What is life without a little spice? “Oh what’s that, you say Ohio State is going to make a 12-team playoff?” BORING. Last Word wants to give the audience something more to look forward to. In 2022, Last Word correctly predicted that the Big 12 would have two running backs make the All-American team. Last season, the Big 12 bold predictions came *this* close to correctly predicting how Texas would fair and had a good idea West Virginia wasn’t going to finish last. Coming into the 2024 season, the Big 12 is widely projected (both in traditional and advanced analytics) to be the tightest contested conference race of the season. With all of that projected parody, where will the unexpected come from?
Big 12 BOLD Predictions
Tiebreakers Leave One Team Unsatisfied
Our Big 12 bold predictions must start with a warm welcome to the newest members of the conference. On August 2, 2024, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah officially made the Big 12 a 16-team conference. With lots of new helmet matchups, there is plenty to be excited about in 2024. However, the conference schedule is only nine games. Divisions have gone the way of dial-up internet, so each team will miss six teams from its conference every year (this year has a few exceptions thanks to some long-ago non-conference scheduling). In a conference where the talent gap is minuscule, the chaos cocktail ingredients just need a good shake.
Teams like Kansas State, Oklahoma State, and Utah are amongst the favorites to win the Big 12. But Kansas and Arizona also received first-place votes in the Big 12 preseason media poll. The first three steps of a multi-team tie in the Big 12 revolve around head-to-head, winning percentages, and records. However, they would all become null if there were three undefeated teams. If the 2024 season played out that way, the strength of the conference schedule would determine the championship game participants. With so much uncertainty at the top of the conference, count on a team getting squeezed out of the conference championship game that holds a head-to-head victory over one of the teams playing in it.
A Big 12 Quarterback Goes To New York
It is hard to argue against the idea that the Big 12 has the best collection of running backs in college football this season. That in itself would not qualify as a Big 12 bold prediction. But make no mistake, the Big 12 is absolutely loaded at the quarterback position as well. Shedeur Sanders enters this season as possibly the highest-rated draft prospect for the 2025 NFL draft. Cam Rising, when healthy, has produced stats and wins that are second to none. Jalon Daniels has been a playmaking machine in the revitalization of the Jayhawk football program. Noah Fifita had a breakout season last year with Arizona, just as Garrett Greene did with West Virginia and Rocco Becht with Iowa State. UCF received a big upgrade at quarterback with KJ Jefferson transferring in from Arkansas. Behren Morton is the highest-rated quarterback recruit Texas Tech has ever signed, can he make a jump this year? One thing is clear; getting to the conference championship game is going to require excellent quarterback play all season. The quarterback for at least one of those teams playing for the Big 12 title will be a Heisman trophy finalist.
New Rushing Leader
The defending Doak Walker Award winner Ollie Gordon will undoubtedly put up big numbers again in 2024. He finished last season with 1732 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns. That’s pretty good considering it took Mike Gundy and company three games to start running the offense through him. However, there was another team that was effectively ignoring their All-American caliber running back at the start of the season as well. The next Big 12 bold prediction declaration is that Tahj Brooks will lead the Big 12 in rushing this season. Brooks finished last season rushing for 1538 yards and 10 touchdowns for the Red Raiders.
Texas Tech has made it no secret that they are going to do everything they can for Brooks to pass Byron Hanspard for most career rushing yards as a Red Raider. Hanspard’s current record sits at a total of 4135 rushing yards. Brooks only needs 1168 more yards to surpass Hanspard. When head coach Joey McGuire was asked at Big 12 Media days how much Brooks would be involved this year, he responded by saying “I’m on the side that he’s the best running back in the country…And we plan to break [Hanspard’s record].” The Red Raider social team put together a video promoting Tahjtime.com, which is narrated by Hanspard. With a very clear game plan to attack and break a record, Brooks is going to see his touches increase even more than last year.
