National Analysts Predict Where BYU Will Finish in the Big 12 Standings

On Thursday, CBS Sports national analysts predicted the Big 12 standings. The predictions for BYU varied across the board. Barrett Sallee picked BYU to finish fifth in the Big 12 in 2023 - that was the highest prediction for the Cougars. Multiple analysts projected BYU to finish 11th in the conference. The Cougars were picked to finish 11th in the preseason Big 12 media poll. Below are the individual predictions from the CBS analysts.

BYU Predictions from CBS Analysts

Dennis Dodd - 11th
Tom Fornelli - 10th
Chip Patterson - 10th
Barrett Salle - 5th
Shehan Jeyarajah - 11th
Jerry Palm - 9th
David Cobb - 11th
Will Backus - 11th

Jerry Palm, who picked BYU to finish ninth in the conference, expects life to be difficult for all four newcomers. "Life is going to be pretty tough for the four new members of this league -- and not just this season but for at least a few years as they adjust to power conference football."

Barrett Salle, who is higher on BYU than his peers, expects BYU to finish fifth behind only Texas, Kansas State, UCF, and TCU.

For BYU, its ability to improve on 2022 will come down to the many transfers on the roster. The Cougars new they needed to add more talent to the roster after last season. They addressed their roster needs as much as they could through the transfer portal. BYU will count on new transfers to fill as many as half of the starting jobs in 2023. Most notably, BYU will start veteran transfer Kedon Slovis at quarterback. If Slovis can exceed expectations, BYU has a very good chance to finish better than 11th in the conference. If Slovis struggles like he did last year at Pitt, BYU will end up near the bottom of the conference in its inaugural Big 12 campaign.

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