Caleb Wilfinger
It’s been a long and eventful offseason, and the 2025 college football season is nearly upon us. The battle for a spot in the newly revamped 12-team College Football Playoff begins on August 23 and won’t stop until we crown a champion in January. Last season’s National Championship game saw Ohio State dispatch Notre Dame to cap off one of the best four-game stretches we’ve seen in recent years. Who will reach the pinnacle of the sport in this updated playoff format this season? It’s almost time to find out.
With the offseason chaos in the rearview mirror, it’s time to delve into the futures market for each conference, and here we’re taking a look at the wild and wacky Big 12. This is a conference with a whole host of contenders, and it feels like the highest variance league among the Power 4 conferences by a decent margin. Let’s look at the latest college football odds for the Big 12, along with our NCAAF picks to win the Big 12 Conference, which you can fade or follow at any of the best NCAAF betting sites this season.
Big 12 Conference Odds
Odds courtesy of FanDuel and/or DraftKings Sportsbook and available at time of publishing.
- Kansas State (+550)
- Arizona State (+550)
- Texas Tech (+600)
- Utah (+700)
- Baylor (+700)
- TCU (+850)
- Iowa State (+1300)
- Kansas (+1800)
- BYU (+2500)
- Cincinnati (+3000)
Don’t miss our NCAAF National Championship best bets for the upcoming season, including a +4000 longshot!
Big 12 contenders and Big 12 football predictions
Kansas State Wildcats (+550)
The hallmark of the Big 12 this season is that this is the arguably best conference for quarterbacks and coaches in the nation. First up, we have a head coach that can always be depended on to churn out quality seasons in Chris Klieman, who has posted a 48-28 record in his Kansas State tenure. Klieman has racked up at least 8 wins in each of his 5 full seasons in the Little Apple, and his track record has more than earned him enough respect for the Wildcats to be listed as co-favorites in this league.
As for the quarterback, Avery Johnson has all the tools to succeed at a very high level, and I’m of the belief that he will take at least a small step forward in his second season as the starter. He’ll also have a dependable running back at his side in Dylan Edwards, who really fits the mold of the prototypical Kansas State undersized scat back, along with top target Jayce Brown on the outside. The Wildcats are relatively inexperienced on the offensive line, but Kansas State did hit the portal with vigor to replenish the losses sustained within that unit.
Defensively, this is a team that returns 6 starters under defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman, and the Wildcats should be solid across the board, particularly up the middle with their linebackers and the interior of the defensive line. There is a lot of continuity to be had with this team, and I certainly can see the case for why the Wildcats will make the Big 12 title game. However, the schedule features some brutal travel spots, including Farmegeddon in Dublin to open the season against Iowa State, along with travel to Baylor, Kansas and Utah at the end of November. The win total of 8.5 feels right for this squad.
Arizona State Sun Devils (+550)
Arizona State was a team that I was dead wrong about a season ago, as the Sun Devils won the Big 12 at a massive 100/1 price tag before nearly knocking off Texas in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal round. Head coach Kenny Dillingham has things rolling in Tempe, and he also has one of the better quarterbacks in the nation at his disposal with Sam Leavitt set to take another step forward in his second season under center. Leavitt really found another gear in Marcus Arroyo’s offense over the final 2 months of last season, racking up 16 touchdowns to just 2 interceptions from November onward last fall. He’ll also have All-Big 12 wideout Jordan Tyson back in the fold, along with 4 starters back on the offensive line and a strong transfer portal class as well.
Defensively, the Sun Devils were a top 40 unit by most metrics a season ago, and they’ll be returning a whopping 9 starters on that side of the ball to keep things rolling. Arizona State is so confident with its defense that there weren’t nearly as many transfer portal acquisitions on that side of the ball as you might see from other teams in this league. With that said, this is a team that is a leading regression candidate in this conference after going 6-1 in one-score games a season ago. Road games at Baylor, Utah and Iowa State will be difficult, and that doesn’t even factor in home games against TCU, Texas Tech and Houston. I like the roster and coaching staff, but it wouldn’t shock me if Arizona State took a small step back this season.
See our 2025 Heisman Trophy winner predictions, with our expert picking a longshot at 60/1 odds!
Texas Tech Red Raiders (+600)
The biggest offseason storyline in the Big 12 had to be Texas Tech, specifically the amount of money that the Red Raiders spent on this roster. Joey McGuire has inspired a lot of passion within the boosters and this fanbase, and it’s clear that Texas Tech has gone all in on winning the Big 12 and making a potentially deep College Football Playoff run this season. All of that sounds great on paper, but I’m going to pump the breaks just a bit on the Red Raiders’ Big 12 title hopes, especially since I have some lingering questions at the quarterback position.
