Big 12 football schedule 2021 – what are the five things you need to know? What are the five things that matter?
Big 12 Football Schedule 2021: 5 Things You Need To Know
Big 12 Schedules, Analysis, Best/Worst Scenarios
Baylor | Iowa State | Kansas | Kansas State
Oklahoma | Oklahoma State | TCU | Texas
Texas Tech | West Virginia
The 2021 Big 12 football schedule is out – here are five things about the schedule that matter including who catches the schedule breaks, the non-conference analysis, the one big difference in this year’s slate, the winners and losers, and starting out with …
5. Who gets the rested teams?
And when does everyone get a week off?
Not everyone is equal when it comes to the open dates, and it matters with rest, momentum, and everything that goes into getting that one break in the slate. Where is every Big 12 team’s week off and who has to deal with the teams that get two weeks to prepare?
Baylor
The open date comes before: Texas, Oct. 30
Remaining games (all in a row): 5
Iowa State
The open date comes before: at Kansas State, Oct. 16
Remaining games (all in a row): 7
Kansas
The open date comes before: Texas Tech, Oct. 16
Remaining games (all in a row): 7
Kansas State
The open date comes before: Iowa State, Oct. 16
Remaining games (all in a row): 7
Oklahoma
The open date comes before: at Baylor, Nov. 6
Remaining games (all in a row): 3
Oklahoma State
The open date comes before: at Texas, Oct. 16
Remaining games (all in a row): 7
TCU
The open date comes before: SMU
Remaining games (all in a row): 10
Texas
The open date comes before: at Baylor, Oct. 30
Remaining games (all in a row): 5
Texas Tech
The open date comes before: Iowa State, Nov. 13
Remaining games (all in a row): 3
West Virginia
The open date comes before: at TCU, Oct. 23
Remaining games (all in a row): 6
– Who catches the schedule breaks
– Non-conference analysis
– One big difference in this year’s slate
– Big 12 schedule winners and losers
NEXT: Who gets the Big 12 schedule breaks?
4. Who gets the Big 12 schedule breaks?
Without two divisions, the Big 12 isn’t like the other Power Five conferences when it comes to massive schedule breaks.
If you’re an SEC East team, do you miss Alabama? If you’re in the ACC Coastal division, do you have to play Clemson? Everyone plays everyone else in the Big 12, but there’s one key aspect to that – half of the teams get five conference home games, and the other half get four.
And then there’s the other key element here – who gets three Big 12 road games in four weeks? Not everyone has that, so …
Baylor
Number of Big 12 home games: 5
3 Big 12 road games in 4 weeks?: No
Iowa State
Number of Big 12 home games: 4
3 Big 12 road games in 4 weeks?: Yes (at West Virginia, Texas, at Texas Tech, at Oklahoma). One other note: the Cyclones play 3 road games in four dates over the first half of the season, too, but it’s broken up with a week off before the final road game.
Kansas
Number of Big 12 home games: 5
3 Big 12 road games in 4 weeks?: Yes (at Oklahoma State, Kansas State, at Texas, at TCU). One other note, the Jayhawks have three road games in four weeks in the first half of the year counting the non-conference games.
Kansas State
Number of Big 12 home games: 5
3 Big 12 road games in 4 weeks?: No
Oklahoma
Number of Big 12 home games: 4, but one other game is in Dallas vs. Texas
3 Big 12 road games in 4 weeks?: Not technically, but OU is away from Oklahoma three times in four weeks (at Kansas State, Texas in Dallas, TCU, at Kansas)
Oklahoma State
Number of Big 12 home games: 5
3 Big 12 road games in 4 weeks?: Yes (at Texas, at Iowa State, Kansas, at Texas Tech)
TCU
Number of Big 12 home games: 4
3 Big 12 road games in 4 weeks?: Yes (at Texas Tech, at Oklahoma, West Virginia, at Kansas State)
Texas
Number of Big 12 home games: 4, but one other game is in Dallas vs. Oklahoma
3 Big 12 road games in 4 weeks?: Yes (at Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas and at West Virginia). One other note, the Longhorns are away from Austin four times in five games counting the Oklahoma game, and there’s a week off in there.
Texas Tech
Number of Big 12 home games: 4
3 Big 12 road games in 4 weeks?: Yes. (at Texas, at West Virginia, TCU, at Kansas)
West Virginia
Number of Big 12 home games: 4
3 Big 12 road games in 4 weeks?: No, but three road games in four dates (at Oklahoma, Texas Tech, at Baylor, Off Week, at TCU)
– Who catches the schedule breaks
– One big difference in this year’s slate
– Big 12 schedule winners and losers
NEXT: The non-conference games
3. The non-conference games
It wasn’t a great overall non-conference run for the Big 12 in 2020 – more on that in a moment – and this time around just about everyone has one good game, one easy game, and one light scrimmage. Not everyone, though, is giving its best non-conference effort.
