Big 12 football: Ranking every game of the 2019 season
The Oklahoman
Berry Tramel
July 28, 2019
1. Texas at Iowa State, Nov. 16: This game could well be for a berth in the Big 12 Championship Game.
2. Oklahoma vs. Texas in Dallas, Oct. 12: Hard to pick against this as the game of the year, except they could meet again eight weeks later 15 miles to the west.
3. LSU at Texas, Sept. 7: The Big 12’s biggest non-conference game; UT could strike a blow for Big 12 pride against an SEC behemoth.
4. Oklahoma at Oklahoma State, Nov. 30: Will OSU be a Big 12 title game contender? Who knows? But Bedlam football again has become wild; witness the 48-47 thriller a year ago on Owen Field.
5. Iowa at Iowa State, Sept. 14: An early showdown that could stamp the Cyclones as a Big 12 title threat and give the Big 12 bragging rights over the Big Ten.
6. Oklahoma State at Texas, Sept. 21: The Cowboys have won five straight in Austin; make it six, and OSU will jump into contender status.
7. Iowa State at Oklahoma, Nov. 9: The last time the Cyclones came to Norman, they delivered an all-time upset and pronounced the arrival of the Matt Campbell era.
8. Texas at Baylor, Nov. 23: The Bears could be sneaky good, and their quarterback, Charlie Brewer, will be playing against his dad’s alma mater. Robert Brewer quarterbacked UT in the 1980s.
9. Oklahoma State at Iowa State, Oct. 26: Cowboys have won squeakers their last two trips to Ames. They’d take that again.
10. Oklahoma at Baylor, Nov. 16: Sooners haven’t won big in Waco since 2010. Since then, two losses and two nail-biting victories.
11. TCU at Oklahoma State, Nov. 2: Cowboys are just 4-3 vs. the Horned Frogs in Big 12 play. Only OU and Kansas State have given OSU more trouble during that span.
12. Houston at Oklahoma, Sept. 1: Dana Holgorsen’s first game out of the Big 12 is against a Big 12 foe in a Big 12 stadium. Should be a lot of fireworks.
13. Texas at TCU, Oct. 26: Hard to believe — the Longhorns are just 6-6 against the Frogs dating back to 1991.
14. Iowa State at Baylor, Sept. 28: The battle of the Matts — the Cyclones’ Campbell vs. the Bears’ Rhule, two of college football’s most respected young coaches.
15. Texas at West Virginia, Oct. 5: Mountaineers are 3-4 vs. the Longhorns since joining the Big 12. Not an easy game for UT the week before the Red River game.
16. Oklahoma at UCLA, Sept. 14: The Sooners in the Arroyo Seco, with the sun setting over the San Gabriels, is hard to beat even if the Bruins are a shell of what they ought to be.
17. Kansas State at Kansas, Nov. 2: With new coaches, Chris Kleiman and Les Miles, at both Sunflower State schools, this verdict could have big ramifications for the future.
18. Baylor at TCU, Nov. 9: The Bears don’t play OU or Texas until later in November and still could be in the Arlington hunt when they go to Fort Worth.
19. Iowa State at Texas Tech, Oct. 19: The Cyclones have five conference road games, and none of them in Lawrence. So winning in Lubbock is vital.
20. Baylor at Kansas State, Oct. 5: Baylor has just four Big 12 road games; none of them against the teams picked 1-2-3. The Bears could mount some victories.
21. TCU at Iowa State, Oct. 5: For six straight years, the Frogs have held the Cyclones 21 points or less. Can Gary Patterson do it again?
22. Oklahoma State at West Virginia, Nov. 23: OSU has won four straight in the series, but all have been barn burners — 45-41, 50-39, 37-20 and 33-26 in overtime.
23. TCU at Oklahoma, Nov. 23: The Sooners are Gary Patterson’s worst nightmare – OU has scored 52, 41, 38 and 52 on TCU the last four years.
24. Oklahoma State at Texas Tech, Oct. 5: Cowboys have won five straight in Lubbock, a place they once were cursed.
25. West Virginia at Kansas, Sept. 21: Can the Les Miles era get off to a robust start? The Jayhawks’ best chance for a Big 12 victory comes early.
