Three and out: Big 12 title contenders to Kansas State

Who are the teams in the way of the Kansas State pursuit of a second Big 12 title in three years? For clarity, it isn’t in any particular order.

Oklahoma State

I’m going to be honest, though I missed on submitting my personal Big 12 rankings into the league for the preseason count, it’s not a certainty I would have had Kansas State at the top. I’m not sure how I would have ordered my top two of the Wildcats and Oklahoma State.

I’m much higher on the Cowboys than everyone else. Were they the recipients of a fortunate league schedule last year when they advanced to Arlington? Of course. But they also have the Big 12’s best player in Ollie Gordon and almost every starter back from a team that clinched a conference title berth.

That’s not nothing. I know quarterback Alan Bowman isn’t dynamic. I know he’s not prolific. But he is steady, experienced and will manage the games well enough for them not to lose and that’s probably enough in the Big 12. They no longer have a question mark at the sport’s most important spot.

Their defense could be the best in the league. They have the best player. They’ll probably make the fewest mistakes and commit perhaps the fewest turnovers. They have an incredible home field advantage. They might have the best offensive line. They may have the best coach.

I don’t think there’s another team in the league that can say all of that. K-State is going to be good and is being treated like it. Utah is going to be good and is being treated like it. But I think Oklahoma State, even while being picked third and receiving 14 first place votes, is being under-appreciated.

Utah

There is a world where the Utes might be getting too much credit.

Is Cam Rising indeed 100 percent and nothing that held him out for the entire year last season is still lingering? We don’t know without a shadow of a doubt. Are they going to have no adjustments while switching to a league with entirely different opponents they know nothing about?

Those are huge questions. I rarely take teams that are new to a conference. That’s why I would pick the Utes third in the Big 12. And they definitely aren’t winning the league without Rising perfectly fine for at least 10 regular season games.

Kansas State has plenty of questions to answer. I get it. The offensive line has a lot of new pieces. Plenty of guys are going to be asked to step up and take on much larger roles. There’s turnover on the offensive coaching staff.

But I probably have much more concern and impactful questions about Utah. That said, they don’t have to play K-State, Rising can be the best quarterback in the Big 12 (maybe the best player), Kyle Whittingham is an excellent coach and they’ll have a terrific defense.

Kansas

Why Kansas? Why not Arizona? I know those are going to be the questions and/or gripes for taking the Jayhawks instead of the newest Wildcats in the conference. And personally, I don’t think it’s that close when considering important factors.

Kansas is a top two or top three team in the Big 12, in my opinion, if Jalon Daniels is healthy at quarterback. I know that he is not often healthy and has yet to play a full regular season without injury, but Lance Leipold could have the Jayhawks in Arlington if that happened and it’s less of a stretch than taking Arizona.

Daniels is due for a healthy year. And heck, they nearly defeated K-State last year without him under center. The biggest hurdle could be their ability to sustain performance without offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki.

Why am so far down on Arizona? They’re new. They will be playing a bunch of teams they know little about. They are breaking in an entire different coaching staff and system. It’s not like they promoted within after losing Jedd Fisch to Washington.

I love quarterback Noah Fifita. I love receiver Tetairoa McMillan. I love their other pieces. But I don’t love new coach Brent Brennan, yet. And his recruiting performance to date is several rungs below what Fisch was doing in Tucson.

And it’s not a certainty Fifita, McMillan and those awesome pieces see their ability maximized the same way it was under Fisch.

The post Three and out: Big 12 title contenders to Kansas State appeared first on On3.