It’s a Good Thing the Big 12 Ended Preseason Polls

Fortunately, the Big 12’s decision not to release a preseason media poll in 2025 is proving to be a very good thing. Just a few weeks into the season, Kansas State has gone from a program that many believed would be among the favorites to win the league to one of the most disappointing teams in the country.

Had the conference rolled out a poll with the Wildcats sitting at or near the top, the rest of college football would already be mocking the Big 12’s credibility.

In all likelihood, Kansas State would have opened as a co-favorite alongside Arizona State, and that projection would now look foolish. Instead, the league avoided unnecessary embarrassment by skipping the tradition altogether. For a conference still working to establish itself in the new playoff era, avoiding early-season ridicule is no small thing. Every narrative matters when playoff positioning is on the line, and a preseason poll showing one of the league’s worst teams as a projected champion would have damaged the Big 12’s standing on a national scale.

The other benefit is that the absence of a poll allows surprising teams to shine without being burdened by perception. Programs like Houston and Arizona, which almost certainly would have been slotted in the bottom half of the standings, have played well early and carry the look of legitimate contenders. In the past, those teams would have been framed as outliers or “worst to first” stories, which often gets spun negatively in the national media. By leaving the preseason projections out of the conversation, the Big 12 lets its play speak for itself rather than fighting against labels applied in July.

For a league that has been searching for ways to elevate its brand, this approach feels like a win. The Big 12 needs respect nationally, and in the current landscape, every small detail plays a role in how the conference is perceived by the playoff committee and by television audiences. A traditional preseason poll may seem harmless, but this year, it would have been an anchor dragging the Big 12 down before September even ended.

Instead, the conference enters league play with legitimate momentum, and the storylines are centered on what is happening on the field, not outdated rankings. That is exactly the kind of narrative shift the Big 12 has been fighting for.