Top 5 Big 12 Non-Conference Games in 2025: Playoff Stakes & Realignment Impact

In this episode, we break down the Top 5 non-conference games in the Big 12 for the 2025 season—from powerhouse matchups to critical playoff resume builders. Learn why these high-stakes games are crucial for the Big 12's College Football Playoff hopes and how they play a major role in shaping the future of conference realignment. Whether you're a die-hard fan or just watching the chessboard of college football evolve, this episode dives deep into why 2025 is a pivotal year for the Big 12.
🎧 Tune in to get the insights that matter.

Keywords included:
Big 12, 2025 college football, non-conference games, College Football Playoff, Big 12 realignment, top Big 12 matchups, postseason implications, college football schedule

Transcript

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The countdown is on. We are less than 100 days from college football starting and today we're going to get into the biggest non-conference games of the Big 12 is going to have this season. We're going to talk about that and much more on today's show. From Ola Homa, SAIC to Colorado, Arizona, SAIC to Cincinnati. We've got Big 12 covered from end zone to buzzer Peter. This is verse 12. We're all access pass to all 16 teams all in every episode. Thank you for joining us today. My name is Adam Gibby and this is the only podcast that covers every single of the 16 Big 12 teams equally every single episode so glad you could join us. So like I said we're less than 100 days away from Big 12 football starting and it could not come soon enough. The sun is out, it's getting warmer, kids are off school and it just feels like it's time for some football. Like let's just be honest for a second football has the longest off season of any sport, longest off season and yet it's the best sport that we have maybe that's what makes part of it so great. You know if you think about it basketball baseball all these other sports they have so many games it kind of dilutes to the quality and how much each one values both football you only get 12 13 games of season. You only get six home games an entire year it makes every single game an event makes it special makes it unique and even more unique are non-conference games and in today's era where it seems like teams are trying to maybe shy away from big games USC sorry and you know I'm not going to name any teams here the big 12 doesn't seem to be shine away from games and I'm not sure how I feel about that because you got to kind of weigh the two sides on one hand if you schedule three easy cupcakes and then you can make your way eight and one through the conference you're probably going to the college football playoff this isn't the pre 12 team playoff where you actually need it a resume before you needed to go 11 and one and have a good resume to make the playoff some years you needed to go undefeated and have a good resume to make the playoff now if you go 11 and one you're probably in regardless of who you play as long as you're in a power conference so it doesn't really matter if you play Notre Dame doesn't really matter if you go play Texas or Ohio State or Michigan you can go play Western Michigan get a win and then at the end of the season just show your record and be like okay that's good enough but the big 12's not doing that they're still playing big games we're going to get into the top five on today's episode all right we're actually going to start off with some honorable mentions and those are games that are big that are important but we're not going to really dive into them now every single big 12 team has at least one intriguing non-conference game but again we're just going to cover the top five then a couple of honorable mentions so in the honorable mentions we have Nebraska versus Cincinnati now this game is intriguing it's also very interesting especially with some comments that Matt rule recently made about a 40 team college football playoff I'm going to have a podcast coming out about that probably in the next day or so Cincinnati probably doesn't have the greatest shot in that game and even if they do it's not the biggest big 10 opponent so it's going to be a great game I'm excited for that game I hope the bearcats can pull it off but it just doesn't quite make the cut now the second game is Oklahoma State versus Oregon and very similarly the reason I don't have them super high up on this list is because quite honestly they're probably not going to win this Oregon played in the Rose Bowl last year lost to Ohio State they were one of the top teams in the country they're playing at home against the Cowboys and Oklahoma State is coming off of a historically bad season where they didn't win a single big 12 game just kind of looking at that matchup it doesn't bowed well for Oklahoma State's chances now never doubt my gun to he's one of the best coaches in college football I would not be even the slightest bit surprised if he's able to pull something off making an interesting game but I just again I don't see this game probably going the Cowboys way and so I'm not going to put it into my to my top five Baylor versus SMU now this is a great game this is a game that could be very intriguing last year SMU's only lost came to a big 12 foe in BYU SMU is returning a ton