Best Early 2018 Big 12 Championship Odds

The ten teams who make up the Big 12 each have some major questions surrounding their squads entering the 2018 regular season. How will Oklahoma respond to the departure of quarterback Baker Mayfield? Can Texas play strong defense for a full season? Can Oklahoma State play defense at all? Will TCU rebound from a tough 2017? Is Baylor back from the form that saw them lose to Liberty and UT-San Antonio? Take a look at each team’s sports betting odds to win the Big 12 — and then read on to find out our suggested pick.

Best Early 2018 Big 12 Championship Odds

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• Oklahoma                                                       +150
• Texas                                                              +350
• Oklahoma State                                              +500
• West Virginia                                                   +600
• TCU                                                                +800
• Baylor                                                              +1600
• Kansas State                                                  +1600
• Iowa State                                                       +2000
• Texas Tech                                                     +2500
• Kansas                                                            +10000

Oklahoma has been the class of this conference, winning 11 titles since the calendar turned to 2000, and three in a row. The last team besides Oklahoma to win the Big 12 was TCU, which “won” despite having lost to Baylor, being even in the standings and not having to win a conference title game. Now the Big 12 has a title game, and Oklahoma has been the best team each year. The biggest question mark is how well Kyler Murray will play in Lincoln Riley’s system, but in a year when there really are no other strong teams in the conference, you have to like Oklahoma’s chances to ride their talent to another win. Whether they can crack the College Football Playoff will be another story. Texas needs to choose a quarterback. With Sam Ehlinger and Shane Buechele, they have two solid talents — but neither has established himself. In the Big 12, each team plays each of the other teams in round-robin format, so there are nine conference games on the schedule, but Texas has had just one winning record in conference play since 2010, when they went 7-2 in 2013. The questions for Texas continue past the choice of quarterback, as we saw them break the 40-point barrier against Maryland last year, at home, and still lose. If you see Oklahoma stumbling out of the gate while Texas improves in their first year under Tom Herman, then you would pick Texas. If you’re skeptical about that Longhorn defense, then you probably pick Oklahoma. What about TCU? That +800 moneyline is a lot of value, and there’s a reason why that number is so high. Virtually their whole offensive line will be new this season, and they’re also bringing in a new quarterback, who won a Texas state title at DeSoto High School. While TCU has missed out on the championship the past few years, no team except Oklahoma has been better in the conference over the past three years. So that moneyline alone might talk you into a bet on them. West Virginia has a terrific quarterback in Will Grier, but they have a rightly maligned defense, and they also have a track record of choking mightily when they leave the mountains and play tough games on the road. Their offense will score a lot of points, but they have a tougher home-road slate in the conference than Oklahoma and TCU do. Then there’s Oklahoma State. Mike Gundy has a new quarterback to break in, but he has a system that scores points in bunches, week in and week out. The problems happen when he runs into a team that plays stout defense or also has a high-octane offense, because his teams usually end up falling short. That spells trouble when he hits Oklahoma and TCU, year in and year out. If you look at the bottom half of the conference, there isn’t a team that looks like it can put lightning in a bottle and surprise the rest of the conference. Kansas State always gets the most out of its talent, but its talent is never all that awe-inspiring. Iowa State will likely pull off at least one home upset (and maybe even one road upset), but they don’t sustain winning enough to be taken seriously as a conference threat.