One Important game for Each Big 12 team
Baylor
Baylor has increased their strength of schedule by putting more power five teams on their non-conference schedule. This also has the Bears traveling outside the state of Texas more often, and it all starts this year with their trip to Provo to play BYU in the second week of the season. The Cougars are a top 25 team and will be the first test for Baylor to see how they respond after having a high amount of success in winning the conference in 2021. The Bears have a new starting quarterback this year in Blake Shapen; although he did get some experience at the end of the season, several skill positions players will be taking an increased role. They return strong offensive and defensive lines, providing a solid base to build while the new players get settled into their new positions.
Iowa State
The Cyclones welcome Oklahoma to Ames at the end of October, and the season will have just passed the halfway point. Iowa State and Oklahoma will both be coming off a bye, but Iowa State may catch the Sooners looking ahead to the next week against Baylor. The Cyclones have played Oklahoma close, within 10 points each game, since Matt Campbell took over in 2016. Campbell has a record of 2-5 against Oklahoma, and the two wins may not look like much. They account for 28.5 percent of all Iowa State vs. Oklahoma victories, and the series dates back to 1928 and 87 meetings.
Kansas
The Jayhawks look to get out of the Big 12 basement in Lance Leipold’s second year that they have held for the past seven years and 10 of the 11 years since the Big 12 moved away from divisions. The TCU game provides Kansas with one of the better situations to win a conference. This will be the third home game in a row for Kansas, and TCU will be coming off a rivalry game vs. SMU and their conference opener vs. Oklahoma. Kansas does play Texas at home this year, but that would be too easy of a pick for a Jayhawks win.
Kansas State
The Wildcats have new quarterbacks this year, but unlike most new players at the position, Adrian Martinez comes in with four years of playing experience while at Nebraska. Martinez was a four-star prospect coming out of high school but could not reach the expected levels. He accumulated more than 10,000 yards of total offense but turnovers and played at the most critical times of games led to a 15-29 record. Martinez transferring to Kansas St; gives him a fresh start and one last year to show what he has for the next level. Deuce Vaughn being the backfield will help take some of the load off Martinez and be shown in their game at home against Missouri. This game will be a renewal of a series with 97 meetings, but the teams had not played each since 2011, when Missouri left the Big 12 for the SEC.
Oklahoma
The game of interest for the Sooners is another fierce rivalry. Nebraska and Oklahoma did play last year, and it was a seven-point game with a superb one-handed interception by D.J. Graham. Scott Frost is also on the hot seat and will need a marquee win to help boost his resume, which Oklahoma can provide. Brent Venables returns this time as the head coach in his first year, and it will be his first road game in a hostile environment. Venables has coached in all kinds of surroundings, but we will have to see how he reacts to being the head man in a high-profile game.
Oklahoma State
The Baylor game for OSU will be both conference openers, representing a possibility of redemption for Spencer Sanders. In the two games against the Bears, Sanders accounted for one touchdown and seven interceptions. The seven interceptions represent 58.3 percent of the interceptions he threw for the season (12). This will be Sanders’ fourth year playing at OSU, and we will see if he has learned from his mistakes over the years. Dave Aranda and the Baylor defenses will undoubtedly have some new wrinkles for him.
TCU
The Iron Skillet is once again up for grabs, and after the 2022 offseason, Sonny Dykes, the head coach at SMU when they won the past two games in the series, was hired to be the head coach at TCU. The rivalry continued when SMU posted billboards in Fort Worth claiming it was mustang territory. TCU got some trolling in after a bubble appeared on SMU’s field from torrential rainfall. TCU’s stadium did not have the problem shown at SMU. This year’s game is scheduled to be played at Gerald R. Ford Stadium in Dallas and is a month away, hopefully giving them enough time to fix the problem. This game will also be an excellent way to measure how much TCU has improved in the short time with Dykes at the helm and maybe the difference in a bowl game or not, as it has been the past two times the teams have played.
Texas
It is asking a lot of Texas to get a win against the top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide when they come to Austin in the second week of the season, but they were able to pull off the upset; the amount of “Texas is Back memes” would be endless until they lose to a winless Kansas team. Those are the two stories they can never get away from and will take them to win nationally important games consistently. Texas starting Quinn Ewers is also not doing them any favors with the pressure it puts on him as a freshman quarterback and his second ever game being against a Nick Saban-led defense.
Texas Tech
The Red Raiders go to Raleigh, North Carolina, to play the NC State Wolfpack, which will be a big test for them. The Wolfpack are ranked in the top 15 to begin the season and are my pick to win the ACC. This game comes right after their game against Houston and will serve as a barometer for how Joey McGuire’s early tenure at Tech is going. The quarterback is currently unknown at this point and is a three-person race for the starting job, but whoever gets it will need to learn the offense fast if they have any chance of winning these early games.
West Virginia
Backyard Brawl, to begin the season, will be a fun game to watch. Pittsburgh and West Virginia will be working on transfer quarterbacks to start, but the game is in Pittsburgh, and their 2021 season, compared to the Mountaineer’s season, will lead to a challenging game for WVU. Neal Brown is in his fourth season but only has a 17-18 record. He has made two bowl games, but the WVU will be looking for more than a .500 record and a bowl game. No better way for them to start with a rivalry win on the road over a top 25 team.
