Where does Oklahoma State football rank in Big 12 strength of schedule? (2024)

With the departures of OU and Texas, the Big 12 is wide open this season.

Utah was picked by the media to win the league followed by Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Arizona and Iowa State —all of whom have a valid case for being the best team in the conference.

West Virginia and Texas Tech could make a run for it. Colorado will be entertaining, if nothing else.

We used the Big 12 preseason poll to determine the strength of schedule —only factoring in conference games —for all 16 teams.

We assigned point values, in inverse order of the projected standings, to judge the difficulty of each game. For example, Utah was picked to finish first. Its point value is 16. Arizona State, picked to finish last, has a value of one.

To account for the heightened difficulty of road games compared to home games, we increased the point value of each road opponent by one point (making Utah a 17, for example) and decreased the value of each home opponent by one point (making Utah a 15).

We tallied the point total for each team and divided it by nine, for the nine conference games, to get an average score.

For reference, here is the projected order of finish with difficulty ratings in parentheses.

1. Utah (16)
2. Kansas State (15)
3. Oklahoma State (14)
4. Kansas (13)
5. Arizona (12)
6. Iowa State (11)
7. West Virginia (10)
8. UCF (9)
9. Texas Tech (8)
10. TCU (7)
11. Colorado (6)
12. Baylor (5)
13. BYU (4)
14. Cincinnati (3)
15. Houston (2)
16. Arizona State (1)
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T16. Arizona

Home games: Texas Tech, Colorado, West Virginia, Houston, Arizona State
Road games: Utah, BYU, UCF, TCU

Strength of schedule: 6.9

Arizona lost its coach, but it returned one of the best quarterback/receiver combinations in the country with Noah Fifita and Tetairoa McMillan. New coach Brent Brennan could have himself a Big 12 championship contender in Year 1, especially with this schedule. The road slate is acronym-heavy.

T16. Kansas

Home games: TCU, Houston, Iowa State, Colorado
Road games: West Virginia, Arizona State, Kansas State, BYU, Baylor

Strength of schedule: 6.9

Kansas will play all four of its Big 12 home games at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City while construction continues at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.

14. Kansas State

Home games: Oklahoma State, Kansas, Arizona State, Cincinnati
Road games: BYU, Colorado, West Virginia, Houston, Iowa State

Strength of schedule: 7.2

Kansas State and Arizona will also play a previously scheduled non-conference game. Getting Kansas and Oklahoma State at home could be huge for the Wildcats.

13. Utah

Home games: Arizona, TCU, BYU, Iowa State
Road games: Oklahoma State, Arizona State, Houston, Colorado, UCF

Strength of schedule: 7.4

The four easiest schedules belong to four of the top-five projected teams in the conference, including the favorite. Utah also hosts Baylor on Sept. 7 in another of those previously scheduled non-conference games. Strange times.

12. Texas Tech

Home games: Arizona State, Cincinnati, Baylor, Colorado, West Virginia
Road games: Arizona, TCU, Iowa State, Oklahoma State

Strength of schedule: 7.6

The Red Raiders have a breeze of a home schedule. They’ll make up for it with three tough road games.

11. UCF

Home games: Colorado, Cincinnati, BYU, Arizona, Utah
Road games: TCU, Iowa State, Arizona State, West Virginia

Strength of schedule: 7.7

Of UCF’s nine conference opponents, only one of them has been in the league continuously since before 2012, when West Virginia and TCU joined.

10. Cincinnati

Home games: Houston, Arizona State, West Virginia, TCU
Road games: Texas Tech, UCF, Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas State

Strength of schedule: 7.8

Like Texas Tech, the strength of Cincinnati’s schedule skews heavily toward road games.

9. Oklahoma State

Where does Oklahoma State football rank in Big 12 strength of schedule? (1)

Home games: Utah, West Virginia, Arizona State, Texas Tech
Road games: Kansas State, BYU, Baylor, TCU, Colorado

Strength of schedule: 8.1

OSU has the toughest schedule among the projected top-five teams, but it’s still middle-of-the-pack compared to the Big 12 as a whole. OSU hosts Utah on Sept. 21. Should be one of the games of the year in the Big 12.

8. Baylor

Home games: BYU, Oklahoma State, TCU, Kansas
Road games: Colorado, Iowa State, Texas Tech, West Virginia, Houston

Strength of schedule: 8.4

Luckily for the Bears, their Sept. 7 game at Utah won’t count against them in the Big 12 standings.

7. Iowa State

Home games: Baylor, UCF, Texas Tech, Cincinnati, Kansas State
Road games: Houston, West Virginia, Kansas, Utah

Strength of schedule: 8.9

Both UCF and Cincinnati will be making their maiden voyages to Ames, Iowa. Iowa State will make its first trip to Houston.

6. TCU

Home games: UCF, Houston, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Arizona
Road games: Kansas, Utah, Baylor, Cincinnati

Strength of schedule: 9.0

Tricky schedule for the Horned Frogs as they try to rebound from going 3-6 in the conference last season.

5. BYU

Home games: Kansas State, Arizona, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Houston
Road games: Baylor, UCF, Utah, Arizona State

Strength of schedule: 9.6

BYU’s home schedule is exceptionally tough save for the Houston game. BYU will host Arizona and OSU six days apart in October.

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4. Houston

Home games: Iowa State, Utah, Kansas State, Baylor
Road games: Cincinnati, TCU, Kansas, Arizona, BYU

Strength of schedule: 9.7

A non-conference road game at OU makes things even tougher for Houston as the Cougars look to rebuild in Year 1 under Willie Fritz.

3. West Virginia

Home games: Kansas, Iowa State, Kansas State, Baylor, UCF
Road games: Oklahoma State, Arizona, Cincinnati, Texas Tech

Strength of schedule: 9.9

West Virginia hosts Penn State in Week 1 and plays at Pitt in Week 3 before embarking on a Big 12 gauntlet. The Mountaineers’ first five Big 12 games: vs. Kansas, at OSU, vs. Iowa State, vs. Kansas State, at Arizona. Yikes.

2. Colorado

Home games: Baylor, Kansas State, Cincinnati, Utah, Oklahoma State
Road games: UCF, Arizona, Texas Tech, Kansas

Strength of schedule: 10.4

Mike Gundy and the Cowboys against Deion Sanders and the Buffs on Black Friday in Boulder. One of three big-time home games for Colorado this season.

1. Arizona State

Home games: Kansas, Utah, UCF, BYU
Road games: Texas Tech, Cincinnati, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Arizona

Strength of schedule: 10.6

The weakest team in the conference has the strongest schedule. Salt into the wound for a downtrodden program.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Big 12 football: Where does OSU rank in strength of schedule?