CRFF's 2014 Preseason Big 12 Football Poll

Each year preseason rankings appear and questions begin to resonate among college football fans across the country. To add to the fire, we at CRFF have created our preseason poll containing a number of questions which mostly revolve around our own amateurish predictions on how the conference will play out in 2014.

The questions start with who will win the Big 12 and who will finish last. The answers were not too surprising, generally because we prefer to go with what's easy, but still some interesting responses.

Here are the results from 13 contributors with some notes about things that stood out to me.

Who will win the Big 12?

Oklahoma and Baylor were the only schools that received first place votes.

OU: 69%

Baylor: 31%

I think this was a no-brainer for most people, although I was not expecting to see so many people vote for OU. Not because of this being a Oklahoma State blog either, but because of their inconsistencies at certain positions on offense. After all, this is a preseason poll and this is what they’re for.

Personally, I voted for Baylor because they are the most complete team in my opinion in the conference. From their offensive threats to defensive freaks, they have a solid crew returning with loads of experience.

It’s a possibility, but not a strong one (see what I did there?), that Texas could make this a three-way race for first place. They received no first place votes, which was a little surprising. The Longhorns got most of their votes for third place (5 votes) and fourth (4 votes).

Who will finish last in the Big 12? *cough* Jayha…*cough*

If you guessed anyone else other than the slumping Kansas Jayhawks, pat yourself on the back for you excellent display of compassion. Bravo, but now it's time to bring you back to reality.

11 out of 13 contributors picked Kansas to finish last in the conference.

Since Todd Reesing left in the 2008-2009 season, it’s been a slow decline for the KU football program. A change is something that isn’t going to happen overnight, but something that shall be thoroughly taken into account across years of hard work. How about this food for thought, Kansas faithful...LEAVE ADIDAS. Just look at what it’s done to Derek Rose.

Iowa State received the other two last place votes. Not a total surprise, but more of a shock in the fact that the Cyclones haven’t had a lot of success in the last few seasons. Defense? It’s been hit-or-miss. A number of decent players have come through in their linebacker corps and secondary, but their offense has been dismal. Maybe that’s why. How do you expect to beat any teams when you can’t score or better yet, stop them from scoring?

Does the eventual Big 12 Champion go undefeated?

According to our expert analysis (12-1), whoever it will be will most certainly not have an undefeated season. There are a number of teams in the middle of the conference with the ability to knock off any of the three teams we predicted to finish near the top, never mind those at the top might not be that good. It’s going to be an interesting year to watch, for sure, but nobody will finish unblemished. Negative.

Does a team go winless in conference play?

Five of our participants said yes, and all five pointed at Kansas.

First off, it’s very possible that the Jayhawks repeat their less than terrible performance from the 2012-2013 season, in which they went winless against Big 12 opponents.

At some point you begin to feel bad, but realize that there’s no crying in football and it is what it is. Hopefully Kansas can redeem themselves and win the conference this year! That’s not going to happen any time soon, but they can dream can’t they?

That’s it for our brief preseason poll. Take a gander at the results listed below.

This season has the potential to be breathtaking—in many different forms. Breathtaking awe at how crazy and unpredictable with the various upsets and nail-biters. Or breathtaking, like a deep sigh of disappointment by how miserable it will be to watch some games this fall. Nonetheless, we’re another step closer to football season.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Avg Rk
Oklahoma	9	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.38
Baylor	4	6	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.92
Texas	0	2	5	4	1	1	0	0	0	0	3.54
Oklahoma State	0	0	2	7	4	0	0	0	0	0	4.15
Kansas State	0	2	1	1	4	1	4	0	0	0	5.00
Texas Tech	0	0	1	1	3	7	1	0	0	0	5.46
TCU	0	0	0	0	1	4	6	2	0	0	6.69
West Virginia	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	6	5	0	8.23
Iowa State	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	6	2	8.77
Kansas	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	11	9.85

	OU	Bay	UT	OSU	KSU	TT	TCU	WV	ISU	KU	Confidence?
Whetsell	1	2	3	4	5	7	6	8	9	10	50%
Taylor	1	3	2	4	7	5	6	8	9	10	80%
Schultzy	1	2	4	5	7	3	6	8	9	10	70%
Justin	2	1	3	5	7	4	6	9	8	10	80%
Dodson	2	1	4	3	5	6	7	8	9	10	70%
Price	3	1	5	4	2	6	7	8	9	10	80%
Travis	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	9	8	10	80%
King	1	3	2	4	7	6	5	9	8	10	50%
Josh	1	2	3	5	4	6	7	8	10	9	80%
Ross	1	3	4	5	2	6	8	7	9	10	70%
Dekota	1	2	4	3	6	5	8	7	9	10	80%
Tracy	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	10	9	80%
Mandeville	2	1	7	4	3	6	7	9	8	10	70%

Here are some additional comments from the voters:

"Baylor seems poised for a repeat. Oklahoma always beats Oklahoma State; the latter of whom will go only as far as Walsh's arm can take it. Texas Tech is improving, but still terrible. Texas will take their lumps (again) this year, but I think their future is strong under Strong (yes, I had to type that). Snyder always fields a team that is better than it should be - and I wouldn't be surprised to see them eclipse Texas and/or Oklahoma State in the final poll. TCU is in the middle of an offensive switch-up - and I don't think they (yet) have the personnel or practice necessary to make it work smoothly. It's enough to make Gary Patterson sweat. West Virginia is a dumpster fire."

"K-State and OU will both be jockeying the most for that two spot and will be a toss up decided by who calls a better crunch time play: Big Game Bob or The Wizard in a Windbreaker. Behind them though, OkSt, Texas, and Texas Tech will be fighting for the four spot and one or two will be crashing a party for one or two of the top three. TCU and WVU will be better than last year but not ready to be fighting for conference dominance and ISU and KU will be doing their things, yaknow, derpin around and giving a one or two teams a scare before eventually topping one of the other bottom four."

"Win or lose, we still booze."

"Texas does great under Strong, but still stumbles against OU. OU looses to Baylor or Tech, but is still the champ. OSU wins a game they shouldn't but looses way too many games they shouldn't."

"OU is really good this year, but Texas and Baylor will give them a run for their money. It'll be a three team race for the Big 12 crown."

"This season in the Big 12 is full of "ifs". IF Trevor Knight plays well. IF Baylor can continue dominance. IF Texas wins with a new coach. IF Tech can play like they did the first half of last season. No definites at all in this upcoming season."

"This season is a complete crap shoot for the Big 12. Texas could be a sleeper because Strong is a darn good coach. OSU's defense is a mystery as we've never seen 2/3's of them play. Baylor, you would've gotten my first place love had it not been for that silly little "OU beat Bama, Baylor lost to UCF" bowl game fiasco. The only thing I'd bet money on is KU being last, but Iowa State just might give them a go. You never know what Snyder will pull out of the hat in Manhattan, and of course Tech will start 7-0 again before dropping their panties. TCU is still trying to adjust to playing big boys each week, and Holgorsen is trying to save his job. This should be fun."