26. TCU at Purdue, Sept. 14: Funky matchup, but no pushover for the Frogs. Ohio State lost in West Lafayette last season.
27. Iowa State at West Virginia, Oct. 12: The Cyclones’ 30-14 thumping of the sixth-ranked Mountaineers last season was the latest sign of the Iowa State ascendancy.
28. TCU at Kansas State, Oct. 19: The Horned Frogs could be quarterbacked by KSU expatriate Alex Delton.
29. Baylor at Oklahoma State, Oct. 19: The Cowboys have won just two of their last seven games against the Bears. That needs to change.
30. Kansas State at Mississippi State, Sept. 14: The first game in years for new K-State coach Chris Kleiman in which he’ll be outmanned in talent. He usually had a big edge at North Dakota State.
31. Texas Tech at Baylor, Oct. 12: The Baylor-Tech game returns to a campus site for the first time since 2008. The Red Raiders and Bears played 10 straight times in either Dallas or Arlington.
33. West Virginia at Missouri, Sept. 7: Two schools that geographically really ought to change conferences, but the Big 12 comes out way ahead on sufferability.
32. TCU at Texas Tech, Nov. 16: These schools play remarkably tame games. Three straight seasons, neither team has scored more than 27.
34. Kansas State at Oklahoma State, Sept. 28: Cowboys are just 4-4 in their last eight games against KSU, and OSU’s four wins were by a combined 19 points. The Cowboys haven’t beaten K-State by more than 10 points since 1988, the year before Bill Snyder’s arrival.
35. Texas Tech at Oklahoma, Sept. 28: In this decade, the Sooners have averaged 47.4 points a game against the Red Raiders. Welcome to Big 12 play, Jalen Hurts.
36. Iowa State at Kansas State, Nov. 30: Last year, the Cyclones broke a 10-year series losing streak against the Wildcats, but even then it wasn’t easy, 42-38 in Ames.
37. Texas Tech at Texas, Nov. 29: The Longhorns lead the series 50-17, but the games usually are entertaining – the Red Raiders have won 27-23 and 48-45 their last two trips to Austin.
38. North Carolina State at West Virginia, Sept. 14: This matchup last season, scheduled for Raleigh, North Carolina, was wiped out by weather. Another chance for the Mountaineers to lift Big 12 pride.
39. Oklahoma at Kansas State, Oct. 26: The Sooners haven’t lost in Manhattan since 1996, John Blake’s first year as OU’s coach.
40. Kansas at Oklahoma State, Nov. 16: In the Big 12 era, OSU is 14-1 against the Jayhawks, losing only to Mark Mangino’s 2007 Orange Bowl team.
41. West Virginia at Oklahoma, Oct. 19: Since entering the Big 12 in 2012, the Mountaineers have not beaten the Sooners. Here’s one reason why — only once has WVU held OU under 44 points. The Sooners have scored 59, 59 and 56 the last three meetings.
42. Kansas State at Texas, Nov. 9: Longhorn coach Tom Herman is 2-0 vs. the Wildcats, which is no small thing. All other Texas coaches combined are 7-10 against K-State.
43. Texas Tech at West Virginia, Nov. 9: No Kliff Kingsbury, no Dana Holgorsen. So no Air Raid Reunion but it is a homecoming for WVU coach Neal Brown, who was Tommy Tuberville’s offensive coordinator at Tech.
44. Kansas at Boston College, Sept. 13: The Eagles are picked fifth in the ACC’s Atlantic Division. If this was Wake Forest or Louisville, Kansas might have a chance.
45. Kansas State at Texas Tech, Nov. 23: Of the Big 12’s 45 conference games, six will match coaches in their first season on the job. This is one of them.
46. West Virginia at TCU, Nov. 29: A Thanksgiving Friday game for ESPN/ABC. For the Big 12’s sake, I hope it means something.
47. Texas Tech at Kansas, Oct. 26: You can’t say Les Miles won’t have his chances. Home games against the three teams picked just above the perennial last-place Jayhawks.
48. West Virginia at Baylor, Oct. 31: A Thursday night game in Waco. The Bears should have mounted up plenty of victories by Halloween.
