Big 12 expansion: How does the FBS powerhouse look after the conference added four-member teams in July 2023?

The Big 12 is one of the top college football conferences in the entire country, and they continue to add some solid teams. They have added four programs going into this season, as the BYU Cougars, Houston Cougars, Cincinnati Bearcats and UCF Knights are all making their Big 12 debuts in 2023.

This is also the final season for two of the bigger programs in the conference. The Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners will head to the Southeastern Conference after the conclusion of the 2023 season.

The Big 12 will be an exciting conference to keep track of throughout the college football season. There are a lot of incredible teams, including the national championship runner-up TCU Horned Frogs, who have a chance to win the title Championship.

Which teams are going to be in the running for the Big 12 Championship?

One team that should be considered a favorite is the Texas Longhorns. They have a young quarterback competition between sophomore Quinn Ewers and freshman Arch Manning, with Ewers expected to be the starter.

They are an exciting program throughout and the offense will try to replace the production of running back Bijan Robinson. Head coach Steve Sarkisian and his team should be a frontrunner for the Big 12 Championship Game.

Another program to keep an eye on are be the TCU Horned Frogs. They were able to make the College Football Playoff last year as the fourth-ranked program, and made it to the NCAA Championship Game against the Georgia Bulldogs. The Horned Frogs were a perfect 9-0 in conference play, but have a new look as their quarterback Max Duggan is now part of the Los Angeles Chargers.

The final team likely to be in the running is defending Big 12 Champions, the Kansas State Wildcats. The program was able to finish the 2022 season with a 10-4 (7-2) record and took down the Horned Frogs in the championship game.

The program did a great job at running the football, as they averaged 5.1 rushing yards per attempt with 32 touchdowns on the ground. Junior quarterback Will Howard rarely makes mistakes, as he only threw four interceptions throughout the season.

This will be an interesting season of college football, as the conference has two stalwarts leaving after this upcoming season and a handful of new teams. Which program do you think will wind up winning the conference championship?