Where does Big 12 rank in ESPN's initial SP+ projections?
ESPN's SP+ rankings reveal the top college football conferences, with the SEC leading due to its impressive depth.
The release of ESPN's SP+ rankings is an exciting time in the offseason desert that is college football. There are dozens of ways to break down and parse these numbers, which, in broad terms, examine tempo- and opponent-adjusted measures of college football efficiency. Ranking the entire Big 12 , the strength of Colorado's opponents and the best Big 12 games of the year are just a few ways to look at what these rankings mean.
Conference superiority is another way to take a look at these numbers. It is no shock that the Big Ten and SEC are at the top. Those two leagues hold 18 of the top 25 spots in the SP+.
The Big 12 has three teams in the top 25: Texas Tech, BYU and Utah. All four enter 2026 as the conference title favorites. The SEC leads the way as the top overall conference, and it all comes down to its depth.
They have seven of the top 15 teams, with Georgia ranked No. 4. Of the league's 16 teams, 14 rank in the top 50; Mississippi State and Kentucky are the teams on the outside looking in at 52nd and 53rd, respectively.