Four Big 12 Teams Ranked in Preseason Top-25

With the college football season less than a month away (no, really) the first AP Top-25 poll for the 2020 season has been released.

The Clemson Tigers top the preseason rankings, but several teams the West Virginia Mountaineers will meet this season are also featured.

The highest-ranked Big 12 team in the poll is Oklahoma at no. 5. The Sooners will be in Morgantown to face WVU on Nov. 28, the last scheduled home game for the Mountaineers. Last season Oklahoma easily handled WVU 52-14 in Norman.

The next time the Big 12 is seen on the AP poll is in back-to-back spots at no. 14 and 15. The Texas Longhorns come in at 14 and the Oklahoma State Cowboys at 15. WVU will travel to both Austin and Stillwater this season.

Oklahoma State will be the team’s Big 12 opener on Sept. 26. Last season Chuba Hubbard and the Cowboys ran all over the Mountaineers in a 20-13 win.

WVU will rematch Texas on Nov. 7. When the teams met in 2019 the game was close through three quarters, until the Longhorns pulled away in the fourth to win 42-31.

The final Big 12 team ranked in the poll is no. 23 Iowa State. The Cyclones host the Mountaineers in the final game of the season on Dec. 5. Last year, ISU defeated WVU and back up quarterback Jack Allison 38-14.

A pair of Big 12 teams were unranked, but received votes. Baylor (15) and TCU (nine) both received votes in the rankings.

After losing to Baylor on Halloween last season, WVU will play the Bears on Oct. 3. TCU will be looking to avenge a season-finale loss to West Virginia in Morgantown on Nov. 14.