Texas this year will depend on what they figure out at the QB position. Bijan Robinson is a breakout player this year and although it seems like everyone is writing him in as a breakout based on the bowl game last year, I think he really will be the standout player for this Texas team. Solid upfront, but lacking a little bit at the WR position, a lot will depend on who is leading the cavalry at QB. Casey Thompson or Hudson Card? Neither has impressed enough so far this Fall and that makes me nervous about the potential for Texas. The defense brings in a lot of solid transfers and the hire of Pete Kwiatowski should result in a good group on that side of the ball. Again, the QB position scares me, and it worries Sarkisian too.

TCU Horned Frogs

Record: 8-4

TCU finished last year winning five out of their last six games and finally giving Gary Patterson and TCU some momentum heading into this year. Max Duggan has a great opportunity to break out this year as the lead man in this offense. A couple of good receivers will benefit Duggan as well. The offensive line is still an issue and Duggan must take that next big step this year. The defense has always been a staple under Gary Patterson and although they must replace a few key players including safety Trevon Moehrig, I believe this defense will be solid this year. This defense giving up 24.2 PPG last year, shouldn’t take a step back and with the improving offense under Duggan, there is reason to be excited about TCU.

Oklahoma State Cowboys

Record: 8-4

Oklahoma State has never had issues scoring the ball and even with the departure of Chuba Hubbard and Tylan Wallace, the Cowboys’ offense should be able to put points on the board. Spencer Sanders will need to be more consistent this year and the offense will need to stay healthy. However, the Cowboys have some guys that will step up in that offense including Brennan Presley at WR. The defense has continued to progress and play well over the last couple of years including last year when they gave up 23.5 PPG. If the Cowboys can stay healthy and Spencer Sanders can play well, they have a chance to make things interesting in this conference.

Texas Tech Red Raiders

Record: 7-5

I realize I am a lot higher on Texas Tech than others, but I do think that this team could get to 7 wins and make it to a bowl game. This is a huge year for Matt Wells as he enters on the hot seat only being 8-14 as a head coach for the Red Raiders. This is evident when you look at how active they were in the transfer portal and what kind of pieces they brought in. Texas Tech is just fine at playmaking positions on offense and I think Tyler Shough walks in from Oregon and will help this offense put up some points this year just like we have seen them do in the past. Texas Tech also added 5 keys transfers on the defensive side of the ball. They ranked 9th in the Big 12 last year rush defense, they will need to improve upon that this year. To go along with all the impactful transfers, Texas Tech returns 15 starters from the team last year.

Kansas State Wildcats

Record: 5-7

Kansas State will be right around that six-win mark to get to a bowl game. The season looked like a special one last year after starting 4-1 and defeating Oklahoma, but injuries decimated this team in the second half of the year. This year they will look to stay healthy and lean on their top two guys in Skylar Thompson and Deuce Vaughn. Thompson was good last year before getting injured and made plays for this offense. Deuce Vaughn is a great back who will be running behind the five returning offensive linemen. The defense gave up 32.2 PPG last year, although they had a ton of injuries and Covid absences it can be hard to get a read on how well this unit will be this year. They lose 4 talented guys and only return 5 starters from last year. The transfers will have to be impactful right away if Chris Klieman wants to make a bowl game this year.

West Virginia Mountaineers

Record: 4-8

West Virginia has been trending in the right direction under Neal Brown and had a good last year at 6-4. However, I am not sold on the QB position with Jarret Doege, and I like some of the middle-of-the-pack, Big 12 teams, this year more than I did last year. The defense was great last year and led this team to six wins only allowing 20.5 PPG last year. They lose five key starters from last year’s team, and I don’t believe they can maintain the production that they did a year ago as well as the inconsistent play from the QB position.

Baylor Bears

Record: 3-9

A lot of people will look at Baylor and expect them to make a big jump. Jeff Grimes was a good coordinator hire and he has a ton of weapons at all the skill positions he needs this year. They add a little bit in transfers to the offensive line, but the position that is most important in sports is still a question mark. There’s a lot to be desired at the quarterback position and Gerry Bohanon will be at the helm having not started in his 3-year career at Baylor. On the other side of the ball, I expect a big year out of Baylor. They let up 29.2 PPG last year, but I don’t expect that to be a problem as 9 guys are returning, and they added Siaki Ika on the defensive line. They could make a big jump this year, but will it be enough to not be at the bottom of the barrel of the Big 12?

Kansas Jayhawks

Record: 1-11

There is a lot to be answered in Kansas. No winning seasons since 2008, wrong hire in Les Miles that ended terribly, and starting over once again. The good news in Kansas, I believe that they got this hire correct. Lance Leipold seems to win wherever he goes, and he left a good program at Buffalo to coach at Kansas. This will take a while and won’t be an easy process including this season. What is going to work well for Leipold will be that he is following Les Miles. You always hear that you don’t want to be the follow-up hiring from a legend, this is true in the opposite way. Kansas football has no real expectation, and nobody is expecting anything from them anytime soon. As for the on-the-field product, Kansas brings in a lot of transfers that will have an opportunity to play. People like to talk about year 0 for a new coach, this is the epitome of year 0. This year will be a talent evaluation and how well Leipold recruits. Kansas fans have every reason to be excited about this rebuild even if they only win one game this year.