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Oklahoma football: How Big 12 race will shake out in 2022

By Chip Rouse

Oct 23, 2021; Lawrence, Kansas, USA; A general view of the Big 12 Conference logo on the field after the game between the Kansas Jayhawks and the Oklahoma Sooners at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 23, 2021; Lawrence, Kansas, USA; A general view of the Big 12 Conference logo on the field after the game between the Kansas Jayhawks and the Oklahoma Sooners at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports /
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Round and round it goes, where it stops nobody knows. That somewhat antiquated phrase is a good way to describe what could be a wide-open Big 12 football race this fall, with several teams, including a new-look Oklahoma football group, in a position to make a serious run at the conference title.

A variety of media outlets have released preseason predictions on how the Big 12 will shake out in the 2022 college football season, and there does not appear to be a strong consensus on which team will stand apart from the rest on the first Saturday in December. There has been a strong consensus, however, since the 2000 season, with Oklahoma winning 14 Big 12 championships over that time, including six of the last seven.

Baylor, however, is the reigning conference champion, a title the Bears also held in 2013 and 2014. Baylor is the choice of Athlon Sports as well as the media representatives who cover the Big 12 to take home the Big 12 Championship trophy again this season. The Sooners, by the way, are the No. 2 pick in both of those preseason polls.

College Football News and Phil Steele’s 2022 College Football Preview, for example, have Oklahoma regaining the conference title despite all the turnover the Sooners endured in the offseason. Lindy’s has Oklahoma State coming out on top in the Big 12 at season’s end, and CBS Sports has forecast Texas as the 2022 Big 12 champion.

There is a common denominator in the six aforementioned 2022 Big 12 preseason predictions. The Sooners were forecast to finish first in two of them, and No. 2 in the other four.

In the past several weeks, the two big boys in terms of ranking the top teams in the nation both before and during the season, the Associated Press media poll and the AFCA Coaches Poll, have weighed in on the 2022 season. Both have the Sooners at No. 9 to begin the new season and ranked the highest of the Big 12 teams, but only by a couple of spots.

We also have a preseason prediction to throw into the mix on how the Big 12 standings will shake out in the 2022 season. We looked at every game to be played by every Big 12 team this season and projected the winner of every game. Then we tallied the wins and losses for every team and arrived at an order of finish both for conference games and overall

Here is how we project the 2022 Big 12 football standings:

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