It’s Saturday, college football fans, and not just any Saturday, but the last one before the kickoff of the 2023 season, aka Week 0. It’s a busy week for the GCR team (of one) with today’s next to last conference preview followed by a Tuesday edition to look through the most-challenged conference for this season, ending up with a game by game look at week 0 coming out on Friday.
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But today is about the Big 12 who, in response to Oklahoma and Texas moving to the SEC in 2024, added 4 teams to the 2023 roster (independent BYU and former American teams Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF). So the new look Big 12 (which will have yet another new look next season with all the Pac-12 teams shifting east) will feature 14 teams this year (not to be confused with the 14-team Big Ten) who have a preseason strength of schedule (PS SOS) of 8.4137 compared to the Power 5 average of 8.1979. They most likely would have been the top dog, most challenged conference had it not been for the 4 Group of 5 promotions. Why? Not because they are bad teams at all. In fact, they combined for 34-19 record last season, but that they played Group of 5 schedules, especially the AAC alumni. In the non-scientific GCR PS-SOS, there is a slight discount for G5 teams compared to P5 teams. If I don’t do that, the numbers get all wonky. It’s not much, but it is enough to “drop” the Big 12 to second this season. That said, the team that the GCR calculates as having the most difficult schedule in 2023 is West Virginia with a score of 9.798, lower than the 10+ scores we’ve seen in the past for the top spot, but an indicator that their average game, assuming some additional factors, is against a neutral site Power 5 opponent who one 9.798 game last year. But it’s not all Mountaineers because fully half of the Big 12 is in the top 20 for PS SOS. Every team except one has opponents in 2023 that combined for winning records in 2022. With that, in the table below which shows the conference from West Virginia to TCU, (N) indicates a neutral site game, (G) indicates a Group of 5 opponent, and (F) indicates an FCS foe.
| Team/ Conf Rank | PS SOS/ Rank | ’22 Record/ SOS Rank | ’23 Opp’s W-L | Conf Home | Conf Away/ Neutral | Non-Conf Home | Non-Conf Away/ Neutral |
| West Virginia (1) | 9.798/ 1 | 5-7/ 31 | 96-59 (.619) | (30-20) Texas Tech, Oklahoma St, BYU, Cincinnati | (42-26) TCU, Houston, UCF, Oklahoma, Baylor | (13-11) (F) Duquesne, Pittsburgh | (11-2) Penn St |
| Iowa St (2) | 9.284/ 6 | 4-8/ 18 | 97-61 (.613) | (34-20) Oklahoma St, TCU, Kansas, Texas | (39-27) Oklahoma, Cincinnati, Baylor, BYU, Kansas St | (14-10) (F) N Iowa, Iowa | (10-4) (G) Ohio |
| Texas (3) | 9.079/ 12 | 8-5/ 13 | 92-65 (.586) | (32-21) Kansas, BYU, Kansas St, Texas Tech | (37-29) Baylor, (N) Oklahoma, Houston, TCU, Iowa St | (12-13) (G) Rice, (G) Wyoming | (11-2) Alabama |
| Texas Tech (4) | 8.950/ 13 | 8-5/ 41 | 96-60 (.615) | (40-16) Houston, Kansas St, TCU, UCF | (33-31) West Virginia, Baylor, BYU, Kansas, Texas | (16-8) Oregon, (F) Tarleton | (7-6) (G) Wyoming |
| Houston (5) | 8.940/ 15 | 8-5/ 77 | 96-56 (.632) | (42-22) TCU, West Virginia, Texas, Cincinnati, Oklahoma St | (33-21) Texas Tech, Kansas St, Baylor, UCF | (16-7) (G) UTSA, (G) Sam Houston | (5-8) (G) Rice |
| Baylor (6) | 8.833/ 17 | 6-7/ 45 | 92-64 (.590) | (33-30) Texas, Texas Tech, Iowa St, Houston, West Virginia | (41-15) UCF, Cincinnati, Kansas St, TCU | (18-19) (G) Texas St, Utah, (F) Long Island | — |
| Kansas St (7) | 8.706/ 20 | 10-4/ 12 | 96-62 (.608) | (40-27) UCF, TCU, Houston, Baylor, Iowa St | (29-23) Oklahoma St, Texas Tech, Texas, Kansas | (21-5) (F) SEMO, (G) Troy | (7-6) Missouri |
| UCF (8) | 8.335/ 26 | 9-5/ 73 | 86-68 (.558) | (26-25) Baylor, West Virginia, Oklahoma St, Houston | (39-27) Kansas St, Kansas, Oklahoma, Cincinnati, Texas Tech | (11-12) (G) Kent St, (F) Villanova | (10-4) (G) Boise St |
| BYU (9) | 8.142/ 37 | 8-5/ 78 | 83-67 (.553) | (27-24) Cincinnati, Texas Tech, Iowa St, Oklahoma | (39-27) Kansas, TCU, Texas, West Virginia, Oklahoma St | (10-10) (G) Sam Houston, (F) S Utah | (7-6) Arkansas |
| Oklahoma (10) | 8.004/ 44 | 6-7/ 37 | 84-71 (.542) | (31-22) Iowa St, UCF, West Virginia, TCU | (38-27) Cincinnati, (N) Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma St, BYU | (10-15) (G) Arkansas St, (G) SMU | (5-7) (G) Tulsa |
| Kansas (11) | 7.665/ 57 | 6-7/ 28 | 84-70 (.545) | (41-20) BYU, UCF, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Kansas St | (28-23) Texas, Oklahoma St, Iowa St, Cincinnati | (13-11) (F) Missouri St, Illinois | (2-10) (G) Nevada |
| Cincinnati (12) | 7.526/ 62 | 9-4/ 111 | 81-73 (.526) | (31-34) Oklahoma, Iowa St, Baylor, UCF, Kansas | (28-23) BYU, Oklahoma St, Houston, West Virginia | (13-12) (F) E Kentucky, (G) Miami OH | (9-4) Pittsburgh |
| Oklahoma St (13) | 7.358/ 70 | 7-6/ 57 | 83-70 (.542) | (39-27) Kansas St, Kansas, Cincinnati, Oklahoma, BYU | (26-25) Iowa St, West Virginia, UCF, Houston | (15-9) (F) C Arkansas, (G) South Alabama | (3-9) Arizona St |
| TCU (14) | 7.162/ 82 | 13-2/ 17 | 74-78 (.487) | (27-24) West Virginia, BYU, Texas, Baylor | (36-29) Houston, Iowa St, Kansas St, Texas Tech, Oklahoma | (11-25) Colorado, (F) Nicholls, (G) SMU | — |
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And that’s it for today. Thank you for reading. If you have concerns or questions, please comment. If you like what you see, please share with others, G
