Kalani Sitake didn’t need much convincing in Frisco, Texas, that preseason polls are a shaky business.
Every time the BYU coach was asked about the Cougars being projected near the top of the Big 12 for 2026, he kept circling back to the same point: these things usually miss.
“They are wrong every time, so they stopped making predictions as a league,” Sitake said. “They don’t do it anymore.”
That skepticism has a pretty strong track record behind it. The Big 12’s official preseason media poll was shelved after 2024, when the league’s projections were wildly off. There wasn’t one in 2025, and there still wasn’t one this year as Big 12 media days wrapped up with all the usual honors except a team ranking.
So the writers who cover the league made their own.
At the suggestion of longtime Tulsa World columnist Berry Tramel, beat writers from across the Big 12’s 16 schools put together a preseason poll of their own. There were 16 voters in all, one from each school, with points awarded on a 16-15-14-13 scale.
The result: Texas Tech at No. 1, BYU right behind it.
Texas Tech collected 14 first-place votes and finished with 254 points, making the Red Raiders the clear pick to repeat as the league favorite. BYU grabbed the other two first-place votes and came in second with 239 points.
Arizona and Houston tied for third with 207 points apiece, and Utah landed fifth with 198.
The rest of the top half shook out with Texas Christian at No. 6, Arizona State at No.
7, Kansas State at No. 8 and Oklahoma State at No. 9.
Baylor, Cincinnati, Kansas, West Virginia, Central Florida, Colorado and Iowa State rounded out the poll.
There was some buzz around The Star that BYU might have a real shot to jump Texas Tech, especially with the Brendan Sorsby situation leaving the Red Raiders a little less settled at quarterback. But the writers didn’t bite. BYU’s own quarterback situation looked more stable, and that helped the Cougars secure the No. 2 spot, but not the top line.
Sitake, for his part, made it clear he’s not putting any stock in preseason forecasts anyway. He pointed back to two years ago, when BYU was picked 13th and Arizona State was picked 16th, only for both to wind up sharing the regular-season conference championship with Iowa State, which had been picked sixth, and Colorado, which had been picked 11th. Meanwhile, preseason favorite Utah, hit by quarterback injuries, tied for 13th with Arizona and UCF.
That kind of swing is exactly why Sitake isn’t interested in chasing rankings or trying to lobby for playoff placement.
“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.”
For BYU fans, the poll adds another small piece to the preseason picture: the Cougars are viewed as a legitimate contender, but Texas Tech still sits in the driver’s seat until somebody proves otherwise on the field.
Big 12 Football Preseason Media Poll
(First-place votes in parentheses)
- Texas Tech (14) 254
- BYU (2) 239
- Arizona 207
- Houston 207
- Utah 198
- Texas Christian 166
- Arizona State 161
- Kansas State 158
- Oklahoma State 124
- Baylor 88
- Cincinnati 85
- Kansas 79
- West Virginia 76
- Central Florida 68
- Colorado 40
- Iowa State 26
Big 12 Preseason Poll Voters
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
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