It’s preview magazine season across college football, and as I work through each magazine, I wanted to share some top takeaways from a Big 12 perspective. Who do the magazines like? Who are they not expecting to perform? In the case of Sporting News, it’s their first print magazine in 14 years! And it’s nice to have them back in a hard copy. There’s nothing better than being at the beach, the lake, or in the mountains this summer while holding a copy of a college football preview magazine. My goal is not to give away the details of what is inside the magazine, but just give you a broad overview. So with that, here are five Big 12 takeaways from the Sporting News college football preview magazine.
Big 12 vs. SEC Details
The Top 4 teams in their preview magazine in the Big 12 got two pages worth of content. After that, the remaining 12 teams only get one page. In the SEC, the Top 8 teams received two pages of content, whereas the remaining 8 received only one page each. The SEC getting more love is certainly not unusual; however, in the Big 12, with so much turnover via the transfer portal, coaching staff changes, and more, getting two pages per team would have been nice. It’s not a deal-breaker, but it’s worth noting. If your team isn’t projected to be competitive in the conference, you are going to get less than you otherwise would have.
What’s Nice: A Broad Overview
Sporting News’ preview is not going to get into some of the really nitty-gritty as you might get in other preview magazines. And that’s OK for fans who want to get their general overviews and feel like they know enough going into the college football season. And if you’re a Big 12 fan looking to get to know some of the other conferences, this is a good read for you as well. It’s an easy read that is well structured within the magazine itself. The projected depth charts give you the overview of specific teams and get you familiar with all the names you need to know ahead of the season.
What’s Missing: Returning Starters
The number of returning starters is sometimes mentioned in each team’s write-up. However, it would be nice if there were a specific section in each team’s breakdown that shows the number of returning starters. With the spring transfer portal no longer available, this is easier than it has been in recent years and should be a no-brainer for any preview magazine in 2026. This was a miss by Sporting News.
‘New’ Big 12 Blood Gets the Love
The new-ish Big 12 teams are the ones Sporting News is showing lots of love for this season. Other than Texas Tech, their Top 6 teams are all newcomers to the league in recent years, with BYU, Utah, Houston, Arizona, and Arizona State the focus of their top teams going into 2026. What’s also notable is that they aren’t just rolling with Texas Tech as the league’s top team. In fact, they don’t even have Texas Tech in their Top 2! There won’t be many preview magazines making that kind of prediction in the Big 12 this season.
Hot Seats in the Middle
I was surprised by the fact that Sporting News has two coaches with the hottest seats, Cincinnati’s Scott Satterfield and Baylor’s Dave Aranda, as teams to finish more in the middle of the Big 12 race than some of us will probably end up projecting. If these coaches can get themselves back to bowl eligibility, they may just survive until 2027. We will have to wait and see.
