Oklahoma has long dominated the Big 12, but the departure of Lincoln Riley has made the conference more competitive than it has been in several years. The Sooners have won eight of the last 10 Big Ten Championship Games, yet they are only a slight favorite to win the conference title this season. Riley and Caleb Williams left for USC, and Spencer Rattler, Jadon Haselwood, and Austin Stogner transferred to the SEC, so there are a lot of questions surrounding Oklahoma in 2022.
College Football Odds at BookMaker.eu
Odds to Win the Big 12 in 2022
Oklahoma +200
Texas +250
Baylor +500
Oklahoma State +700
TCU +1400
Iowa State +1400
Kansas State +1800
West Virginia +1800
Texas Tech +4000
Kansas +25000
Brent Venables is the new head coach of Oklahoma, and that should immediately make the Sooners better on defense. Venables was previously the defensive coordinator here for 13 seasons under Bob Stoops, but he left for Clemson in 2012. He has supervised some of the best defenses in college football over the last two decades, so some of the issues that have plagued this defense will be fixed.
However, the offense is likely to take a step back without Riley. Venables has tried to maintain continuity by bringing in offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby and transfer quarterback Dillon Gabriel, but the loss of so many starters will hurt. Oklahoma is really hoping that Gabriel can develop a rapport with Marvin Mims and Theo Wease quickly.
Although Texas went 5-7 and won just three games in conference play last season, the Longhorns are the second favorites to win the Big 12. Steve Sarkisian was able to land some big recruits, and Texas is hoping to win its first conference championship since 2009. The highly regarded Quinn Ewers is expected to be the starting quarterback after spending one season at Ohio State, and he has one of the nation’s best running backs in Bijan Robinson sharing the backfield with him.
Once again, there is probably too much hype surrounding Texas. The Longhorns return just nine starters from last year’s team, and there are a lot of questions on defense.
Baylor was the surprising conference champion last year. The Bears went 12-2 in Dave Aranda’s second year in Waco after a disappointing 2-7 finish in 2020. Seven starters return to what should be an excellent defense for the second straight year, and the offense is expected to improve too with Blake Shapen replacing Gerry Bohanon under center. This ground game was rock solid in 2021, and Ben Sims is one of the top tight ends in the conference too.
It's hard to know what to expect from Oklahoma State in 2022. The Cowboys typically have one of the best offenses in the nation, but they ranked just 53rd in Offensive SP+ last season. Instead, it was the defense that led this team to a Big 12 Championship Game appearance as the Cowboys ranked 4th in Defensive SP+. Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles left for Ohio State this offseason, so the offense needs to carry the load once more. Spencer Sanders has had a frustrating time in Stillwater, but he is one of the most experienced signal callers in the country.
TCU is in a new era. Longtime head coach Gary Patterson left the program last Halloween after 22 years on the sidelines for the Horned Frogs. Patterson was one of the premier head coaches of his time and shepherded TCU’s move into first the Mountain West Conference and then the Big 12 Conference, so it won’t be easy to replace him.
It was clear that the game had passed him by though, and the administration made a surprising choice when it came to replacing Patterson. TCU hired SMU’s Sonny Dukes who will bring his version of the Air Raid to Fort Worth. This defense is likely to take a step back, but Max Duggan should post big numbers in this offense.
Multiple Big Ten schools reportedly offered Matt Campbell the opportunity to coach their teams over the last few years, but Campbell decided to stay put at Iowa State. That led to the Cyclones having unparalleled success with five straight winning seasons, a feat we hadn’t seen the program pull off since the 1920s. Campbell might be second guessing his decision to stay though as the cupboard is now bare with just eight returning starters from last year’s team.
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