Phil Steele on Sports Talk with Robert Allen & Friends July 12 - Picks Pokes to Tie in 2nd

STILLWATER – Tomorrow (Tuesday, July 12) at noon tune into Triple Play Sports Radio and the Robert Allen and Friends Show for our segment with the king of preseason football magazines, the man that publishes the magazine that college football experts cannot do without, Phil Steele. Yes, on the eve of our trip down to Big 12 Football Media Days we will find out how Phil Steele sees the Cowboys and the Big 12 this upcoming season. Both Zachary Lancaster and Emma Lightfoot will join me in Arlington at AT&T Cowboys Stadium for the Big 12 Football Media Days on Wednesday and Thursday July 13-14 with coverage on Triple Play Sports Radio and here on Pokes Report.

Steele’s magazine is out exclusively at Barnes and Noble throughout the nation. You can order it online at philsteele.com. I am proud that when Steele is doing his homework on Oklahoma State and the Big 12 that I am one of the sources he turns to. I spent roughly an hour and a half talking with Steele back in late May.

Phil Steele.com

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Steele gets it right more often, much more often than he doesn’t. In my opinion he has been blinded at times by Texas and that may have happened again, but Steele works on the entire magazine, every team and every conference, so he’s going to miss some.

This season in the Big 12 he has Oklahoma at the top. I can’t argue in that I believe that you can throw the Sooners, Cowboys, and Bears in a bag and throw it out those three could finish in about any order. I do think there is a separation there with Kansas State next.

Steele has it Oklahoma to win the conference and Baylor, Oklahoma State, and Texas to tie for second. Kansas State and Iowa State to tie for fifth. TCU seventh, West Virginia eighth, Texas Tech ninth, and Kansas in tenth to finish out his predictions.

Here is Steele’s summation on Mike Gundy’s team for 2022, and by the way he rates Gundy as the top coach in the Big 12 in his unit rankings. He has the defensive line and coaching number one in the league.

Steele’s Oklahoma State Projection:

OSU had 3 straight 10 win seasons but in '18 they were down at #119 on my Exp Chart and needed a bowl win to avoid a losing season. In '19 they moved up to #53 on my Exp Chart and were 8-5. In '20 they were #11 on my Exp Chart and opened 4-0 and #6 AP and did improve to 8-3 overall with a bowl win over Miami. Last year they had 13 ret st'rs which was the fewest in the Big 12. OSU was +68.1 ypg in Big 12 play in '20 and I said they would be a Big 12 contender as usual last year. The Cowboys started slow with 3 close wins but beat 3 ranked teams in a row (first time schl hist) and did better than I expected as they got to their first ever Big 12 title game. They had a reg ssn loss to Iowa St by 3 and at #5 in the CFP poll they came up a yard short of winning the Big 12 title. They trailed ND 28-7 but had the largest comeback win in school history 37-35 to finish 12-2 and #7 AP! The 12 wins tied a school record. That defense last year was senior laden and this year's defense has just 4 returning starters but have one of the top DLines in the country! Gundy always reloads at RB and WR and has a veteran QB in Sanders. OSU got both Oklahoma and Baylor at home last year but now face both on the road. Despite the questions this team remains a legitimate B12 title contender this year and could surprise again.

Phil Steele has Oklahoma No. 8 in his Top 40 Power Poll. He has Baylor at No. 14, Oklahoma State at No. 15, and Texas at No. 18. Of interest he also has future Big 12 member UCF at No. 17, Cincinnati at No. 25, BYU at No. 26, Houston at No. 34, and Kansas State at No. 38.

OU fans can commiserate with this as they had just one player (punter Michael Turk) on the media’s preseason Big 12 team. Steele had just one Cowboy on his preseason All-Big 12 first-team (kicker Tanner Brown), but he loaded up Oklahoma State players on the second, third, and fourth teams that he does.

Find our more tomorrow and listen to Triple Play Sports Radio at noon for Phil Steele on Sports Talk with Robert Allen and Friends.