With almost every opportunity he got at the Big 12 football media days last week to talk about BYU being picked to finish at the top, or near the top, of the conference standings in 2026, coach Kalani Sitake reminded reporters that prognostications are rarely on target.
"They are wrong every time, so they stopped making predictions as a league," Sitake said. "They don't do it anymore."
He's not wrong.
I don't make all the decisions when it comes to how many teams get to (be in) the playoffs, and I'm not in the business of campaigning for that either. We just got to go do our job and play our best and see what happens.
In the Big 12, preseason predictions were so off in 2024 that the league stopped conducting a preseason media poll in 2025. There wasn't one this year, either, as the talkfest in Frisco, Texas, wrapped up with a preseason all-conference team and individual accolades, but no official ranking of teams.
Don't worry, we've got you covered.
In a process sparked by longtime scribe Berry Tramel of the Tulsa World, beat writers who cover the league's 16 teams got together and conducted their own poll. There were 16 voters — one from each of the Big 12's 16 schools.
Locally, I was chosen as the BYU beat writer to participate in the vote, while Jason Batacao of The Salt Lake Tribune represented the University of Utah.
Points were determined on a 16-15-14-13 system, meaning that first-place votes were worth 16 points, second-place votes were worth 15 points, etc.
There seemed to be a lot of momentum at The Star for BYU to supplant Texas Tech as the preseason favorite, at least among fellow writers with whom I conversed, especially after the Brendan Sorsby situation left the Red Raiders a bit uncertain at quarterback.
Nope.
Texas Tech got 14 first-place votes, 254 points, and was clearly our choice to repeat. BYU, which has a more settled quarterback position , got the other two first-place votes and picked up 239 points to finish solidly in second.
Arizona, which will meet BYU in Week 2 in what is shaping up to be an absolutely huge Big 12 opener in Provo, and Houston tied for third with 207 points.
Utah collected 198 points and is our pick to finish fifth.
See the entire poll results and the entire list of voters below.
As mentioned previously, Sitake puts no stock in preseason polls. He reminded folks in Texas that two years ago BYU was picked to finish 13th and Arizona State was picked to finish 16th. Those two teams tied with Iowa State (picked sixth) and Colorado (picked 11th) for the regular-season conference championship, while preseason favorite Utah — riddled by quarterback injuries — tied for 13th with Arizona and UCF.
For all intents and purposes, the official Big 12-conducted preseason media poll was dead after that.
As BYU fans are well aware, the Cougars just missed the College Football Playoff in 2024 and 2025, and there is some speculation that if they had started the season ranked higher in either of those years, the Cougars might have gotten in.
Still, Sitake said he didn't campaign heavily for BYU to get into the CFP, and he's not about to start now.
"I don't make all the decisions when it comes to how many teams get to (be in) the playoffs, and I'm not in the business of campaigning for that either," he said. "We just got to go do our job and play our best and see what happens.
"I understand how difficult it can be for a committee to select teams, and there's going to be some teams left on the outside. My approach is just to stay humble and hungry and work harder and try to find ways to be better," he continued. "So, I'm not going to campaign, but I can say that if you ask me, 24 (teams in the CFP) makes the most sense to me, where everybody can feel comfortable being in a playoff.
"The FCS has been doing it for a while now, and other divisions in football have been doing it. But I'm not, I'm not the decision maker in that stuff. All I can focus on (is the current system), and be positive and optimistic about it."
1. Texas Tech (14) 254
2. BYU (2) 239
3. Arizona 207
3. Houston 207
5. Utah 198
6. Texas Christian 166
7. Arizona State 161
8. Kansas State 158
9. Oklahoma State 124
10. Baylor 88
11. Cincinnati 85
12. Kansas 79
13. West Virginia 76
14. Central Florida 68
15. Colorado 40
16. Iowa State 26
Eric Bailey, Tulsa World
Jason Batacao, Salt Lake Tribune
Mike Casazza, Eer Sports (West Virginia)
Jay Drew, Deseret News
Joseph Duarte, Houston Chronicle
Michelle Gardner, Arizona Republic
Henry Greenstein, Lawrence Journal World
Ben Hutchens, Quad Cities Times
Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Matt Murschel, Orlando Sentinel
Leo Rivera, Buffstampede.com (Colorado)
Kellis Robinett, Kansas City Star/Wichita Eagle
Jason Scheer, Wildcatauthority.com (Arizona)
Zach Smith, Waco Tribune-Herald
Scott Springer, Cincinnati Enquirer
Don Williams, Lubbock Avalanche Journal
Utah Utes linebacker Johnathan Hall (7) reacts after the play during the first half of the game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News
