Big 12 should start in strong position on the college football landscape

The Big 12 was ready to turn the page after the 2014 season. With no team in the inaugural College Football Playoff, a squabble about the league’s One True Champion motto and a losing record in bowl games, next season couldn’t come fast enough.

It’s here. At least the talking points part of the season has arrived. Big 12 Media Days begin a two-day run on Monday.

The league figures to start from a strong position in the national landscape. TCU and Baylor, last season’s co-champions, have received much preseason attention. Frogs quarterback Trevone Boykin enters the season as a strong Heisman Trophy candidate. Baylor’s 18 returning starters are the most in the conference.

Oklahoma State looks to build on a fast finish from last season, while Oklahoma is motivated from its late-season slump.

Kansas State? The Wildcats were projected to finish seventh in the media preseason poll that was released last week. But K-State tends to spoil forecasts. In the four years of a 10-team league, the Wildcats have been picked to finish eighth (2011), sixth, sixth and third.

The actual finishes: second, first, fifth and third.

The league’s lone new coach is Kansas’ Dave Beaty, who arrives from the Texas A&M staff and takes over a program that returns just a handful of starters from a team that finished 3-9 in 2014.

But everybody’s on even footing at Media Days.

This story was originally published July 19, 2015 at 6:51 PM with the headline "Big 12 should start in strong position on the college football landscape."