FRISCO, Texas - The Big 12 has spent plenty of time talking about the College Football Playoff, but the league’s real pitch is simple: it needs a breakthrough on the field.
That’s the message hanging over the conference as it heads into the 2026 season. The Big 12 has only one CFP win in the event’s 12-season history, and commissioner Brett Yormark made clear what he thinks comes next.
“I think we need to win a game. We need to credentialize this conference as one of the best football conferences in America, and I think the way you do that is win when it matters most,” a vehement commissioner Brett Yormark says.
“That being said, would I also like multiple teams? I’d love multiple teams and I think we have a real chance this year.”
Texas Tech sits at the center of that conversation. The Red Raiders are the league’s preseason favorite, and they’re being talked about as the team most likely to get the Big 12 back into the win column in the playoff for the first time since TCU beat Michigan in 2022. Coaches around the conference have pointed to Texas Tech’s spending as something that separates it from the pack, putting it in the same conversation as programs such as Texas, LSU and Ohio State.
The roster reflects that ambition. Texas Tech had the most preseason All-Big 12 selections in 2026 and added help at receiver, running back and in the secondary, giving it more depth than it had a year ago.
Even after the Brendan Sorsby saga, there’s still confidence in quarterback Will Hammond. Whether he’s back from an ACL injury by the opener or not, the people around the program believe the Red Raiders are set for the biggest games on the schedule.
“The expectation has definitely changed in our building over the last few years. I love that.
I love that expectation and we’re backing it up with the players that we have in the building,” coach Joey McGuire says. “College football fans in general, there’s a, ‘Hey, Texas Tech’s not supposed to be doing this,’ type thing, and that’s O.K.
We’re good with it. We’re just going to try to do it and continue to do it the right way, try to defend the title, win the Big 12 again and then it’s really important that we win a playoff game.”
That kind of confidence isn’t limited to Lubbock. Around the league, there’s a growing belief that the Big 12 is deep enough to make life miserable for almost anybody. The phrase “Everyone can beat you” might as well have been the unofficial slogan at The Star last week, and it fits a conference where so many games have come down to the fourth quarter or the final snap in recent seasons.
The bottom half of the league looks stronger, too. Oklahoma State overhauled its coaching staff and nearly the entire roster, but brought in a backfield featuring QB Drew Mestemaker and RB Caleb Hawkins.
Kansas remains a difficult matchup and gets longtime offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki back in Lawrence. Baylor is tying Dave Aranda’s future to former five-star quarterback DJ Lagway, and West Virginia’s transfer class drew strong reviews.
The Big 12 also has numbers it likes to point to. Five teams won at least nine games last season, and none appears to be backing down. That’s part of the league’s argument that its strength runs from top to bottom.
Still, not everyone buys the Big 12’s case. The SEC isn’t sold, and neither is the CFP selection committee, which has given the conference two byes to the quarterfinals in recent years but no second team alongside the champion.
“If we get more teams in there, you’re going to have more access, I’m a firm believer of that. I think we should have more teams in it.
We had some very worthy teams last year in this league,” Cincinnati coach Scott Satterfield says. “BYU didn’t make it two years in a row.
Double-digit wins. I mean, I think they’ve got a résumé that speaks for themselves and not to be able to get into that thing, it’s a little not right.”
BYU’s recent near-misses are part of that frustration. The Cougars were beaten twice by Texas Tech in blowout fashion last season and finished as the second at-large team left out. The year before, a 10-2 BYU was ranked 17th behind three three-loss teams that missed the field and a two-loss SMU team that got in as an at-large despite losing to the Cougars in Dallas.
Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham, who reached the playoff two seasons ago, framed the issue in broader terms.
“Winning gets you to the CFP, so if there were a gap, that would obviously help you get there easier,” says Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham, who made the playoff two seasons ago. “But I think for us as a whole, we’ve got to create a good enough product that can get people to the CFP and let them advance in the CFP and continue to advance the brand of the Big 12.”
For the Big 12, that’s the hope: parity during the season, then proof when the playoff arrives. And no matter how many teams get in, the message stays the same.
Just win.
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