Where Would Oklahoma State Land in a Preseason Big 12 Poll?
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Big 12 Media Days are almost here, but one of the biggest talking points won’t happen this year.
Typically, Big 12 Media Days serve as a sort of unofficial start to the college football season. While there are still almost two months until any team kicks off the season, these couple of days signal that fall camp and the preseason are just around the corner.
One of the most interesting portions of the preseason around college football has always been the preseason media polls for each conference. However, in recent years, some conference have chosen not to have a poll.
In 2025, the Big 12 has followed suit. While it’s not a huge deal considering how other conferences have already made this move, it’s hard not to wonder if last season played a role in the poll getting retired.
Last season, Utah was the Big 12 preseason favorite and Oklahoma State was among the top three. Those teams combined for one conference win, which only came in Utah’s head-to-head win over the Cowboys.
Meanwhile, Arizona State secured the last-place spot in the Big 12 preseason poll. Of course, the Sun Devils not only exceeded expectations, they won the conference and were the Big 12’s only team in the College Football Playoff.
In any case, there will be no opportunity for a team to ride that underdog story throughout the season. Although it seems unlikely that Oklahoma State could win the Big 12 next season, it likely would have been ranked in that same tier Arizona State was last year.
Considering the Cowboys went 3-9 last season and failed to win a single conference game, it makes sense that they might be in the bottom tier of the Big 12. While the Cowboys also made some significant changes this offseason, it still wouldn’t be far-fetched to have seen OSU come in last place in a hypothetical preseason poll.
Of course, everyone knows how Mike Gundy teams typically respond to being counted out, and that likely would’ve landed the Cowboys a few extra votes. Unfortunately, we’ll never know how a true Big 12 media poll would have ended up, but soon enough, the Big 12’s brightest will be on display in Frisco.
Ivan is a sports media student at Oklahoma State University. He has covered OSU athletics since 2022 and also covers the OKC Thunder for Inside The Thunder and Thunderous Intentions.