Beat Writers Release Their Big 12 Preseason Poll and We Do A Comparison with Robert Allen
FRISCO, Texas – As we reported before the Big 12 Football Media Days began last week at this time, there was no preseason media poll conducted by the Big 12 Conference office. There is a preseason poll, just released by a collection of beat writers in the conference. It appeared in the Tuesday (7/14) edition of the Tulsa World and other participating newspapers and outlets. For the second straight season the beat writers tabbed Texas Tech to win the league.
League commissioner Brett Yormark ended the poll when the media before the 2024 season picked Utah and Oklahoma State at the top of the Big 12 football race and they projected Arizona State to finish dead last. The Sun Devils won the conference and made the CFP, but there early season projection created a bad image for the league and it was suspected that helped keep a second Big 12 team out of the playoffs.
I don’t know about that, but it did not help and Utah finished way down and Oklahoma State dead last in the conference that season. New league, four new teams, advent of the transfer portal and increased NIL and honestly, it was a tough league to pick.
This is the second season for the beat writers to do something. The panel included Eric Bailey of the Tulsa World covering Oklahoma State; Jason Batacao of the Salt Lake Tribune covering Utah; Mike Casaszza of Eer Sports covering West Virginia; Jay Drew of Deseret News covering BYU; Joseph Duarte of the Houston Chronicle covering Houston; Michelle Gardner of the Arizona Republic covering ASU; Henry Greenstein of the Lawrence Journal World covering Kansas; Ben Hutchens of the Quad Cities Times covering Iowa State; Steven Johnson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram covering TCU; Matt Murschel of the Orlando Sentinel covering UCF; Leo Rivera of Buffstampede.com covering Colorado; Kellis Robinett of the Kansas City Star/Wichita Eagle covering Kansas State; Jason Scheer of Wildcatauthority.com covering Arizona; Zach Smith of the Waco Herald-Tribune covering Baylor; Scott Springer of the Cincinnati Enquiere covering Cincinnati; and Don Williams of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal covering Texas Tech.
| 2026 Big 12 Football Beat Writers Preseason Poll - 1st Place Votes Bold / (Points) | Robert Allen’s Picks | School-includes projected record (Overall/Conf.) |
| 1. | Texas Tech (14) / 254 pts. | 1. tie | Texas Tech (12-0/9-0) |
| 2. | BYU (2) / 239 pts. | 1. tie | BYU (11-1/9-0) |
| 3. tie | Arizona / 207 pts. | 3. tie | Houston (10-2/7-2) |
| 3. tie | Houston / 207 pts. | 3. tie | Arizona State (10-2/7-2) |
| 5. | Utah / 198 pts. | 5. tie | Utah (9-3/6-3) |
| 6. | TCU / 166 pts. | 5. tie | Kansas State (9-3/6-3) |
| 7. | Arizona State / 161 pts. | 5. tie | West Virginia (8-4/6-3) |
| 8. | Kansas State / 158 pts. | 8. tie | Arizona (7-5/4-5) |
| 9. | Oklahoma State / 124 pts. | 8. tie | Oklahoma State (6-6/4-5) |
| 10. | Baylor / 88 pts. | 10. tie | TCU (6-6/3-6) |
| 11. | Cincinnati / 85 pts. | 10. tie | UCF (6-6/3-6) |
| 12. | Kansas / 79 pts. | 10. tie | Baylor (5-7/3-6) |
| 13. | West Virginia / 76 pts. | 13. tie | Cincinnati (5-7/2-7) |
| 14. | UCF / 68 pts. | 13. tie | Kansas (4-8/2-7) |
| 15. | Colorado / 40 pts. | 15. | Colorado (2-10/1-8) |
| 16. | Iowa State / 26 pts. | 16. | Iowa State (2-10/1-9) |
There is not a ton of difference between the beat writers and Robert Allen’s poll. The biggest and most obvious differences are the writers are higher on Arizona and not as high on Arizona State. Allen sees the Sun Devils being better than the Wildcats. The beat writers are more confident in TCU and Allen is much more confident in Rich Rodriguez and West Virginia.
Most of the margins on opinions on teams is fairly close between the two sets of picks.
