West Virginia picked 6th, Oklahoma 1st in Big 12 preseason football poll

Jerry Dipaola | Thursday, July 8, 2021 3:51 p.m.

William Wotring | The Dominion

West Virginia’s head coach Neal Brown during the Gold-Blue game April 24, 2021, at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium.

West Virginia was picked to finish sixth and Oklahoma was the choice for the sixth consecutive season to win the conference championship in the Big 12 preseason football poll released Thursday. Voting was conducted among media representatives.

The Sooners topped the preseason rankings for the ninth time since 2011. They have won a record 14 Big 12 championships, including the past six.

Oklahoma received 35 of 39 first-place votes and tallied 386 voting points. Iowa State, last year’s Big 12 runner-up, received the other four first-place votes and finished with 351 points. Texas, Oklahoma State and TCU completed the top five. West Virginia was followed by Kansas State, Baylor, Texas Tech and Kansas.

The top two finishers in the league standings will advance to the Dr Pepper Big 12 Football Championship Game on Dec. 4 in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.