Why Kansas State could become Big 12 heavyweight after Oklahoma, Texas leave for SEC

Like it or not, Oklahoma and Texas have ruled over the Big 12 like a pair of kings since the conference was formed in 1996.

The Sooners have won 14 conference championships in football to go along with a national title in 2000. They have also reached the College Football Playoff four times and produced four Heisman Trophy winners in Jason White, Sam Bradford, Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray.

The Longhorns haven’t been quite as dominant, but they have won three league crowns to go along with a pair of trips to the BCS championship game and one national title in 2005. Ricky Williams also won a Heisman for Texas in 1998.

No one else in the Big 12 has been able to match that success. The rest of the league has combined for 10 conference championships in football, one national title (Nebraska in 1997), one CFP appearance (TCU in 2022) and one Heisman winner (Robert Griffin III at Baylor in 2011).

Even when they have struggled on the gridiron, their status as Big 12 heavyweights has never been in question. Oklahoma and Texas are the biggest brands in the Big 12 and nothing is going to change that until the Longhorns and Sooners leave for the SEC in 2024.

In that sense, their absence will be sorely felt. No remaining team in the Big 12 will be able to match Oklahoma or Texas in terms of prestige, TV ratings or athletic spending. At least not right away.

But there is another way to look at those departures. A much more positive way. Without two traditional powers sucking up all the oxygen in the room, the remaining teams will suddenly have a terrific opportunity to catapult themselves to the status of Big 12 heavyweight.

Someone new will have to carry the flag for the conference. Question is: Who’s it going to be?

An argument could be made for any of the remaining eight teams in the league or the four newcomers who will officially join on July 1, but let’s start by making the case for Kansas State.

Why not the Wildcats? K-State seems as well positioned as any other team to become a powerful player in the new Big 12.

Gene Taylor is a proven athletic director who has made a string of successful coaching hires in Manhattan. The Wildcats have quality leadership.

Chris Klieman has taken the Wildcats to three bowl games in his first four seasons, and he just led his football team to a conference championship. They also have good coaching.

Sparkling new facilities can be found all across campus. Passionate fans make for sellout crowds of 50,000 inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium on fall Saturdays. Men’s basketball is also on the rise with Jerome Tang now leading the program. They have everything in place to keep winning.

The Wildcats are ready to hit the ground running in the Big 12 because they are already sprinting. Timing is on their side.

One knock against K-State would be its athletic budget. The Wildcats brought in $100.8 million in revenue during the past fiscal year, according to USA Today. That number ranked last among all public Big 12 schools and was in a different tax bracket than Texas (nearly $240 million) and Oklahoma (nearly $180 million). Perhaps spending could become an issue down the road.

But the Wildcats made significantly more than incoming schools UCF ($89.2 million), Cincinnati ($83.3 million) and Houston ($78 million). The richest returning Big 12 member is KU at $118 million. There isn’t an enormous gap there.

That hasn’t been much of an issue in the past.

K-State did an admirable job standing up to Oklahoma and Texas over the past three decades, as they won three Big 12 championships (2003, 2012, 2022), produced three Heisman Trophy finalists (Michael Bishop, Collin Klein, Darren Sproles) and reeled off some winning streaks against both the Longhorns and the Sooners.

Remove those teams from the schedule and there’s no reason why K-State can’t have staying power in a reshaped conference.

Klieman and his team also got an up-close look at what it takes to play at an elite level last season when they lost to Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. If the Wildcats learn from that experience, who’s to say they can’t make some noise in the postseason after the CFP expands to 12 teams?

Ten years from now, don’t be surprised if K-State is considered among the new kingpins of the Big 12.

Let’s also take a look at the case for and against every other Big 12 team becoming more of a traditional power.

Baylor

Positives: The Bears are ready to win. They have claimed three Big 12 championships in football and two in men’s basketball over the past decade. Scott Drew led them to a national title in 2021. You can’t find a better recruiting footprint than central Texas. Baylor also recently opened a new football stadium and will show off a new basketball venue next season.

Negatives: Dave Aranda is a good football coach, but the jury is still out on whether he’s great. Baylor also faces more competition than anyone for recruits in the Lone Star State.

BYU

Positives: The Cougars have a massive national following because of their connection to the Mormon church. They also benefit from older student-athletes who compete after they complete mission trips and BYU has a solid history in both football and men’s basketball. Kalani Sitake has gone 48-29 in Provo.

Negatives: BYU hasn’t been to a major bowl since 1996 and will face a harsh transition into the Big 12 after spending the previous decade as an independent. Being isolated from the rest of the conference will also make for a difficult travel schedule.

Cincinnati

Positives: The Bearcats have already shown that they are capable of reaching the College Football Playoff.

Negatives: The coach who led them there is no longer with the school.

Houston

Positives: The only thing holding the Cougars back in recent years was conference affiliation. Now that they’re in the Big 12 they could take a major leap in football and perhaps win a national championship in men’s basketball. Houston is by far the biggest city in the conference.

Negatives: Houston only brought in $78 million in athletic revenue last year. That number is lowest in the new Big 12.

Iowa State

Positives: The Cyclones have one of the most passionate fan bases around and play home games in a stadium that seats 61,500. Iowa State basketball is a regular in the NCAA Tournament and football has made five bowl appearances under Matt Campbell.

Negatives: Iowa State has never put together a 10-win season in football.

Kansas

Positives: The Jayhawks have the largest athletic budget of any returning Big 12 member. They are also the unquestioned kings of Big 12 basketball and they are improving in football under coach Lance Leipold. If they can build off their first bowl appearance since 2008 with a winning season this fall they will finally have some momentum to build on.

Negatives: KU football was an abomination before Leipold was hired. The Jayhawks can’t be taken fully seriously on the gridiron until they invest more in the sport and begin competing on a more consistent basis. Living in the football shadow of K-State also hurts.

Oklahoma State

Positives: Mike Gundy is the longest-tenured football coach in the conference and the Cowboys have posted a winning record in a whopping 17 consecutive seasons. Oklahoma has been their biggest nemesis for years. They could become regulars in the Big 12 championship game without that speed bump on the schedule.

Negatives: Oklahoma State lost six of their final eight games last season. Some wonder if Gundy is beginning to lose his fastball. Also: the Cowboys won’t have a true conference rival without the Sooners.

TCU

Positives: If you can’t recruit in DFW you can’t recruit anywhere. The Horned Frogs have found success in the Big 12 with two different coaches, and Sonny Dykes led them to the national championship game last season. They should be able to keep winning.

Negatives: Dykes has only been at TCU for one season. Who knows what the future holds?

Texas Tech

Positives: The Red Raiders finally seem to have found the football coach they’ve been waiting for in Joey McGuire. They are also investing impressive amounts of money into facilities and NIL deals.

Negatives: Texas Tech hasn’t won nine games in a season since the Mike Leach era. When will it break through? Men’s basketball has also fallen off a bit without Chris Beard.

UCF

Positives: The Knights will have the biggest student enrollment of any school in the Big 12 at nearly 70,000. Gus Malzahn is their football coach, Florida is an excellent state to recruit and UCF has won big before.

Negatives: UCF will be isolated from the rest of the Big 12 and will likely face a step up in competition from what it’s used to in the American.

West Virginia

Positives: The Mountaineers have been good, if not stellar, in both football and men’s basketball since moving into the Big 12. They posted a winning record in six football seasons under Dana Holgorsen. They were also consistently good under men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins.

Negatives: Holgorsen and Huggins are both no longer coaching in Morgantown. The football team has never won more than six games in a season under Neal Brown. Every road trip is also a long one in the Big 12.