49. Texas Tech at Arizona, Sept. 14: Alas, Kliff Kingsbury can’t drive down from Phoenix and watch his former team. Kingsbury’s Cardinals have an NFL game in Baltimore the next day.
50. West Virginia at Kansas State, Nov. 16: The loser could be knocked from bowl eligibility.
51. Baylor at Kansas, Nov. 30: In 2007, KU beat Baylor 58-10 in Lawrence. Since then, the Bears have won nine straight in the series, by an average of 27.5 points.
52. Oklahoma State at Oregon State, Aug. 30: First meeting ever. Going into the 1984 season, the Cowboys’ all-time winning percentage was .486.; the Beavers’ was .481. Since then, the Cowboys have been 63 games above .500, the Beavers 73 games below.
53. Kansas at TCU, Sept. 28: The Jayhawks upset the Horned Frogs 27-26 last year in Lawrence.
54. Baylor at Rice, Sept. 21: Since the breakup of the Southwest Conference, Baylor is 5-0 against Rice, with the closest verdict 30-13 in 2010.
55. Kansas at Iowa State, Nov. 23: Remember when this was always for last place in the Big 12? Seems like a long time ago.
56. Oklahoma State at Tulsa, Sept. 14: The Cowboys are 6-0 against TU over the last 20 years, with an average victory margin of 27 points.
57. Kansas at Texas, Oct. 19: The Longhorns haven’t exactly rolled over the Jayhawks in the Tom Herman era — 24-17 last season, 42-27 in 2017.
58. Louisiana Tech at Texas, Aug. 31: The Bulldogs have been solid under Skip Holtz — five straight winning seasons.
59. Oklahoma at Kansas, Oct. 5: OU’s first game against Les Miles since 2004 Bedlam, a 38-35 thriller.
60. Texas vs. Rice in Houston, Sept. 14: In 42 series games since 1965, the Owls have won just once, 1994.
61. SMU at TCU, Sept. 21: Texas transfer Shane Buechele could be starting at quarterback for the Mustangs against Kansas State transfer Alex Delton.
62. Bowling Green at Kansas State, Sept. 7: Since Dino Babers left for Syracuse after the 2015 season, the Falcons have gone 4-8, 2-10 and 3-9.
63. Louisiana-Monroe at Iowa State, Sept. 21: ULM has turned into a mediocre Sun Belt program, with no winning record since 2012.
64. Texas-San Antonio at Baylor, Sept. 7: UTSA momentum has waned — the Roadrunners opened last season with losses of 49-7 to Arizona State, 37-20 to Baylor and 41-17 at Kansas State.
65. Coastal Carolina at Kansas, Sept. 7: Chanticleers have gone 3-9 and 5-7 in their first two years as a I-A program, but Coastal almost upset Arkansas in 2017, losing 39-38.
66. Texas-El Paso at Texas Tech, Sept. 7: The Miners are back to their beleaguered status of yesteryear; UTEP has gone 5-31 the last three seasons.
67. James Madison at West Virginia, Aug. 31: Dangerous opener for new WVU coach Neal Brown. The Dukes won the I-AA national title in 2016, reached the title game in 2017 and returned to the playoffs in 2018.
68. Indiana State at Kansas, Aug. 31: OU’s Bob Stoops era opened with a game against the Sycamores. Now KU’s Les Miles era does the same.
69. Nicholls State at Kansas State, Aug. 31: The Chris Kleiman era begins with a potential trap game — Nicholls went 9-4 last season, upset Kansas and won a I-AA playoff game.
70. Northern Iowa at Iowa State, Aug. 31: The Cyclones won this in-state game 42-24 in 2017, but the Panthers upset ISU to open the Matt Campbell era in 2016.
71. Montana State at Texas Tech, Aug. 31: The Bobcats reached the second round of the I-AA playoffs last season.
72. Stephen F. Austin at Baylor, Aug. 31: The Lumberjacks were 2-8 in Division I-AA last season.
73. McNeese State at Oklahoma State, Sept. 7: I-AA McNeese is the Cowboys, too.
74. Arkansas-Pine Bluff at TCU, Aug. 31: The Golden Lions were 2-9 last season in Division I-AA.
75. South Dakota at Oklahoma, Sept. 7: The I-AA Coyotes went 4-7 last season; this is not North Dakota State.
