Big 12 Team Season Grades
Big 12 Season Grade: B
The bowl season helped make everything all better with the conference going 5-0.
The year got off to a rough start with an 0-3 home run against the Sun Belt, Oklahoma lost two games early to effectively knock the conference out of the College Football Playoff hunt right away, and those Sun Belt losses – especially Iowa State’s loss to Louisiana – dragged down the national profile.
However, Iowa State made up for the early gaffe with a great run and a big bowl win, Texas played a whole slew of thrilling games, TCU rose up late, Kansas State was good early, and even with Kansas and Baylor having big problems, it was still a decent conference season overall.
2019 Final Grade: C-
Baylor 2020 Season Grade: D
2020 Record: 2-7
CFN 2020 Preseason Ranking: 42
CFN 2020 Final Rankings: 87
2019 Final Grade: A
It was supposed to be a rebuilding year under new head man Dave Aranda, but the program was an overtime last year of probably going to the College Football Playoff and this season it beat Kansas State by one and took home the free space game against Kansas.
Iowa State 2020 Season Grade: A
2020 Record: 9-3
CFN 2020 Preseason Ranking: 36
CFN 2020 Final Rankings: 16
2019 Final Grade: B-
Yeah, there was a loss to Louisiana to open things up, but the Cyclones played in the Big 12 Championship, got to the Fiesta Bowl – with the program’s best bowl win ever in a great performance against Oregon – and earned a whole lot of national respect.
Kansas 2020 Season Grade: F
2020 Record: 0-9
CFN 2020 Preseason Ranking: 72
CFN 2020 Final Rankings: 104
2019 Final Grade: C
There was nothing there. Losing to Coastal Carolina was better than it seemed at the time, but the Jayhawks suffered through blowout loss after blowout loss until the regular season finale in a 16-13 loss to Texas Tech. They were outscored overall 414 to 142.
Kansas State 2020 Season Grade: C+
2020 Record: 4-6
CFN 2020 Preseason Ranking: 41
CFN 2020 Final Rankings: 58
2019 Final Grade: B
The season started with a loss to what turned out to be a mediocre Arkansas State team, rallied back with four straight wins including a shocker over Oklahoma, and ended with a five-game losing streak. Injuries mattered, but the team got on a slide and couldn’t stop.
Oklahoma 2020 Season Grade: A-
2020 Record: 9-2
CFN 2020 Preseason Ranking: 6
CFN 2020 Final Rankings: 6
2019 Final Grade: A
The Sooners kept on improving, got some key parts back, and overcame two tough early losses to win their last eight games including the Big 12 Championship – again – and ripped up Florida in the Cotton Bowl. However, OU did lose those two games, and in all year to have been that fourth seed in the College Football Playoff, this was the year to do it if there was just one loss.
Oklahoma State 2020 Season Grade: B
2020 Record: 8-3
CFN 2020 Preseason Ranking: 22
CFN 2020 Final Rankings: 19
2019 Final Grade: B
Oklahoma State was supposed to at least play for the Big 12 Championship. Winning it would’ve been another story, but the talent and experience were there to at least play for it. It didn’t, it was stunned by TCU lost to both Texas and OU, but eight wins were okay and there was a nice bowl win over Miami.
TCU 2020 Season Grade: B
2020 Record: 6-4
CFN 2020 Preseason Ranking: 34
CFN 2020 Final Rankings: 44
2019 Final Grade: C-
The season was fine, and it got better as the year went on with a 5-1 record to close. The early losses to Iowa State and Kansas State were close, and losing to Oklahoma wasn’t anything to get into a twist over. In a normal year with a normal non-conference slate, the team is probably 8-4.
Texas 2020 Season Grade: B
2020 Record: 7-3
CFN 2020 Preseason Ranking: 14
CFN 2020 Final Rankings: 18
2019 Final Grade: B
It wasn’t a run to the College Football Playoff, or even the Big 12 Championship, but the three losses to TCU, Oklahoma and Iowa State all could’ve gone the other way and the blowout bowl win over Colorado was strong. It was a decent season, but not good enough for Tom Herman to stick around.
Texas Tech 2020 Season Grade: C
2020 Record: 4-6
CFN 2020 Preseason Ranking: 56
CFN 2020 Final Rankings: 79
2019 Final Grade: C-
It might have been a bit of a disappointment win only one decent win among the four – 34-27 over West Virginia – but the team gets credit for being more than just competitive against Texas and Oklahoma State. This was fine for this weird year, but head coach Matt Wells has to come up with a whole lot more in 2021.
West Virginia 2020 Season Grade: B
2020 Record: 6-4
CFN 2020 Preseason Ranking: 55
CFN 2020 Final Rankings: 43
2019 Final Grade: C
It was an uneven year, and the offense is still going to have to show up under Neal Brown, but it was the only team to beat TCU over the second half of the season, there was a bowl win over Army, and it was a winning campaign in a rough year. Consider it a decent step forward.
2020 Team Season Grades
ACC | American | Big Ten East | West
Big 12 | C-USA East | West
Independents | MAC East | West
Mountain West | Pac-12 North | South
SEC East | West | Sun Belt East | West