Oklahoma gets all but six first-place votes in Big 12 preseason poll

Oklahoma is the overwhelming favorite in the Big 12.

The Sooners received 46 of 52 first-place votes in the 2018 preseason football poll. The only other teams that got multiple first-place votes were West Virginia and Kansas State. Texas and TCU each got a first-place vote.

West Virginia and Kansas State (?!) each got two first-place votes

West Virginia had two first-place votes and came in second in the media poll. That makes sense. Kansas State’s two first-place votes don’t make as much sense. There are two people really high on the Wildcats compared to the rest of the 50 voters. Kansas State came in at sixth in the preseason poll. Yes, Kansas State is picked to finish in the bottom half of the league and got two first-place votes.

Oklahoma won the Big 12 in 2017 and defeated TCU in the conference’s reincarnated title game. It was the first time since the Big 12 went to 10 teams in 2011 that the conference had a title game.

The Sooners being a big favorite isn’t much of a surprise. The Big 12 should have a lot of good teams once again in 2018 but Oklahoma is the only team that stands out as a legitimate title contender. At least as we sit here and write this post in July.

Here’s what the media poll looks like from 1-10.

1. Oklahoma (46 first-place votes)
2. West Virginia (2)
3. TCU (1)
4. Texas (1)
5. Oklahoma State
6. Kansas State (2)
7. Iowa State
8. Texas Tech
9. Baylor
10. Kansas

If you’re looking for a team to overperform its projections you can’t go wrong with Iowa State or Baylor. The Cyclones were a game away from making the title game in 2017 and beat Oklahoma on the road. Baylor could be massively improved from 2017 with stability at the quarterback position. But if those two teams are better than where the media poll thinks they’ll finish, who will fall? We’re not sure about that. The Big 12 should be a fascinating conference.

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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

Follow @NickBromberg on Twitter

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