The Big 12’s No Good, Very Bad Start to 2025

At least Stanford isn't in the conference.

Before the season started, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark declared that his goal was to get multiple schools into the College Football Playoff. Sure, he was reciting the company line, but there also seemed to be a genuine belief that his league had the firepower to deliver more than one playoff-caliber team. With the lack of early non-conference success, however, Yormark’s vision already looks like a pipe dream.

The opening two weeks provided the Big 12 with multiple chances to prove to the rest of the sport that it was stronger than advertised. Everyone knows there isn’t a true national title contender in the league, but there’s a wealth of quality programs. Arizona State and Kansas State were the preseason favorites to capture the conference crown, with several others—Utah, Baylor, Iowa State, BYU, and TCU—also jockeying for the top spot. Honestly, most teams in the league probably believed they had at least a puncher’s chance if everything broke the right way.

Of course, all those preseason projections appear to have been incredibly incorrect.

Half of the conference already has a loss, and most of those came either at the hands of heavy underdogs or in games that could have been résumé-builders. For the most part, when the lights have been at their brightest, the Big 12 has stumbled.

There have been bright spots. Utah has looked fantastic, thrashing UCLA 43–10 and following it up with a 63–9 demolition of Cal Poly. Iowa State has been the league’s darling so far, with triumphs over Kansas State and rival Iowa. Texas Tech rolled through UAPB and Kent State, though those wins don’t reveal much. TCU silenced the Bill Belichick buzz with an emphatic Labor Day victory, and Baylor rebounded from a disappointing Auburn loss by outlasting a ranked SMU team in Dallas.

But for every high point, the lows have been equal or worse.

Kansas State’s been an abject disaster, losing to Iowa State in Dublin—followed by the bizarre spectacle of its quarterback’s father and brother brawling in the parking lot—barely escaping North Dakota, and then falling to an Army squad fresh off a loss to Tarleton State. Once viewed as a conference favorite, the Wildcats now look like they’ll be scrapping just to reach bowl eligibility.

Arizona State isn’t in full-on crisis mode just yet, but losing to Mississippi State probably evaporated whatever national respect it carried from last season’s run. It’s yet another reminder that last year’s success doesn’t guarantee anything the following fall.

The biggest albatross for the Big 12 is Oklahoma State. What used to be a perennial contender has morphed into a shell of itself almost overnight. Mike Gundy will forever be a legend in Stillwater, but it feels like his time has run its course. I guess that’s what happens when you refuse to change with the times.

There are countless other disappointing teams. West Virginia is openly rebuilding, but dropping a game to Ohio is still unacceptable. Colorado’s poor clock management cost it dearly in a winnable game against Georgia Tech, a solid ACC squad that could contend for its league title. Sure, beating Delaware was fine, but imagine how different the vibes would be if the Buffaloes had opened the season with a primetime (pun intended) home victory over the Yellow Jackets.

The story so far is that the Big 12 has had chance after chance to make a statement and has blown nearly every one of them. The only way the rest of the sport will respect the Big 12 is if it consistently wins marquee non-conference games. Right now, that’s simply not happening, and the conference’s reputation is taking a hit because of it.