OU-Iowa State ranks No. 1 among the 75 Big 12 football games in 2021
Berry TramelOklahoman
Ranking the Big 12’s 75 games for the 2021 season:
1. Iowa State at Oklahoma, Nov. 20: Cyclones’ highest ranking ever in the AP poll was No. 8 – last season. ISU could be higher than that come late November.
2. Oklahoma State at Iowa State, Oct. 23: Winner could be in the driver’s seat to play OU in Arlington.
3. Oklahoma at Kansas State, Oct. 2: No reason this should be a big game – except the Wildcats have turned into Sooner Kryptonite. Two straight wins over OU.
4. Oklahoma State at Texas, Oct. 16: Win here, and the Cowboys could go to Ames with a top-10 ranking.
5. Iowa at Iowa State, Sept. 11: The Big 12’s biggest non-conference game. This game could stamp the Cyclones as a legit top-10 team, while also boosting the Big 12’s reputation.
6. Oklahoma vs. Texas in Dallas, Oct. 9: Welcome to the rivalry, Steve Sarkisian. Tom Herman played the Sooners tough but went 1-4 in the series, and now Sark coaches the Longhorns.
7. Texas at Iowa State, Nov. 6: The Cyclones haven’t just been standing up to the Sooners; they’ve beaten the Longhorns two straight years in close games.
8. Oklahoma at Oklahoma State, Nov. 27: The rivalry is real, and the drama often is great, but we know who always wins.
9. Virginia Tech at West Virginia, Sept. 18: Mountaineers have a chance to strike a blow for Big 12 pride, by beating an upper-level Atlantic Coast Conference team.
10. Iowa State at Kansas State, Oct. 16: An annual tight game – until the Cyclones’ 45-0 rout last season. Could be a trap for ISU.
11. Oklahoma State at Boise State, Sept. 18: Historic game for the Broncos; only the second Big 12 team to play in Boise, and the first, Iowa State in 2002, was in the Humanitarian Bowl.
12. Texas at TCU, Oct. 2: Early test for Sarkisian; the Horned Frogs are 7-2 vs. Texas during the Big 12 era, after going 7-33 vs. the Longhorns in their last 40 years as Southwest Conference members.
13. Kansas State at Oklahoma State, Sept. 25: Cowboys had lost four straight Big 12 openers before beating West Virginia last season. A good start is important for OSU, because October has some tough tests.
14. Iowa State at West Virginia, Oct. 30: Cyclones have won three straight vs. Mountaineers, but Morgantown can be a tough place to play.
15. Kansas State at Stanford, Sept. 4: Fun season opener between two traditionally-overachieving programs.
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16. Oklahoma State at West Virginia, Nov. 6: It’s getting tougher and tougher for OSU to beat the Mountaineers – the last three victories have been 27-13, 20-13 and 50-39.
17. Nebraska at Oklahoma, Sept. 18: Good game for tradition and history, but not much competitively. The Cornhusker brass apparently didn’t even want to play.
18. TCU at Kansas State, Oct. 30: One of the Big 12’s most unpredictable series. The road team is 5-4 in this rivalry since the Horned Frogs joined the conference.
19. Texas at Arkansas, Sept. 11: Renewal of an old Southwest Conference arch-rivalry that is enhanced by the Razorbacks’ competitive 2020 season under new coach Sam Pittman.
20. West Virginia at TCU, Oct. 23: Mountaineers have several winnable road games in conference play, including this one.
21. Kansas State at Texas, Nov. 26: Herman ended the Longhorns’ KSU problem, going 4-0 vs. the Wildcats. Probably would behoove Sarkisian to keep the streak going.
22. TCU at Oklahoma State, Nov. 13: Horned Frogs have become thorns in the Cowboys’ flesh, winning three of the last four in the series.
23. Iowa State at Baylor, Sept. 25: Cyclones have only four conference home games this season, so winning road games against lesser foes is imperative.
24. Texas at West Virginia, Nov. 20: Fourth time in UT’s last five trips to Morgantown that the game is in November, but the Longhorns have gone 2-1 in the mountain cold.
25. Brigham Young at Baylor, Oct. 16: Baptists vs. Mormons. Fun intersectional matchup, though it would be more interesting if the Bears were projected to be better.
26. Texas Tech at Kansas, Oct. 16: You’ve got to pay attention when the Jayhawks have a chance to win a conference game, and this is their best chance.
27. Louisiana-Lafayette at Texas, Sept. 4: David McWilliams, John Mackovic, Mack Brown, Charlie Strong and Tom Herman each started their maiden Longhorn seasons 1-2. Sarkisian almost surely will avoid that fate if UT can hold off the upstart Ragin’ Cajuns.
28. West Virginia at Baylor, Oct. 9: The home team has won every game in this series except 2017, when the Mountaineers stopped a 2-point conversion with 17 seconds left to win 38-36.
29. South Dakota at Kansas, Sept. 3: New KU coach Lane Leipold has a chance to start his difficult assignment with a victory, but it’s never easy for the Jayhawks.
30. Kansas State at Texas Tech, Oct. 23: Matt Wells is 8-14 in two seasons as the Red Raider coach. Winning games like this would be huge for job security.
31. Baylor at Kansas, Sept. 18: It’s too bad for the Jayhawks that the Les Miles scandal brewed. Kansas’ schedule offers an inordinate amount of victory chances.
32. TCU at Texas Tech, Oct. 9: For some reason, the Red Raiders have been quite competitive with the Horned Frogs in the Big 12 era, going 4-5 and twice losing by a field goal or less.
33. West Virginia at Kansas State, Nov. 13: Two solid programs that have not reached the Big 12 Championship Game since its 2017 return.
34. California at TCU, Sept. 11: The Big 12’s purple-clad teams can make the conference 2-0 vs. the Pac-12's two Bay Area members.
35. Oklahoma State at Texas Tech, Nov. 20: Red Raiders have reversed OSU’s series dominance, winning in in 2018 and 2019, then losing 50-44 in Stillwater last season.
36. TCU at Iowa State, Nov. 26: Cyclones survived Horned Frogs 37-34 last season.
37. Texas Tech at Baylor, Nov. 27: Good to see this series back on campuses. It never seemed like a good idea to play annually at JerryWorld.
38. Kansas State at Kansas, Nov. 6: The Wildcats have won 12 straight in the series. Believe it or not, KU once had a 29-game lead in the series.
39. Texas Tech at Houston, Sept. 4: Cougars are just 1-3 vs. the Red Raiders since the breakup for the SWC.
