Jul. 8—There hasn’t been a good track record for teams that have been picked as the preseason favorite to win the Big 12 conference.

Of course, that doesn’t hold true for the team in Norman. Six out of the nine times the Sooners have been voted atop the Big 12 Preseason Poll since the conference switched from a divisional format, they went on to claim at least a share of the title.

But the other three teams that have gotten that honor are a combined 0-3 in their attempts to win a conference championship. Last season, Baylor, riding the momentum of its 2021 conference title, was the preseason pick by media representatives, before falling to the middle of the pack by the end of the season after going 4-5 in conference play.

Before that, the last team not named Oklahoma to be picked to win the conference was TCU in 2015.

That team remained among the top of the conference standings by the end of the season, but lost to Oklahoma State and Oklahoma to miss a shot at the championship game.

It wasn’t much different for the Cowboys in 2013, who went into the final week of the regular season playing for a shot of the conference title, but lost to the Sooners at home. With their second loss in conference play, Oklahoma State had to watch Baylor, a team they beat the week before, secure the title.

Now Texas becomes the fifth team to join the list since 2011, and will look to put an end to the recent trend with its first conference title since 2009.

The Longhorns weren’t a unanimous choice, but did receive most of the firstplace votes (61%). The Longhorns finished third in the conference standings last season with losses to Oklahoma State, TCU and Texas Tech.

Even with the departure of some big names like star running back Bijan Robinson, the Longhorns return several key starters from last season like Quinn Ewers, Xavier Worthy, Jaylan Ford and Byron Murphy II.

They also signed the No. 3 recruiting class in the country according to 247Sports’ 2023 Team Rankings. Though Texas has often been near the top of the recruiting rankings in recent years, much of the excitement surrounding this class in particular comes from the signing of five-star quarterback Arch Manning.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said after the Longhorns’ spring game that Ewers will be the starter this season, but it will likely continue to be a talking point at next week’s Big 12 media days.

Sarkisian, who started his coaching career as a quarterbacks coach, has had to answer questions about the starting quarterback position in each of the three offseasons since he’s been with the program.

In 2021, Sarkisian picked Houston Card as the starter over Skyler Thompson the Monday before the team’s first game of the season, but was replaced by Thompson as the starter before the end of the season. Last season, Ewers was given the job over Card just a few weeks before the season started, but the redshirt freshman battled through injuries throughout the season.

This season, the third-year head coach seems confident about who will be lining up under center when the Longhorns open the season against Rice on Sept. 2.

Texas will need stability at the quarterback position with a tough early-season schedule in 2023-24. It faces Alabama on the road in the second game of the season before opening up Big 12 play on the road against Baylor.

The Longhorns will also be on the road to face Houston, TCU and Iowa State with Kansas, BYU, Kansas State and Texas Tech all coming to Austin.

Texas will participate in Wednesday’s session of Big 12 media days. The Sooners will speak to the media on Thursday.

The two-day event will be televised on ESPNU and ESPN+.