of their talent including their starting quarterback Baylor's also coming back with a lot of talent they're kind of the dark horse I feel of the big 12 they're not really being talked about as much as some of the other teams but they definitely have the talent remember last year after a rough start they ended up winning I believe seven or their final eight games maybe a six of seven regardless they finish with a fantastic back end of the season carried a lot momentum before ultimately falling to LSU in their bowl game this could be a great game however again I'm kind of looking at as a ACC versus big 12 not the biggest brands is not a Clemson's not a Florida state and so I'm just not able to put it quite into my top five it's just on the outside looking in now my first team out is Auburn vs Baylor and this is another reason why SMU didn't make the cut Baylor plays two great games one against SMU and one against Auburn in the non-conference now the reason this game is so intriguing for me is that it is a statement game it's going to probably be on primetime because it happens on Friday August 29th that is technically week one but it is also the Friday night before so it's probably going to be primetime Fox and it is going to be an equal matchup in terms of viewers people probably view the sixth seventh ranked SEC team up against the fourth or fifth big 12 team as an equal matchup the winner certainly would have bragging rights whereas the loser kind of gets like that was a tough loss but you was it was against a quality opponent no no matter who loses this game they're not going to be looked at as if it's embarrassing or tough loss however a win would be really big especially for the big 12 you want the big 12 to win all these games which is going to bring me on a little side tangent before I get into the top five if you listen to my other podcast I briefly talked about this on one of my other episodes but you are a big 12 football fan big 12 basketball fan big 12 conference fan you need a hope that the big 12 goes three no in every single non-conference game and the reason for that is because narratives matter last year the SEC did phenomenal in men's basketball the non-conference and then for the rest of the season they had this narrative that they were going to get 13 14 teams in and then they did get 13 teams I believe in or was it 14 I don't remember either way it broke the record and it it really carried a lot of weight because of what happened in the non-conference you had teams I believe that were six in 12 that were in the NCAA tournament which is just crazy and has never happened before but because of the work done in the non-conference it gave so much credibility to the conference during the conference season and so you want teams to go three no in the big 12 you want to have four five even six teams ranked in the top 25 by the time conference game start because then you get matched on our ranked ranked matchups and those games don't really hurt the rankings all that much and so if you get a Kansas State versus the BYU and both are ranked in the top 20 the winner gets a great quality win while the loser gets an acceptable loss probably doesn't drop out at the top 25 if you have a bunch of teams including your rival Utah if you're a BYU fan Kansas if you're a Kansas State fan Baylor for your TCU fan then when you play those teams or when other teams play those teams and they lose that suddenly becomes a bad loss what you do not want to happen is you don't want Baylor to go up against TCU Baylor's one and two and then beat TCU because now TCU who may be three and oh suddenly has a tough loss on their resume and so you want a three no Baylor against the three and O TCU going into the first matchup or whatever whatever matchup is that that first week in conference in the conference so with that to the side let's go ahead and look into the top five we're gonna start with number five finished with number one number five on this list is Arizona State versus Mississippi State a lot of people may be wondering why is that such a big game Mississippi State stinks yeah they do Arizona State also won the big 12 last season and so this becomes a dangerous game this becomes one of those games where a lot can be said about both conferences if it does not go in the favor of the sun devils if Arizona State loses its game the narrative will be out there oh the worst SEC team just beat the best big 12 team is that actually true well actually it might be true but is that saying anything about the conference in terms of the worst team in the SEC is better than the best team in the big 12 10 out of 10 times no absolutely not it might just be a bad matchup sometimes you get a bad role or a month pond or whatever it is the things turn around and go ugly real quick and then you find yourself trailing late in the fourth quarter you can't mount a comeback but that would still be the narrative I can already see it on SEC nation or the SEC network ESPN even big 12 doesn't deserve to have two teams in college football playoff because early in the season their top team Arizona State the team they sent to the playoff last year lost to Mississippi State who was oh and eight in SEC play that is not the narrative that you want to start season off with so this game taking place on