It feels like there are a thousand changes as we enter the 2024 college football season. Every conference looks completely different thanks to either the addition or subtraction of teams. There is an expanded College Football Playoff, there is an openness to treating players like employees rather than student-athletes, oh, and the broadcasts will look different with new deals and new broadcast partners. But one thing remains the same: each team is competing for one thing – a national championship. Here’s our 2024 Big 12 football preview.
Who is joining?
Just a year after adding Cincinnati, Houston, UCF, and BYU, the Big 12 will bring in another four schools in Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah. After the Pac-12 began to implode, the Big 12 made sure they were in the right spot at the right time, going from a conference in ruin to one of the strongest overnight. Those four new schools add not only an entirely new region to the Big 12 but there is legit football success there too.
Utah has been as consistent a program as any in college football in recent years and will make it tough for road opponents. ASU and UA go back and forth with extremely good years and major downfalls, but both seem to be trending in the right direction. Colorado is the most intriguing with Deion Sanders and his son leading the Buffs for a second straight year.
Last Year
It was a nostalgic year in the Big 12 with all the members gunning for Texas and Oklahoma, the two schools responsible for turmoil in the conference and for the major conference realignment that we have seen over the last three years. In the end, the Longhorns put together an extremely impressive year behind Quinn Ewers and led UT to the College Football Playoff.
They walloped Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Championship game, showing the Cowboys that they are still the little brother to them and OU in the conference, but now the door is open for a new power. We saw Kansas put together its best year in school history while the once promising Baylor fell to the wayside.
What to Watch
I want to know who is going to step up in Oklahoma’s absence. They had won the conference six consecutive years dating back to 2015 before a new trend broke out in 2021 with Baylor, then K-State, and now Texas winning. Who is going to be the consistent mainstay?
Will it be Ok State? Will a new school claim their spot at the top like Utah or maybe even Houston? I am optimistic that the Kansas schools will have great years, and it could ignite something interesting from the Big 12.
Heisman Candidate
We saw just a glimpse of Avery Johnson last year for the Wildcats when he stepped in to play quarterback and it was a fun ride. He will get the reins from the start this time around and is poised to put up big numbers. If K-State can win the conference, he’s got a great shot.
Prediction
The Big 12 might be the hardest conference to predict in 2024, but I am going with a newcomer. Utah has been on the rise in recent years and has been right there in the Pac 12 for forever. I think they make a big statement with a Big 12 Title in year one.