How I would have voted in the Big 12 Preseason Poll

With Big 12 Media Days next week, we have finally reached the final stretch of the offseason and are inching closer to the start of the 2026 football season. For the second year in a row, the Big 12 will not be releasing a preseason poll after the debacle that came from the 2024 poll.

But that doesn’t mean that I, a media member, can’t write something documenting how I would have voted if the poll were still a thing.

THE CONTENDERS:

1. Texas Tech

With the Brendan Sorsby saga in the rearview mirror (hopefully), I still have the Red Raiders as the best team in the league. But like quite a few teams in the conference, their season is going to come down to QB play. Utah, Arizona State, and Oklahoma State fans saw up close the damage that Will Hammond can do last season. But he is coming back from a torn ACL, and head coach Joey McGuire said in mid-May that he could be back as early as week two. If Hammond is back and playing at a high level, then Tech should be the odds-on favorite to win the league. They reloaded on the defensive line, but this line might not be as much of a game-changer as last year’s.  

2a. Utah

Even with first-year head coach Morgan Scalley, the Utes are set up for a good 2026 season. Utah knows what they have at the QB position with Devon Dampier and Byrd Ficklin, and new OC Kevin McGiven is tailoring the offense to their skills in 2026. Utah revamped the WR room, and RB Wayshawn Parker is primed for a big season. The new look offensive line made a serious amount of strides during the spring, and if they can hold up, the offense should be in good shape. On the defensive side of the ball, Utah rebuilt its defensive tackle room with the size that was lacking last year. The rest of the defense looks to be in good shape as well.

Utah’s schedule is one of the more favorable ones in the conference. They miss both Texas Tech and Arizona State and will get Houston and BYU at home. The toughest games on the schedule will be Arizona and TCU, both of which will be on the road.

2b. BYU

The Cougars did a great job at retaining the key pieces of last year’s defense despite the departure of DC Jay Hill. They know what they have in QB Bear Bachmeier, and his offensive line looks to be solid. He will have LJ Martin with him one more year in the backfield, and the tight end room looks to be a strength this year.

The biggest question surrounding the Cougars is who steps up in the wide receiver room. Chase Roberts is now in the NFL, and Parker Kingston was kicked from school earlier this year due to his arrest. Cody Hagen medically retired this year as well. That leaves Jojo Phillips as the only receiver to have at least 100 receiving yards from last year’s team. The cabinets aren’t bare persay as the Cougs have Oregon transfer Kyler Casper, Tiger Bachmeier, Reggie Frischknecht, Jaron Pula, Legend Glasker, and others in the room. It’s just that there isn’t a lot of production with this year’s roster.

4. Arizona

The Wildcats might be one of the more underrated teams this offseason. QB Noah Fifita will return for his senior season, and Brett Brennan has built a solid roster to surround his QB. If the Wildcats can stay healthy, they could be a contender this year.

We will have a good idea about how good both Arizona and BYU are in week two when the pair face off.

5. Houston

The Cougars are another team that quietly put together a really good offseason. Conner Weigman seems to have finally found a system that he works in, and Willie Fritz put together the 7th-best transfer portal class nationally this offseason. Houston will face off with Texas Tech on Friday, September 18th, in a game that will have big conference implications.

THE MIDDLE OF THE PACK:

6. Arizona State

7. TCU

8. Oklahoma State

9. Kansas State

10. Baylor

11. Cincinnati

For every team in this group, its season hinges on QB play. ASU, TCU, OSU, and Baylor all have transfer quarterbacks in their first season with their program. Cutter Boley (ASU) and DJ Lagway (Baylor) both are coming from the SEC, where they had up-and-down careers. Jaden Craig (TCU), JC French (Cincy), and Drew Mestemaker (OSU) were all high-level players at the Ivy and G5 level. How does that translate to the Power 4?

And that leaves us with Avery Johnson at Kansas State. With Collin Klein taking over as the Cats’ head coach, we should expect high-level QB play in Manhattan. But Johnson has been one of the more disappointing QBs in the conference for the last two years. If Klein can get a high level of play out of Johnson, they might climb up the ranks a bit. But if he can’t, then the Cats will be in the middle of the pack in 2026.

THERE’S ALWAYS NEXT YEAR

12. UCF

13. Kansas

14. Colorado

15. West Virginia

16. Iowa State

That brings us to the bottom half of the conference. All six of the teams at the bottom of my ranking, I don’t expect to be very good this year. Almost every single one of these teams had a mass exodus when the portal opened, and in the case of someone like ISU, there were not great returns from the portal. There also seems to be more questions than answers for most of the teams in the bottom half of the league.