Big 12 Today

2025 Big 12 Football Preview - Houston; hear from head coach Willie Fritz and interior defensive lineman Carlos Allen Jr. and Cougars play by play man Jeremy Branham joins Ari and James on the outlook for Houston this season. 

2025 Big 12 Football Preview - UCF; hear from Head Coach Scott Frost, RB Myles Montgomery, OL Paul Rubelt and Matt Murschel from the Orlando Sentinel give their Knights breakdown as they join Ari and James on Big 12 Today

Good friend of the program Shehan Jeyarajah from CBSSports.com joins Ari and James on Big 12 Today to talk about his latest article where he and the CBS Sports writers rank the Big 12 football coaches going into the 2025 season. 

Texas Tech's superstar NiJa Canady was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2025 Phillips 66 Big 12 Softball Championship and won the Honda Sport Award for softball. Canady was also a top three finalist for USA Softball Player of the Year and earned multiple First Team All-America honors, including recognition from the NFCA, D1Softball and Softball America. She was named the College Sports Com...

Bill Connelly, ESPN’s staff writer and expert analyst, joins Big 12 Today with Ari Temkin and James Westling to break down conference trends, preview teams, spotlight player development, and dive into data-driven narratives for the upcoming season. He explains his SP+ metric—a combination of offensive, defensive, and special-teams efficiency—and contextualizes it for Big 12...

Big 12 Today with Ari and James Power Rank their Big 12 Football teams post Big 12 Media Days and their random power rank is not so random, rather an ode to the late Ozzy Osbourne who passed away yesterday. The guys list their top five Ozzy Osbourne/Black Sabbath songs.

UCF OL Paul Rubelt had a great time talking with Ari and James to talk about his final season in Orlando. And shed some light into how a German-born, 6-foot, 10-inch bodyframe with no previous football experience before moving to the United States ended up playing football. A truly great story.

UCF head coach Scott Frost joined Ari and James to talk about the differences between stints and to talk about how Orlando has welcomed him and his family "home." After spending a year in the NFL, that time reinvigorated his quest to lead and landed him on familiar ground. 

UCF RB Myles Montgomery sat with Ari and James at Big 12 Media Days and talked about being the featured back in new head coach Scott Frost's offense.

Texas Tech LB Jacob Rodriguez, the preseason pick to be 2025 Defensive Player of the Year and edge rusher Romello Height, a versitile and talented defensive end transfer from Georgia Tech, sat with Ari and James to talk about the upgraded Texas Tech defense and their expectations this coming season.

Texas Tech quarterback Behren Morton and wide receiver Caleb Douglas sat with Ari and James to talk about the Red Raiders offense in 2025. Morton also gave an update on his shoulder injury that occured at the end of last season. 

Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire joined Ari and James on Big 12 Today to talk about the Red Raiders highly ranked portal class—21 new players—to address key needs and raise expectations alongside returning leaders like LB Jacob Rodriguez and QB Behren Morton. McGuire also told the show how fun it is to be in Lubbock with all of the great upgrades of the Womble Football Center.

TCU Head Coach Sonny Dykes joined Big 12 Today with Ari and James to discuss returning a deep team from a nine-win season a year ago. To go along with returning one of the top rated passers in the Conference in Josh Hoover. Dykes also pointed out the importance of being able to run the football effectively. 

TCU quarterback Josh Hoover enters 2025 as a polished offensive leader whose blend of production, unselfishness, and confidence—combined with a stronger defense—makes him a prime candidate to be among the top QBs in the Big 12 and to lead TCU in a title run. Hoover sits with Ari and James to discuss the upcoming season.

Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy joined Big 12 Today and talked about his roster changes and potentially starting multiple quarterbacks during the upcoming season. Gundy also give his thoughts on the ever-changing landscape of college football; from NIL and the house settlement, to the coach's on his staff going into his 21st season at the helm.

Oklahoma State tight end Josh Ford joined Big 12 Today to talk about his second season in Stillwater after playing in all 12 games with 10 receptions for 92 yards and a touchdown—showing his potential early on. 

Kansas State defensive back VJ Payne joined Ari and James on Big 12 Today to talk about following up his performance in 2024. Where Payne ranked second on the team with 64 tackles, added 3.5 TFLs, 2 INTs, 2 forced fumbles, and 6 PDs over 684 defensive snaps. He also talked about adding weight and muscle during the Wildcats offseason workout programs as he looks forward to the upcoming season.

Kansas State QB Avery Johnson joined Big 12 Today to talk about his massive changes to his offseason workouts and gaining muscle going into a pivotal season. Understanding that there are lofty goals that have been set forth, Johnson admits that the goal has stayed the same, "win the Big 12 Championship."

Kansas State Head Coach Chris Klieman joined Big 12 Today to talk about starting the season in Dublin, Ireland against Iowa State and the outlook on the upcoming season. 

Kansas Head Coach Lance Leipold sat with Big 12 Today to talk about the up's and down's of the 2024 season and how his team can bounce back in 2025 given how last season finished. Leipold pointed to that collective resilience as a defining moment of his squad.

Kansas QB Jalon Daniels talked to Big 12 Today about returning for his final season as Jayhawks quarterback and playing for coach Lance Leipold. Ari and James also had some fun suggesting hanging a banner in honor of how many Big 12 Media Day's he's attended. 

Iowa State DL Domonique Orange aka "The Big Juice" sat with Big 12 Today with Ari and James and talked about coming back to Ames for his senior season after receiving some interesting offers. A returning senior standout, Orange notched 24 tackles, 4.5 tackles-for-loss, and 1 sack in 2024, earning honorable mention All-Big 12 honors.

Iowa State Head Coach Matt Campbell joined Ari and James on Big 12 Today to talk about building on his team's success from a season ago; a Big 12 Championship game appearance, finishing with the most wins in a Cyclones football season ever (11) and a bowl game victory. Campbell continues to engrain the core of leadership and chemistry that his program possesses. 

Iowa State QB Rocco Becht sat with Big 12 Today to talk about the upcoming season after he was named All-Big 12 honorable mention in 2024 after throwing for 3,505 yards and 25 TDs, both ranking among the national top 20 while leading the Cyclones to the Big 12 Championship contest a season ago.

Houston Head Coach Willie Fritz sat with Big 12 Today and talked about year two at the helm including new quarterback Connor Weigman "I think he can be a top quarterback in the Big 12… He’s been everything I've hoped he'd be… A great young man, great leadership, abilities."