Oklahoma Leads Big 12 Preseason Poll, Pokes Picked to Finish Second

The preseason Big 12 media poll is out, and Oklahoma State was picked to finish second. Not by everybody, but by a majority. OU collected 19 first place votes which was enough for them to be the favorite to win their third-straight Big 12 title. Oklahoma State got 12, and Kansas State got one.

Here’s a look at how the conference was picked.

This is not super surprising. We knew Bedlam would be the top two and Kansas State would probably be third. We knew Kansas, Iowa State and Texas Tech would be the final three in some order. We thought Baylor would be seventh. Then we didn’t know how Texas, TCU and WVU would shake out, but as is normally the case, the Longhorns get the nod.

I’m convinced you could name me the coach in Austin and have our PFB team as the offensive line, and as long as 247 and Rivals gave our guys the nod in recruiting rankings (and they would because … Texas) then we’d be picked to finish in the top four in the Big 12. And I say this as someone whose site put them in the top four. It’s a disease!

Texas, by the way, hasn’t finished in the top four in the Big 12 since 2013.

I’m actually surprised how close the first place race was. Oklahoma loses a lot on offense — especially at the skill positions — and even though it has Baker Mayfield returning, it’s also going to have to adjust to a new coach and play Oklahoma State and Kansas State away from Norman.

Oklahoma State has now been picked to finish in the top four of the Big 12 in four of the last five years. It has exceeded those expectations in each of the last two years.

We will reveal the ballot we submitted later on in the day.