The Big 12 is one of the biggest conferences in the country with 16 teams. That’s just how math works. There are a lot of Big 12 teams.
And because there are a lot of Big 12 teams, and because some of them happen to be pretty decent at this whole playing football thing, we’ve got the Big 12 taking up *checks notes* roughly one-fifth of the preseason top 25 in the Coaches Poll.
And that includes Texas Tech! But, the Red Raiders are ranking in as the No. 5 team in the preseason rankings. And that kind of stinks.
Texas Tech sits as the No. 5 team in the Big 12 in 2025 preseason Coaches Poll rankings
Here’s how the Big 12 stands with five teams making it into the preseason rankings from the Coaches Poll:
- Arizona State Sun Devils - No. 11
- Kansas State Wildcats - No. 20
- Iowa State Cyclones - No. 21
- BYU Cougars - No. 23
- Texas Tech Red Raiders - No. 24
And here’s the Big 12 teams that happened to get left out of the Top 25 rankings but still managed to get some votes:
- Utah Utes
- Baylor Bears
- TCU Horned Frogs
- Colorado Buffaloes
- Kansas Jayhawks
You want more Big 12 teams that aren’t ranked? Here’s the Big 12 teams that didn’t get votes in the poll:
- Arizona Wildcats
- Cincinnati Bearcats
- Houston Cougars
- Oklahoma State Cowboys
- UCF Knights
- West Virginia Mountaineers
Texas Tech ranked No. 24 in 2025 preseason Coaches Poll, which is fine
Look, do I think the Red Raiders should be ranked higher?
Yeah.
Do I think the BYU Cougars should be ranked at all?
No. Not with the fact that they lost a pretty talented quarterback pretty late in the offseason. I think BYU could still be good, but I’m not convinced that they’ll thrive this season and I think they might take a step back on offense because of that personnel loss.
And adjusting the poll and its rankings for that alone would bump Texas Tech up a bit, which would be nice. That’s not how this works, but it would be nice.