Baylor
Warm: Texas Southern
Warmer: at Texas State
Disco: BYU
Iowa State
Warm: Northern Iowa (although, this might be dangerous)
Warmer: at UNLV
Disco: Iowa
Kansas
Warm: South Dakota
Warmer: at Duke
Disco: at Coastal Carolina
Kansas State
Warm: Southern Illinois
Warmer: Nevada
Disco: Stanford (in Arlington, TX)
Oklahoma
Warm: Western Carolina
Warmer: at Tulane
Disco: Nebraska
Oklahoma State
Warm: Missouri State
Warmer: Tulsa
Disco: at Boise State
TCU
Warm: Duquesne
Warmer: SMU
Disco: Cal
Texas
Warm: Rice
Warmer: Louisiana
Disco: at Arkansas
Texas Tech
Warm: Stephen F. Austin
Warmer: FIU
Disco: at Houston
West Virginia
Warm: Long Island University
Warmer: at Maryland
Disco: Virginia Tech
Now, speaking of non-conference games …
– One big difference in this year’s slate
– Big 12 schedule winners and losers
NEXT: The one big different thing with the 2021 Big 12 season is …
2. The one big different thing with the 2021 Big 12 season is …
There’s a real non-conference schedule, and the Big 12 can’t face-plant this time around.
In the weird 2020 season, every Big 12 team was schedule to play nine conference games with one non-conference date.
Quick – the best Big 12 non-conference win before the bowl season was … ?
Baylor didn’t get a non-conference game, Iowa State lost at home to Louisiana 31-14, Kansas lost at home to Coastal Carolina 38-23, and Kansas State lost at home to Arkansas State by four.
Okay, so someone in the conference had to do something right in non-conference play. Let’s see …
Oklahoma beat Missouri State, Texas Tech slipped past Houston Baptist 35-33, Texas rocked UTEP 59-3, TCU beat a bad Louisiana Tech 52-10, and West Virginia beat Eastern Kentucky 56-10.
Oklahoma State was lousy in a 16-7 win over a Tulsa team that turned out to be great, but that was it. That was the only thing the Big 12 did right in non-conference play. After Oklahoma started 1-2 and Texas went 2-2, that effectively eliminated the Big 12 from the College Football Playoff just as October got started.
This year the Big 12 not only has a normal non-conference schedule, but it has real live games against real live Power Five teams – except for Oklahoma State, who gets a free pass for going to Boise State, and Texas Tech, who gets a participation trophy for Houston being its toughest non-Big 12 game.
Non-conference games are everything to national perception, especially if the big ones are in the first three weeks of the season.
Oklahoma, take out Nebraska with severe prejudice.
Iowa State, do your worst at home against Iowa.
Texas, don’t biff the date at Arkansas, and TCU, go 2018 Cheez-It Bowl on Cal.
Oh yeah, and don’t lose to Louisiana, Texas, and try to finally beat Coastal Carolina for the first time in three years, Kansas.
More than anything else, at least one of the two teams in the Big 12 Championship have to get there with no more than one loss.
– Big 12 schedule winners and losers
NEXT: Big 12 schedule winners and losers
1. 2021 Big 12 schedule winners and losers
Before the fun gets started, the winners and losers in your 2021 Big 12 football schedule are …
Winner: Baylor
There might be a tough date against BYU, but that’s at home and it’s in the middle of the season. The other two non-conference games are against Texas State and Texas Southern and then the Big 12 season starts at Kansas. That’s the other nice part – there are only three other Big 12 road games.
Oklahoma? In Waco. Texas and Iowa State, also Baylor home games. It’s also one of the few Big 12 teams that doesn’t have to go on the road three times in four weeks and doesn’t have back-to-back road games all year.
Loser: Iowa State
There just aren’t any real breaks outside of early October with the Kansas free space followed up by an off week. However, Northern Iowa should be one of the best teams in the FCS, and going to UNLV is a road trip. Iowa State should win both, but they’ll still require effort around the Iowa game.
Oklahoma is on the road at the end of the second run of three road games in four dates. Texas is at home, but that’s sandwiched in between road trips to West Virginia and Texas Tech.
Winner: Kansas State
Playing Stanford in Arlington, Texas isn’t going to be easy, and Nevada is tough, but Kansas State doesn’t have a true road game in non-conference play, and it has only one away game until October 23rd.
There isn’t a three-road-game-in-four-week thing like most Big 12 teams have, Oklahoma and Iowa State are home games, and the date with the Cyclones comes after an off week.
Loser: TCU
The non-conference slate isn’t all that bad – Duquesne, Cal, SMU – and the home game agains Texas means the Horned Frogs don’t leave Fort Worth until October 9th, but …
It seems like they’re not at home the rest of the way.
Five of the last eight games are on the road including a run of three road games in four weeks. To make things worse, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Iowa State are all road games.
Big 12 Schedules, Analysis, Best/Worst Scenarios
Baylor | Iowa State | Kansas | Kansas State
Oklahoma | Oklahoma State | TCU | Texas
Texas Tech | West Virginia
