Being relatively new to Big 12 country has brought an understanding about how it works when football season comes around.  Most Big 12 fans believe the conference is the best regardless of how many players graduated or were lost to the draft.  You can’t really blame them though, especially since they have had 3 different schools (Nebraska, Texas, and Oklahoma) play for the national championship this decade and Oklahoma has played in the national title game three times this decade.  Last year, the conference was pretty underrated considering they had four teams in the top 10 at the end of the season.  This season, there should be no doubt, except to SEC fans, that the Big 12 will be the best conference in the country.

The Big 12 returned an unusual amount of talent this season, particularly at the quarterback position.  10 of the top 11 quarterbacks from last season are back this season and when you consider that 8 of the 10 threw 22 or more touchdowns, there is no doubt about the talent there.  They have their normal collection of playmakers on the offensive end with players such as Jeremy Maclin (Missouri), Michael Crabtree (Texas Tech), Marlon Lucky (Nebraska), and DeMarco Murray (Oklahoma).  They have their defensive stalwarts with players such as Auston English (Oklahoma), Joe Mortensen (Kansas), Sean Weatherspoon (Missouri), and William Moore (Missouri).  The Big 12 also has highly touted newcomers that big things are expected for this season with players such as Darrell Scott (Colorado), Beau Johnson (Oklahoma State), Malcolm Williams (Texas), and Jeffrey Fuller (Texas A&M).  Talent will definitely not be a problem in the Big 12 conference this season.

What supports the Big 12 this season more than other is the depth of really good teams in the conference.  Oklahoma and Texas have been very good the entire decade, each has a national title this decade, and will be very good again this season.  Texas Tech has consistently been a good football team each season as well.  The difference is now Missouri and Kansas both have good teams and many think that this season will bring the reemergence of Nebraska.  People should not forget Colorado as they could very well be a sleeper team in the conference.

The SEC clearly gets the most attention of any conference in college football and their quality of football is what most people measure all of the other conferences.  The thing is that it could have easily been the Big 12 with 3 national titles this decade, but they knocked themselves out of the national title game last year when Oklahoma defeated then #1 Missouri in the Big 12 title game.  Make no mistake, this year, the best conference in the country looks to be the Big 12.