TL;DR: Texas, OU, TCU, TTech, K-State, KU, Baylor, OKST, BYU, UCF, Cincy, Houston, ISU, WVU.
Picking Texas to do well anytime they show even basic competence in the year prior is pretty much de rigeur for the media, so whatever; they can prove it or not. I’m slightly surprised at my Frogs being tapped for third and it feels a little like unearned inertia (is this a taste of what being a Texas fan is always like, LOL?). I’m more surprised at the disrespect to K-State at fifth.
These projections aren’t very good. As you’ve noted, K-State is way too low. I would also have TX Tech higher. OU at second is expecting a lot from a young team with an inexperienced HC (I know he’s a veteran coordinator, but it’s not the same). At the other end, I would have Houston and Cinci lower than Iowa State. Why is everyone disrespecting Matt Campbell all of a sudden?
Texas is only at the top of the list by default (it would have been OU but they were dreadful last year). If you look at the AP poll, we’re less overrated this year than usual.
That Wildcat team is well coached and returns a lot of kids, especially on the OL. Y’all are terminally talented, but I was unimpressed by Quinn Ewers last year. Still…there is a certain truth to the ”then who else?” question when talking Texas. I think I like Cincy as a program better than most, and ISU does have some unexpected holes in addition to their other challenges. I don’t think Campbell just forgot how to coach there, though.
I might personally go something like this.
KSU
UT
OSU
TCU
Tech
OU
Baylor
KU
Cincy
ISU
BYU
UCF
WVU
UH
ISU lost 5 starters to gambling, 3 of which were potentially the 3 most valuable positions on the team. I really don’t blame people for picking us to be in the basement.
I actually do think we’ll be better than last year if our new OL coach can get the big guys in a good place. Our offense lives and dies by the Line.
Our defense has been top 3 in the conference every year since 2017, so no real concerns there. They’ll keep us in enough games that if the offense can even be mediocre (a huge step up from last year), we could easily win 6 games. Even with the brutal schedule the Big 12 gave us.