Behren Morton is back at the quarterback spot for Mack Leftwich’s offense, and while he’s certainly a steady hand at the position, he’s been unable to avoid injury over the course of multiple seasons as a starter. With that in mind, I have real concerns about the Red Raiders’ offensive ceiling if Morton ends up missing a few key conference games. Quarterback uncertainty is something I can’t apply to most of the top teams in this league, and we also have to factor in the slew of new players that are stepping into key roles on this roster. In fact, we could have as many as 8 or 9 new starters on the defensive side of the ball, a unit that was outside the top 100 in a number of metrics a season ago. Lastly, a schedule that features road trips to Utah, Kansas State and Arizona State doesn’t bode well for a team that is desperate to return to the top of this extremely competitive league. Simply put, I don’t see a conference title in store for the all-in Red Raiders in 2025.
Utah Utes (+700)
There are few college football programs I respect more than Utah, and the Utes should be poised for a massive bounce-back season in what could be Kyle Whittingham’s final year as the head coach. Whittingham has long been one of the best coaches in the nation, and while his team is coming off an abysmal 5-7 season, the Utes were ravaged by injuries throughout the campaign, most notably at the quarterback position. In fact, Utah was down to its fourth string quarterback during the second half of the campaign and still managed to put a scare into BYU and Iowa State in November. If there was ever a team that was due for some positive regression on that front, it’s Whittingham and the Utes.
Following a couple of seasons where injuries and poor quarterback play derailed the offense, Utah went out and got one of my favorite quarterbacks in the nation in Devon Dampier (New Mexico), along with offensive coordinator Jason Beck to completely revamp this offense. Dampier is one of the best dual threat quarterbacks in the nation, and he should be in position to succeed behind what should be an elite offensive line and with plenty of weapons at his disposal at the skill positions.
On the other side of the ball, Morgan Scalley is one of the best defensive minds in the country and his unit should be rock solid once again this fall. Most importantly, the schedule is about as favorable as it gets in the Big 12, with Utah getting its most difficult games of the season (Texas Tech, Arizona State & Kansas State) at home, while also avoiding TCU and Iowa State. This should be a team with an extremely high floor, and assuming Dampier stays healthy, I have a hard time seeing how the Utes don’t win at least 9 games this fall.
Read our full ACC preview and predictions, including a best bet at +1400 odds!
Baylor Bears (+700)
Speaking of exciting quarterbacks and offenses I’m high on heading into the season, Sawyer Robertson and the Baylor Bears are one of the more intriguing teams in the Big 12 for my money. Robertson took a massive step forward in his first full season as a starting quarterback, throwing for over 2,600 yards and racking up 30 total touchdowns for a Baylor team that was 7-3 in his starts, with one of those losses coming in a game where the defense surrendered a Hail Mary against Colorado at the end of regulation. We can only expect the Texas native to take an even bigger step forward in his second full year at the controls of an offense that returns 8 starters from a season ago, including 4 on the offensive line. The floor should be very high for this group.
As for the defense, the Bears secondary is largely intact, which is important considering the quarterbacks and offenses on their schedule. Baylor went out and added some new pieces up front, and time will tell if those new pieces can coalesce and help a unit that ranked 11th in the Big 12 in total defense in 2024. There is no such thing as an easy schedule in the Big 12, but even by that standard, the Bears got a pretty touch draw. Not only will Baylor have to face off against Auburn and SMU to open the season, but the Bears also have games against Arizona State, Kansas State, TCU and Utah in the meat of conference play. I’m certainly buying the upside with Robertson and Dave Aranda’s bunch, but it wouldn’t shock me if Baylor finished 8-4 (or even 7-5) and failed to make the title game.
Now read our expert’s Big Ten best bets if you want additional picks outside our Big 12 football predictions
Big Ten football predictions and best bet: Utah to win the Big 12 (+800)
Odds available at BetRivers Sportsbook at time of publishing. Playable to +650.
In the interest of transparency, this number was a lot bigger at earlier points in the offseason. However, even with the heavy steam in the market over the summer, I still show a bit of value on Utah to capture the Big 12 title given that the Utes still trail at least 3 teams in the conference title odds at most outlets. My love for the Utes and what they have coming in is well known at this point, but it also can’t be overstated that Whittingham’s team might have the best offensive line in the conference to support Dampier and this dynamic ground attack. The defense should be much improved as well, especially given the rash of injuries it suffered a season ago.
Utah’s schematic change and influx of talent on offense, coupled with its excellent coaching staff and steadiness on defense makes this team hard to pass up in the futures market. The Big 12 is the conference of chaos, but there is a pretty high established floor with the Utes as long as injuries don’t ravage the entire team. As stated previously, Utah’s floor feels very high, as the Utes are projected to be favored in at least 10 games, with the possibility that they could be favored in every game if the market sours on Texas Tech, Arizona State and/or Kansas State a bit. With that in mind, I’ll grab a +800 ticket on the Utes to bring home the Big 12 title, as they should do enough to at least make the Big 12 Championship Game in their second season in the conference.
Read our full SEC preview and predictions, including a best bet at +480 odds!
