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How Does Big 12 Football Stack Up in Post-Spring SP+ Rankings?

Originally posted on Heartland College Sports
By Bryan Clinton | Last updated May 22, 2025 1:42 PM ET

On Thursday morning, ESPN’s Bill Connelly released his latest version of the SP+ rankings for all 136 FBS football teams, and the Big 12 is seeing some dramatic shifts in its conference hierarchy from a season ago.

The league will undoubtedly be one of the most difficult races to call in 2025, and these rankings further confirm the suspicion that the Big 12 is truly wide open once again.

As a reminder, Connelly’s SP+ rankings are based on three factors: returning production, recent recruiting, and recent history.

Here’s a look at how the Big 12 fared in the latest updates.

Post-Spring SP+ Rankings

TEAM	SP+(RK)	OFF.	DEF.	ST	AVG. W	SOS RK
1. (18) Kansas State	15.6	35.7 (14)	20.0 (26)	0.2 (26)	9.0	57
2. (22) Arizona State	12.2	32.6 (26)	20.4 (27)	-0.6 (136)	8.4	61
3. (26) Texas Tech	11.8	38.3 (9)	26.5 (55)	0.2 (23)	8.4	62
4. (27) BYU	11.2	32.2 (29)	20.6 (30)	0.3 (10)	8.4	64
5. (29) TCU	11.1	34.8 (19)	27.3 (38)	-0.1 (92)	7.5	41
6. (31) Utah	11.0	28.3 (54)	17.3 (16)	0.2 (36)	7.9	55
7. (32) Iowa State	11.0	31.5 (33)	20.6 (29)	-0.1 (87)	7.8	51
8. (35) Baylor	7.5	34.6 (21)	27.1 (58)	0.2 (38)	6.7	46
9. (50) Kansas	3.0	32.0 (31)	29.0 (75)	-0.1 (94)	6.0	50
10. (52) Colorado	2.6	29.9 (46)	27.2 (60)	-0.2 (114)	5.5	49
11. (57) West Virginia	1.0	29.9 (47)	28.9 (73)	0.2 (18)	5.2	53
12. (58) Oklahoma State	0.9	30.9 (40)	30.0 (84)	0.0 (78)	5.4	42
13. (59) Houston	0.9	24.3 (91)	23.4 (36)	-0.2 (120)	5.8	67
14. (60) Arizona	0.7	28.8 (51)	28.1 (67)	0.2 (16)	5.4	56
15. (61) UCF	0.4	27.8 (57)	27.3 (62)	0.0 (81)	5.7	58
16. (66) Cincinnati	-0.3	25.1 (86)	25.4 (49)	-0.1 (88)	5.3	59

To put it bluntly, the Big 12 appears to be an absolute logjam between the top eight teams, as they span just 18 spots in the national rankings.

In fact, the top seven teams in the league are separated by 4.6 points, and the difference between No. 2 (Arizona State) and No. 7 (Iowa State) is just 1.2 points.

The moral of the story is this—if you’re betting on college football to win money, the Big 12 is going to give you a chance to hit it big. However, you’ll need to be ready for the unthinkable to happen, because in this league, it probably will.

This article first appeared on Heartland College Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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