September 6th is massive for the conference it's almost like Alabama when they play it's it's kind of sad but I've seen this just talking with Alabama fans and people I know who follow the program they don't actually enjoy winning games they enjoy not losing so when their playing Kentucky when they're playing Vanderbilt when they're playing anybody not named Georgia or Texas or LSU it's all about just getting out without a lot that's all they care about they don't actually celebrate the win they just celebrate not lose and so that's kind of where I feel that this game is for Baylor if they can get out of this game with a win everybody can take a deep breath there's no reason to celebrate you just beat up on the worst team in the SEC but at least you didn't lose so that's my number five because it carries a lot of weight if things went badly number four is Georgia Tech for its Colorado Friday August 29th now this may also be a ABC kind of game this is going to be a game ESPN wants they're going to want it to be broadcasted on their biggest stations going to be ABC prime time literally coach prime against Georgia Tech what can Colorado do without should or standards and Travis Hunter what is coach prime without his son and the hysmitrophy win this is going to be a game is going to get a lot of eyeballs it's going to set a tone for the big 12 conference as a whole because that's what unfortunately what many people see the big 12 as similarly to how people saw the ACC as Trevor Lawrence a couple of years ago when he played for Clemson right now the big 12 is in many ways beyond standards this game is going to be very interesting as a big 12 versus ACC matchup two teams that are expected to finish in the upper tier of the conference not necessarily the favorites to win the conference but maybe finish third or fourth in the rankings and so this is going to be one of those games that kind of sets the temperature of okay where is a good big 12 team versus a good ACC team I know I've talked about this in the past we want the ACC to do well we want them to be successful but at the end of the day we do want to be the third best conference this is one of those games that can kind of measure that a little bit Georgia Tech is also an interesting team they beat Miami last year they took Georgia to double over time in the season finale and if you remember all the way back they were the first team who beat Florida State in Ireland in week zero of the 2024 season that at the time was viewed as a massive upset later we went on to learn that Florida State just had a historically terrible season but at the time it was a massive win Georgia Tech also took SMU I believe it was down to the last second play and I can't remember if it was SMU or maybe it was Miami but they they had another game where they got a game a rob from them from a late overturned touchdown that would have actually secured the victory for Georgia Tech so Georgia Tech is certainly the kind of team that can beat anybody at any time they've got a fantastic quarterback they have good coaching and this is just going to be a test for Colorado on prime time this is going to be one of if not the biggest matchup of the evening and I'm super excited to see what's able to happen there number three is Kansas state versus Iowa state Saturday August 23rd now I know what you're thinking well that's a rivalry game that's a conference game this year it actually isn't a conference game I'm not sure all the details on how that happened or why that's happening exactly but these two teams are not meeting as conference foes in the first game of the entire season this game is going to have a ton of hype around it so the first game of the year people remember the Ireland game last year again I just mentioned it with Georgia Tech versus Florida state and it's just going to have a ton of eyeballs on the screen it's 11 o'clock am on ESPN if you're in the central time zone 12 o'clock Eastern again it's the first game of the season it's a rivalry game this is the kind of game that can get people excited for the season here's the thing though this game needs to be entertaining this cannot be the kind of game that is 42 to 17 in the third quarter or that is even 24 to three in the second quarter this needs to be game that's wire to wire a fantastic game rock oh back versus rock oh back versus Avery Johnson needs to be a fantastic quarterback matchups showing off the talents of big 12 quarterbacks which I believe is the highlight of the big 12 this year I don't think we're a year of running backs I don't think this is the year the wide receiver or even defenders this is a year the quarterback for the big 12 you got big 12 quarterbacks all over the place that can make a real run for the Heisman if they're able to lead their team to a great record so again this game could be fantastic everybody could be watching it could be one of those games that gets over 10 15 million viewers if it's entertaining enough number two on the list Kansas at Missouri Saturday September 6th this is another example of an SEC versus big 12 game that features two teams that are somewhat on a competitive level Missouri is viewed as a middle the pack maybe slightly upper and SEC team Kansas is a complete mystery at times last year they look fantastic beating BYU and Colorado