Interesting tidbits in here... TT has never been ranked in a CFO poll, ASU has best winning percentage, etc..
Big 12 football
Joe MussattoThe Oklahoman
Big 12 power rankings: Which program is best all-time in 16-team league?
The new-look Big 12 is going to have what the old Big 12 was missing: parity.
OU won 14 conference championships in the league’s first 28 years of existence. Texas won four and Nebraska two. Among current members, only Baylor and Kansas State — with three each — have won multiple Big 12 championships.
The Sooners were on an every-other-year pace, and the Longhorns were good for one conference crown every seven years. With OU and Texas off to the SEC, more teams in the Big 12 are going to eat.
That’s good. The conference will be more competitive, more unpredictable.
It’s also bad. The Big 12 is now void of a blueblood program. OU and Texas are taking their 11 combined national championships with them to the SEC.
That leaves the Big 12 with only two national championships among its 16-team membership: BYU in 1984, and Colorado in 1990, when the Buffaloes shared the title with Georgia Tech.
Today we’re ranking the best football programs in the Big 12. We’re using these six factors: all-time winning percentage, bowl game appearances, consensus All-Americans, NFL draft picks, weeks ranked in the AP Poll and weeks ranked in the College Football Playoff poll.
All of those numbers have been pulled from sports-reference.com and winsipedia.com (a college football database I highly recommend).
We sorted each team one through 16 in each of those six categories, and then calculated the average place of where each team ranked across those categories.
Is this some ironclad formula? Of course not. Merely an exercise to try to remove as much bias as possible — other than picking the six categories, which quibble with those if you wish.
How each school ranked in each category is included at the bottom. Each team’s average rank across all categories is listed in parentheses.
Here are The Oklahoman’s rankings of Big 12 football programs from 16 to 1.
Tier 4
16. Kansas Jayhawks (13.7)
Kansas was the only program not to rank in the top half of the conference in any of the six categories.The Jayhawks ranked highest (10th) in NFL draft picks with 171, one fewer than OSU.
Further proof that Lance Leipold is one of the best coaches in college football. The Jayhawks are a legitimate Big 12 title contender this season.
15. Iowa State Cyclones (13.5)
The Cyclones have been competitive in just about every season under Matt Campbell, making it easy to forget how bleak Iowa State football has historically been.To that point, Iowa State’s best category was weeks ranked in the College Football Playoff. Fifteen weeks, eighth-most in the Big 12.
14. UCF Knights (12.7)
The Knights have only been playing Division-I FBS since 1996. That they’re not ranked last, given their brief history, speaks to their quick rise to relevance.UCF’s all-time winning percentage (.559) is sixth-best in the Big 12. Granted, the Knights have only spent one season in a power conference, but still impressive for a relatively new program.
On a sadder note, we regret to inform UCF that its 2017 national title claim is not recognized here.
13. Cincinnati Bearcats (12.2)
Only two Big 12 programs have made the College Football Playoff: TCU and Cincinnati.The 2021 Bearcats, then of the American Athletic Conference, became the first Group of Five program to make the four-team playoff.
Cincinnati has had some awfully good coaches this century, from Mark Dantonio, to Brian Kelly, to Luke Fickell.
Tier 3
12. Texas Tech Red Raiders (9.7)
Texas Tech has the dubious distinction of being the only Big 12 school that’s never appeared in the College Football Playoff rankings.While the Red Raiders rank last in that category, they’re first in another: bowl games. Texas Tech has played in 41 bowl games — tops in the Big 12 and 21st among all programs.
11. Kansas State Wildcats (9.3)
They don’t call it the Miracle in Manhattan for nothin’.Kansas State was hopelessly bad before Bill Snyder came around. The Wildcats had played in one bowl game … ever. Snyder took them to 19 bowl games.
K-State’s ranking is weighed down, perhaps too harshly, from the pre-Snyder days.
10. Houston Cougars (9.0)
Here’s a remarkable stat: Houston has had four coaches log a 10-win season this century.In reverse chronological order: Dana Holgorsen, Tom Herman, Kevin Sumlin, Art Briles.
Houston has long been a stepping stone job and probably still is. At least the Cougars are now playing in a major conference, though.
9. Arizona Wildcats (8.5)
The Wildcats rank no better than sixth and no worse than 12th across the six categories.It’s a basketball school, but at least its football program is mediocre.
Arizona’s all-time winning percentage (.558) is in the top half of the Big 12.
Tier 2
T7. BYU Cougars (7.0)
BYU ranks second in bowl games, fourth in winning percentage and fifth in weeks ranked in the AP Poll.The Cougars haven’t been a factor in the College Football Playoff era, though, and they surprisingly haven’t produced as many NFL draft picks as you might think.
They’ll always have 1984.
T7. Utah Utes (7.0)
How perfect is this? It’s a tie in the Holy War!Kyle Whittingham, entering Year 20, has turned Utah into a proud program.
Utah ranks No. 1 in weeks ranked in the College Football Playoff poll (44).
6. Baylor Bears (6.7)
Baylor is buoyed by its recent success. The Bears have more or less been a mainstay in the College Football Playoff conversation. Not bad for a program with an all-time winning percentage just north of .500.The Bears have also attracted talent. They rank third in NFL draft picks and tied for fourth in consensus All-Americans.
More:Big 12 football quarterback rankings: Where does Shedeur Sanders, Jalon Daniels land?
Tier 1
5. Oklahoma State Cowboys (5.5)
Mike Gundy. That’s the easy explanation for why OSU is a Tier 1 Big 12 program.Only Utah has been present for more weeks (44) in the College Football Playoff poll than OSU (43).
OSU also stands out for having 21 consensus All-Americans. The Cowboys rank No. 2 in that category behind Colorado.
4. TCU Horned Frogs (5.2)
TCU is a top-four Big 12 program in bowl games, consensus All-Americans, NFL draft picks and weeks ranked in the College Football Playoff.What a wild ride it’s been for TCU recently. Gary Patterson, who has a statue outside the stadium, was fired. Then his replacement, Sonny Dykes, takes TCU to the national championship game in his first season as coach.
T2. Arizona State (4.8)
Put this trivia question in your back pocket: Which current Big 12 school has the best all-time winning percentage?See how many tries it takes for your friend to guess Arizona State.
The Sun Devils have a proud past, but they’ve been irrelevant for a long time.
T2. West Virginia (4.8)
Second in all-time winning percentage, second in bowl appearances and second in most weeks ranked in the AP Poll.There’s something to be said for West Virginia’s consistency. From Bobby Bowden in the 70’s, Don Nehlen in the ‘80s and ‘90s and Rich Rodriguez and Dana Holgorsen in the 2000s and 2010s, the Mountaineers have been well coached.
West Virginia might not have a lofty ceiling, but it’s proven to have a high floor.
1. Colorado (4.7)
After 13 seasons in the Pac-12, the Buffaloes have wandered back to the Big 12.As the No. 1 program, though? You have to do a lot of looking back to justify it.
Colorado has only spent eight weeks ranked in the College Football Playoff poll. That’s ahead of only Arizona State, Kansas and Texas Tech.
But the Buffaloes are the Big 12’s most recent national champion. And even though they’re bad now, they’re at least interesting with Deion Sanders at the helm.
Colorado ranked No. 1 in three categories: consensus All-Americans, NFL draft picks and weeks ranked in the AP Poll.
