2016 Big 12 Football Predictions

In what may be the last season of the Big 12 at 10 teams, we offer our predictions.

Kendall Kaut:

1. Oklahoma 12-0 (9-0)

2. TCU 10-2 (7-2)

3. Baylor 9-3 (6-3)

4. Oklahoma State 8-4 (5-4)

5. Texas Tech 8-4 (5-4)

6. West Virginia 7-5 (4-5)

7. Kansas State 6-6 (4-5)

8. Texas 6-6 (4-5)

9. Iowa State 3-9 (1-8)

10. Kansas 2-10 (0-9)

No team has gone undefeated in the Big 12 since the inception of the round robin schedule. Oklahoma also has to face two tough opponents in Ohio State and Houston, so this prediction could look awful. Baker Mayfield is great, and the advanced stats think the Sooners are about a game and half better than the rest of the league.

Bold Prediction: Dana Holgorsen is the only only Big 12 coach that gets fired.

Player of the year: Baker Mayfield

Coach of the year: Bob Stoops

David Fankhauser:

1. TCU 11-1 (8-1)

2. Oklahoma 10-2 (7-2)

3. Oklahoma State 9-3 (6-3)

4. Texas Tech 9-3 (6-3)

5. Baylor 8-4 (5-4)

6. Texas 6-6 (4-5)

7. West Virginia 6-6 (4-5)

8. Kansas State 5-7 (3-6)

9. Iowa State 4-8 (2-7)

10. Kansas 1-11 (0-9)

Player of the year: Patrick Mahomes

Coach of the year: Gary Patterson

I'm not as sold on Oklahoma as everyone else seems to be. The Sooners had a lot of things break in their favor in their closing run last season, mainly in that they got to play against backup quarterbacks for Baylor, TCU and Oklahoma State. TCU certainly has its fair share of questions this year as well, most notably at QB. But I think the Frogs defense will step it back up to their 2014 level with a healthy and experienced group. I also think that the schedule this year favors TCU as opposed to OU. I think the two teams are close but I'll give the nod to TCU since the matchup between the two this year is at Amon Carter.

My bold prediction is with Texas Tech, and I'm pretty sure this one is going to completely blow up in my face like a Red Raider defense against a decent running back. But Pat Mahomes is one heck of an x-factor and I think he takes his game up to a Heisman caliber level this season. And this is improving over an offense that scored over 46 points per game in 2015. Tech is still going to be bad on defense but it may be closer to really bad as opposed to the catastrophically bad that it has been the past few years.

Peter Pope:

1. Oklahoma 10-2 (8-1)

2. TCU 11-1 (8-1)

3. Baylor 9-3 (6-3)

4. Oklahoma State 8-4 (5-4)

5. Texas Tech 7-5 (2-1)

6. Texas 7-5 (5-4)

7. West Virginia 7-5 (5-4)

8. Kansas State 4-8 (2-7)

9. Iowa State 2-10 (1-8)

10. Kansas 1-11 (0-9)

Player of the year: Samaje Perine

Coach of the year: Gary Patterson

Bold Prediction: TCU loses the Big 12 to a 10-2 OU because of head-to-head. OU's sole conference loss comes to Texas, again, and Charlie Strong saves his job for one more season.

Brief explanation: Honestly, 3-7 in this league is a massive toss-up, what with all the questions for each team. There's a logjam in the middle of the conference, with 4 teams at 5-4 in conference. I have Baylor losing to TCU, OU and WVU. Other than that, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Matthew Tennant:

1. Oklahoma: 10-2 (8-1)

2. Baylor: 10-2 (7-2)

3-5. TCU, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State: 9-3 (6-3)

6. Texas : 6-6 (5-4)

7. West Virginia: 6-6 (4-5)

8. Kansas State: 4-8 (2-7)

9. Iowa State: 4-8 (2-7)

10. K.U. 1-11 (0-9)

Player of the year: Seth Russell

Coach of the year: Jim Grobe

Bold Prediction: Tech fields a defense and beats TCU