at other times they look like they couldn't beat anybody this game is sort of the opposite of the Mississippi State versus Arizona State game where if Kansas loses this game it's not actually a big deal it's not a huge blow to the conference but if they are able to win this game and I believe they can this is the kind of game that could get very interesting especially with Jalen Daniels the way he's able to run around kind of control the pocket control the line of scrimmage if Kansas can make a push against Missouri and win this game it would be a huge accomplishment for the big 12 now you may be asking well why are you turning this game but not Oklahoma State versus Oregon the difference being I just don't see the Cowboys pulling that off in Eugene whereas I very well could see Kansas pulling this off also it is an old rivalry game remember Missouri used to be in the big 12 this might be their biggest rivalry game of the year nobody really considers Arkansas as their main rival they kind of got put into that situation because the SEC didn't have anybody for them but Kansas was the rival this could be a very entertaining game when games are intense weird things happen so that's my number two and number one TCU vs North Carolina September 1st this is the only game of the night it's the only game so if you're going to watch college football on September 1st you're going to be watching this game it's a Monday night and there's a chance to set a tone of the big 12 versus AC North Carolina is getting a ton of coverage right now because of billbell check not always for the right reasons but he's getting a lot of coverage right now sort of in a way the same way that Deon Sanders did this is going to be a statement game for North Carolina and this is an opportunity for TCU to also make a statement not just for themselves before the entire conference I think that Hoover is a fantastic quarterback and I'm not sure North Carolina is really set up to stop the athleticism of TCU TCU is always extremely athletic extremely quick North Carolina doesn't really have that kind of defense so this is a great opportunity for TCU to get in front of millions of eyeballs and have a fantastic showing against North Carolina and while they're at it have a very nice welcome party to billbell check to college football so those are my top five games again number one TCU vs North Carolina number two Kansas vs Missouri number three Kansas State vs Iowa State number four Georgia Tech vs Colorado number five Arizona State vs Mississippi State like I said we are under 100 days away from college football one final thought I want to end on this may be the biggest season for the big 12 in their history and I realized that sounds like a crazy statement to say but but here hear me out the big 12 needs to have a massive season they need two teams in the college football playoff after this season the college football presidents bored whoever you want to call it they're going to get together they're going to restructure the playoff and if the big 12 and the ACC especially only get one team in this season they're not going to have a lot of credibility at the table they're not going to have a lot of say in what the future of college football looks like the big 10 and SEC will likely be able to do and say whatever they want and get away with it the big 12 and the ACC really need to get two teams into the college football playoff this year they really need to do that if they're going to have any chance to have credibility when the restructuring model comes around next next off season to do that you really honestly need two teams probably to 11 and one or at 10 and two with a bunch of ranked wins and the loss is also to ranked teams we saw last year b-y-u ios state Colorado finished 10 and two great seasons great resumes but they missed out on the college football playoff because they didn't have the resumes and because a lot of the opponents they played also didn't have the resumes that starts in the non-conference that starts in the three games you play against teams and not in your conference and so the big 12 needs to get teams ranked early in the season so that when b-y-u plays ios state it's a top 10 top 10 matchup when Kansas State goes up against Utah it's a ranked on ranked matchup when Colorado plays Kansas State it's a ranked first ranked matchup this is absolutely essential for the conference because then you can get to the end of the 10 and 2 season and say yes I have two losses but I also have three wins against ranked teams and those three ranked teams were ranked in large part because they started three and only on conference so again I can't stress enough how important this non-conference season is going to be it's going to be fun it's going to be entertaining and again we are under a hundred days away from watching college football thank you again for tuning in today I really do appreciate it this show is getting more listeners but it will grow even more if you like subscribe leave a five star review that tells Spotify of a podcast wherever you're listening that this is a great show and it should be recommended to other people when it sees that it recommends to more listeners and it helps grow this program so thank you again appreciate every single one of you i'll catch you next time[MUSIC]