After being to finish 8th in last season’s Big 12 preseason media poll, K-State wound in 2nd place in the league with a 10-win season and a Cotton Bowl berth. The Cats will again have to defy expectations as they were picked 6th in the 2012 survey. Oklahoma has been picked to win the Big 12, and the Sooners received 32 of a possible 41 first-place votes. West Virginia, who beat Clemson in the Orange Bowl last season, had seven first-place votes headed into their first season in the Big 12. The Longhorns were picked third, followed by defending league champion Oklahoma State. TCU is picked to finish its first year in the league in fifth place. The Horned Frogs and K-State each got one first-place vote. Only 34 votes separate Texas in third and the Cats in sixth. Baylor, Iowa State, Texas Tech and Kansas round out the poll.
