Three Big 12 Teams in College Football America Top 30

Posted on July 29, 2022

Oklahoma is the highest-ranked Big 12 team in the 2022 College Football America Yearbook Preseason FBS Top 30.

Oklahoma, which is No. 6 overall in the 131 rankings, is breaking in a new head coach in Brent Venables, who is taking over the program from Lincoln Riley, who is now at USC. While the Sooners lost a raft of players to transfer and the NFL, the Sooners have taken in UCF quarterback Dillon Gabriel as their potential starter and have plenty of talent in the pipeline.

Oklahoma State is No. 10 overall and right behind the Sooners. The Cowboys also return the conference’s most experienced quarterback in Spencer Sanders, who led OSU to its first trip to the Big 12 Championship Game last December.

Baylor, which is No. 22 overall, is third in the Big 12 going into the season. The Bears won their first Big 12 Championship Game, beating Oklahoma State, 21-16. The Bears lost several top players on the defensive side of the ball, but return quarterback Blake Shapen, who took the reins for the injured Gerry Bohanon late last season.

The Alabama Crimson Tide are coming off a season in which they reached the national championship game under head coach Nick Saban. The Crimson Tide fell to the Georgia Bulldogs in the College Football Playoff Championship Game. The Tide are No. 1, followed by defending champion Georgia at No. 2.

The rest of the Top 10 includes Ohio State at No. 3, Clemson at No. 4, Notre Dame at No. 5, Oklahoma at No. 6, Michigan at No. 7, LSU at No. 8, Oregon at No. 9 and Oklahoma State at No. 10.

The 2022 College Football America Yearbook features Houston quarterback Clayton Tune on the cover. Houston, BYU, Cincinnati and UCF will join the Big 12 in 2023.