For the first time since Jake Retzlaff withdrew from BYU, ESPN’s Bill Connelly updated the SP+ rankings ahead of the 2025 season. Connelly also made the final tweaks to his preseason rankings before the 2025 college football season kicks off. BYU dropped nine spots from no. 27 to no. 36 following Retzlaff’s departure.
Below are the final SP+ preseason rankings for the Big 12. Kansas State is at the top of the conference at no. 18.
- Kansas State (18th nationally)
- Utah (26)
- TCU (28)
- Texas Tech (29)
- Arizona State (30)
- Iowa State (31)
- Baylor (35)
- BYU (36)
- Kansas (48)
- Colorado (49)
- Oklahoma State (57)
- UCF (58)
- Cincinnati (59)
- WVU (60)
- Arizona (61)
- Houston (63)
According to SP+, there are two tiers of Big 12 teams.
The top half of the conference is lumped together. After Kansas State, teams ranked no. 2 to no. 8 are lumped between 26th and 36th nationally.
The bottom half of the conference is ranked between no. 48 and no. 63.
If these rankings are any indication, the Big 12 title will once again come down to which teams win the most close games. Last year, it was Arizona State that won the most close games before winning the Big 12 championship game.
The strength of schedule could also play a major role in the championship race. BYU plays four of the top seven Big 12 teams. BYU plays two home games (Utah, TCU) and two away games (Iowa State, Texas Tech) against those four teams.
Prior to the Jake Retzlaff news, BYU was ranked no. 27 which was good for fouth in the Big 12.
- Kansas State (19th nationally)
- Arizona State (22)
- Texas Tech (26)
- BYU (27)
- TCU (29)
- Utah (31)
- Iowa State (32)
- Baylor (35)
- Kansas (50)
- Colorado (52)
- West Virginia (57)
- Oklahoma State (58)
- Houston (59)
- Arizona (60)
- UCF (61)
- Cincinnati (66)
According to Connelly, the official definition of SP+ is “a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. It is a predictive measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football, not a résumé ranking, and, along those same lines, these projections aren’t intended to be a guess at what the AP Top 25 will look like at the end of the year. These are simply early offseason power rankings based on the information we have been able to gather to date.”
