In 2023 Oklahoma St was not the second-best team in the Big 12 but had the best schedule and they landed in the Big 12 title game. With the Power Four conferences going to as many as 18 team leagues, who you play and who you miss is even more important.
Today we look at the Big 12 conference. The Big Twelve plays a 9-game schedule which means some teams have five home games and four conference road games while the other half has only four home games and five Big Twelve road games. This year Arizona St, Cincinnati, Utah, Oklahoma St, Baylor, Houston and Kansas all have 5 Big 12 home games so have an edge in this category.
The next category to look at is conference records from last year. Last year it was an odd mix bringing in teams from the Pac 12 to the Big 12. This year all the teams that were in the league last year remain and the records balance out at 648-648 so we know the math is correct.
Now based on last year’s Big 12 this category could be meaningless as all the teams at the top finished at the bottom and all the bottom teams were in the top. In this category TCU and Utah take on the toughest schedules with their opponents 50-31 in league play last year. The next closest is a 4-way tie with Colorado, West Virginia, Arizona St and Arizona all facing foes with a 44-37 54.3% record. The teams with the best schedules are Baylor at 30-51 37% and Kansas 32-49 39.5%.
The above category has some flaws. For example, last year in the Big Ten Washington was coming off a 9-0 Pac 12 record and played in the national title game. Last year due to the late coaching change and graduation had just a shell of the team returning and lost their head coach. Washington was just 4-5 in the Big Ten last year.
I have the chart color coded. Now, you may disagree with my ratings, but these are my Power Poll numbers which take into account all nine sets of my power ratings . I have put the teams in three colors.
The top level of teams are the superpowers. I list those teams in RED for you do not want to play them. The Big 12 has so much parity that I list SEVEN teams in this category! That top level category in no particular order are Iowa St, Utah, Arizona St, TCU, BYU, Texas Tech, and Kansas St.
The next level is in Blue and they are teams that look like bowl teams or bowl caliber teams for this year.
The bottom level is Green for teams that you want to draw. In my preliminary rankings right now the bottom 4 teams in the Big 12 are West Virginia, Arizona, UCF and Oklahoma St and those teams are in Green.
Colorado draws 6 of the top 7 teams with five Big 12 road games and hence the toughest schedule of the Big 12. West Virginia, Arizona St and Kansas St all draw 5 of the top teams. No team really gets off easy as the fewest top teams faced is 4 and that is by 9 teams. I rate Kansas and Houston as the easiest schedules as they face 4 Green teams.
Here is the chart and here is how I grade this year’s CONFERENCE schedules, keep in mind non-conference games are not included in this strength of schedule.
I know many of you order the magazine in advance so that you can be the FIRST in the country to receive one. The VIP’s have had access to the digital version of the magazine since June 9th and we mailed out all VIP’s their magazine on June 11th.
When you purchase the VIP deal you get the magazine before it hits the bookstores, you get the digital magazine for FREE, you get 4 weeks of my Inside the Pressbox newsletter for FREE, and you get my FCS magazine for FREE as well. That is over $200 worth of football info for just $39.95. That deal closed on May 30th as it is the only way to ensure all our VIP got taken care of on time.
The VIP digital bonus was even better than expected once again as all VIP members had access to the magazine three days after we sent it to the press and were reading it for close to a full week before it was even printed (3 weeks before it hit the newsstand). Also, we did not open access to the digital magazine to anyone but VIP members for a full week after that! All VIP members had a full week of EXCLUSIVE ACCESS to the digital version!
I have opened a Second Chance VIP. There are a couple of minor differences in the Second Chance VIP. Naturally right now people that sign up for the digital or buy a magazine through us online all get immediate access to the digital version so you will not have the EXCLUSIVE access that the VIP’s had but you will have immediate access to the digital magazine.
The pre-May 30th VIP’s signed up well in advance (some in December) so they got that $39.95 price. Your price is still a great one and just a little more at $45 but you get over $200 worth of stuff included! The early bird does get the worm.
The VIP DEAL gets you FOUR free issues of my Inside the Pressbox Newsletter which sells for $20 per issue. The newsletter gives you my personal analysis of every game for the weekend and supplies you with my computer’s forecast for each game projecting each team’s rush yards, pass yards and points. Your second chance comes with 4 Free College Issues (Week 0, 1, 2, 3) plus one bonus NFL week the exact same that the pre-May 30th VIP’s receive.
The VIP DEAL also will get you my 2025 Phil Steele FCS magazine (digital only) FREE and this is a $25 value! This year there are 126 games between FCS and FBS teams and you can become an instant expert on all 128 FCS teams getting the magazine in much the same format as the FBS magazine. You get two FULL pages on EVERY FCS team! Keep in mind most states have legalized gambling, and they post numbers on FCS vs FCS games, and you will have remarkable line value on these games being an expert while the majority of folks know very little about the FCS teams.
To get my second chance VIP Click here.
Last year I added a SUPER VIP deal. The price is just $25 more or basically the cost of one magazine mailed to you. In the SUPER VIP you get TWO magazines and also access to Phil Steele Plus ($99) for a FULL year thru the Super Bowl! If you are thinking of subscribing to Phil Steele Plus again for 2025, just get the SUPER VIP deal and save $30 plus get two magazines and all the other bonuses. To get the SUPER VIP membership CLICK HERE.
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