This will be the final year that the Big 12 will have 10 teams. Next year, Central Florida, Houston, Cincinnati, and BYU will join the league, and for one to two years, the league will have 14 teams. Texas and Oklahoma are committed for now to remain in the Big 12 through the 2024 season. Things could change, as new league Commissioner Brett Yormark has indicated that he would be fine finding a win-win situation that would allow the Sooners and Longhorns to leave for the SEC before their scheduled July 1, 2025 date.
2022 expects to be an interesting year in the Big 12. Oklahoma welcomes a new head coach in Brent Venables, the former defensive coordinator at Clemson. There was a lot of player movement in Norman when former coach Lincoln Riley bolted for USC, but Venables has a lot of depth and talent remaining. Oklahoma is still the team to beat.
Rival Oklahoma State should see marked improvement on the defensive side, and the Cowboys must be considered the leading contender to earn the second spot in the Big 12 Championship Game.
Baylor, Texas, Iowa State, and Kansas State figure to fight it out in the next tier with TCU just behind. These seven teams should all make bowl games. The bottom three could potentially tie for last at 1-8. Texas Tech has a lot of talent but a lot of holes. West Virginia is at a crossroads. Kansas is still the least talented team in the league, but second year coach Lance Leipold has the Jayhawks trending upward.
Preseason PiRate Ratings
| Team | PiRate | Mean | Bias | Average |
| Oklahoma | 119.3 | 118.1 | 119.7 | 119.0 |
| Oklahoma St. | 118.2 | 116.3 | 117.6 | 117.4 |
| Baylor | 114.1 | 112.8 | 113.3 | 113.4 |
| Texas | 111.7 | 110.5 | 110.0 | 110.7 |
| Kansas St. | 111.1 | 109.7 | 109.9 | 110.2 |
| Iowa St. | 108.6 | 108.5 | 108.8 | 108.6 |
| T C U | 108.8 | 107.2 | 107.2 | 107.7 |
| Texas Tech | 107.0 | 105.5 | 107.4 | 106.6 |
| West Virginia | 103.7 | 103.5 | 102.4 | 103.2 |
| Kansas | 99.1 | 96.8 | 95.7 | 97.2 |
| Big 12 | 110.1 | 108.9 | 109.2 | 109.4 |
Preseason Big 12 Official Media Poll
| Votes | |||
| # | Team | 1st Place | Overall |
| 1 | Baylor | 17 | 365 |
| 2 | Oklahoma | 12 | 354 |
| 3 | Oklahoma St. | 9 | 342 |
| 4 | Texas | 2 | 289 |
| 5 | Kansas St. | 0 | 261 |
| 6 | Iowa St. | 1 | 180 |
| 7 | TCU | 0 | 149 |
| 8 | West Virginia | 0 | 147 |
| 9 | Texas Tech | 0 | 119 |
| 10 | Kansas | 0 | 48 |
The PiRate Ratings are designed to look at just the next week’s schedule of games and not to use to look forward. Nevertheless, here are the predicted won-loss records for the league.
Predicted Won-Loss Records
| Team | Conf. | Overall |
| Oklahoma | 9-0 | 13-0 |
| Oklahoma St. | 8-1 | 11-2 |
| Baylor | 6-3 | 8-4 |
| Texas | 6-3 | 8-4 |
| TCU | 5-4 | 8-4 |
| Kansas St. | 4-5 | 7-5 |
| Iowa St. | 4-5 | 6-6 |
| Texas Tech | 2-7 | 4-8 |
| West Virginia | 1-8 | 2-10 |
| Kansas | 0-9 | 2-10 |
The Pi-Rate Ratings 