We're just a few weeks away from Big 12 Football Media Days, which will be held at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on July 9 and 10. The conference said byes to Texas and Oklahoma and welcomed newcomers Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Arizona State.
Last season, BYU's first time in the conference, the Cougars went 5-7 overall and 2-7 in conference play. BYU lost all five of its conference road games, a very disappointing finish in the end despite a 5-1 start.
Now they're looking to bounce back from last year's poor showing. How good do they fare compared to other teams in the Big 12?
ESPN's FPI (Football Power Index) has zero confidence in the BYU Cougars in 2024. They rank Kalani Sitake's team 15th, or second-from-bottom.
Athlon Sports gives the Cougars a slight edge, ranking them 14th.
Frankly, BYU has not shown any evidence to the national, or even conference, audience that the team will be significantly improved, and it's up to the coaching staff and players to take last year's experience and make sure it doesn't happen again, or even worse.
It seems like a surprise to the “experts” that BYU will make a bowl appearance in 2024, and they're likely headed for another losing season at 4-8 or 5-7. The conference may have lost two of its top teams, but that doesn't mean the conference isn't deep and competitive.
Utah is looking to make a statement in its first year in the Big 12. Injuries at key positions led to a slow 8-5 season in 2023, but Cam Rising will return and try to get Utah back to where it was when it won back-to-back PAC-12 titles in 2021 and 2022.
Oklahoma State hasn't been going anywhere since appearing in the Big 12 Championship Game last season, and head coach Mike Gundy rarely lets the Cowboys get into a slump, so they'll bounce back quickly.
Kansas State finished last season with a 9-4 record and was ranked 18th in the final Associated Press rankings.
Arizona came off a blowout win over Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl and finished with a 10-3 record and a No. 11 ranking in the Associated Press rankings, en route to one of their best seasons in decades.
Let's not forget Kansas, which bounced back from years of struggle to finish 23rd with a competitive 9-4 record.
For your information, BYU will feature all five of the above teams on its schedule this fall (with five teams not included from the conference on each team's schedule).
West Virginia, which finished last in last year's preseason poll and finished with just nine wins last season, returns most of its top playmakers.
Iowa State has one of the best defenses in the conference and won six conference games last year, including wins over Oklahoma State and Kansas State.
Texas Tech, TCU and UCF are also strong mid-major teams in the conference.
So where does BYU fit in? Are they better than Baylor, Arizona State, Cincinnati, Colorado and Houston all? The majority of national polls say the opposite.
Baylor and BYU followed similar paths last season, starting the season with promise but finishing with five straight losses.
Baylor University welcomes a new addition to its offensive line with quarterback Dequan Finn, a transfer from the University of Toledo.
Both Cincinnati and Houston had tough times in their transition to the Power 5 in 2023. The Bearcats had one conference win and went 3-9.
It’s probably safe to assume that BYU will be better than those teams, at least at the start of the year.
Arizona State struggled in its final year in the PAC-12, going 3-9, and after opening the season with a win against an FCS team, lost six straight games.
Colorado began the 2023 season with as many expectations as any program in college football, with Deion Sanders and his slew of transfer students arriving in Boulder. After a strong start, they faltered down the stretch with a 4-8 record. They will likely improve in their second year of their prime in Boulder.
BYU will likely compete with Baylor and Colorado for the next spot, ahead of Cincinnati, Houston and Arizona State. Considering BYU finished last season with a better record than both Baylor and Colorado, plus won their most recent matchup against Baylor in 2022, I would consider BYU the favorite over the Bears and Buffaloes.
BYU once again placed 12th, this time outside of the 16-team conference.
BYU could certainly be a better team than that if Jake Retzlaff continues to develop or if Jerry Bohannon recaptures some of the magic he had at Baylor, plus the offensive line needs to come together better and the defense needs to improve in Jay Hill's second year, but for now, at least on paper, BYU hasn't proven it can be better than that.
