Things are changing in the Big 12 Conference and the first release of ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI) for 2024 indicates as much.
The Big 12 placed three teams in the Top 25, led by No. 15 Kansas followed by No. 22 Kansas State and No. 24 Arizona.
The FPI tries to project every team’s record, odds of winning a conference title and probability of making the College Football Playoff and winning the national championship.
According to the FPI, Kansas has a 17.4 percent chance of winning the Big 12 as the conference shifts to 16 teams by adding Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah from the Pac-12 Conference.
Georgia was No. 1 in the FPI with a 78.7 percent chance of making the playoff and a 21 percent chance of winning the national championship.
Kansas is led by third-year head coach Lance Leipold and are coming off a 9-4 season that ended with the Jayhawks ranked No. 23 in the final Associated Press Top 25 Poll after a win over UNLV in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl.
It was the first winning season for Kansas since 2008 and first time in the final Top 25 poll since 2007.
Kansas opens the season on Aug. 29 at home against Lindenwood, an FCS program.