You know in June, it is easy to pick a team you like the most for the upcoming Big 12 football season and crown that program as the league’s future champ. It also isn’t very hard to say, “I like so and so to finish fourth, these guys and sixth and that team, yeah, it’s a dead last team for sure.”

But when you go game-by-game/team-by-team/week-by-week and make picks based off of home/away, match-ups, bye weeks and more, things get a little dicey.

That is exactly what I did earlier this week upon returning from the Big 12’s annual media day event in Dallas. As for results, here is what I came up with. I’ll analyze these predictions at the bottom of this page.

1 – TCU, 10-2, (8-1)

LSU – Loss

SE Louisiana – Win

At Texas Tech – Win

SMU – Win

At Oklahoma – Loss

Kansas – Win

At Oklahoma State – Win

Texas – Win

West Virginia – Win

At Iowa State – Win

At Kansas State – Win

Baylor – Win

2 – Texas, 10-2, (7-2)

New Mexico State – Win

At BYU – Win

Mississippi – Win

Kansas State – Win

At Iowa State – Win

(Neutral) Oklahoma – Win

At TCU – Loss

Kansas – Win

At West Virginia – Win

Oklahoma State – Win

Texas Tech – Win

At Baylor – Loss

3 – Oklahoma State, 9-3, (6-3)

Mississippi State – Win

At UTSA – Win

Lamar – Win

At West Virginia – Win

Kansas State – Win

TCU – Loss

At Iowa State – Win

At Texas Tech – Loss

Kansas – Win

At Texas – Loss

Baylor – Win

Oklahoma – Win

4 – Baylor, 9-3, (6-3)

Wofford – Win

Buffalo – Win

ULM – Win

West Virginia – Win

At Kansas State – Loss

Iowa State – Win

At Kansas – Win

Oklahoma – Win

(Neutral) Texas Tech – Win

At Oklahoma State – Loss

At TCU – Loss

Texas – Win

5 – Oklahoma, 9-3, (6-3)

ULM – Win

West Virginia – Win

Tulsa – Win

At Notre Dame – Win

TCU – Win

(Neutral) Texas – Loss

At Kansas – Win

Texas Tech – Win

At Baylor – Loss

Iowa State – Win

At Kansas State – Win

At Oklahoma State – Loss

6 – Kansas State, 7-5, (4-5)

North Dakota State – Win

Louisiana-Lafayette – Win

UMass – Win

At Texas – Loss

At OSU – Loss

Baylor – Win

West Virginia – Win

Iowa State – Loss

At Texas Tech – Win

TCU – Loss

Oklahoma – Loss

At Kansas – Win

7 – Iowa State, 6-6 (3-6)

Northern Iowa – Win

Iowa – Win

At Tulsa – Win

Texas – Loss

At Texas Tech – Loss

At Baylor – Loss

Oklahoma State – Loss

At Kansas State – Win

TCU – Loss

At Oklahoma – Loss

Kansas – Win

At West Virginia – Win

8 – Kansas, 4-8, (2-7)

South Dakota – Win

At Rice – Loss

Louisiana Tech – Win

Texas Tech – Win

At TCU – Loss

Oklahoma – Loss

Baylor – Loss

At Texas – Loss

At Oklahoma State – Loss

West Virginia – Win

At Iowa State – Loss

Kansas State – Loss

9 – Texas Tech 5-7, (2-7)

At SMU – Win

Stephen F. Austin – Win

TCU – Loss

Texas State – Win

At Kansas – Loss

Iowa State – Win

At West Virginia – Loss

At Oklahoma – Loss

Oklahoma State – Win

Kansas State – Loss

(Neutral) Baylor – Loss

At Texas – Loss

10 – West Virginia, 4-8 (1-8)

William & Mary – Win

At Oklahoma – Loss

Georgia St. – Win

(Neutral) Maryland – Win

Oklahoma State – Loss

At Baylor – Loss

Texas Tech – Win

At Kansas State – Loss

At TCU – Loss

Texas – Loss

At Kansas – Loss

Iowa State – Loss

Team that could easily be better than I predicted: West Virginia

I realize that I’m out on an island with this program by picking the Mountaineers last. Having said that, I also fully realize that while I picked WVU to go 1-8 in league play, it’s Dana Holgerson fueled offense could potentially win up to four games in the leagued based off of its schedule. Even so, I’m sticking with my gut on this one. While quality athletes will replace the likes of Geno Smith, Tavon Austin and Steadman Bailey, there is no way the replacements will be as good as the men before them. No way. And add to it, while I believe West Virginia’s defense will improve in 2013, I just don’t see how it improves enough to cover up all of that departed talent on the other end of the ball.

Team that could easily do worse than I predicted: Texas

Based off of recent history, picking Texas at No. 2 in the league is a nerve-racking move. I obviously love Texas’ talent, but I don’t trust its coaching staff as far as I can throw it. Some sort of an intangible has been missing from this program for some time.

Having said that, David Ash is by far the Big 12’s most experienced quarterback. Perhaps this is the year when it all comes together?

Games I had the most trouble picking

Texas Tech at Kansas – I just don’t see how Kansas isn’t substantially better in 2013 than it has been the last two years. I have the Jayhakws winning two league games in 2013 and Texas Tech/West Virginia at home easily make the most sense.

TCU at Oklahoma State – A major swing game within the fight for the Big 12 championship. I went with my champion, TCU, to win in Stillwater. I’m not confident about this pick though.

Oklahoma State at Texas – Another swing game featuring Oklahoma State that will affect the landscape of the Big 12’s championship race. I picked Texas, but I’m even less confident about this than I am the TCU/OSU matchup.

Iowa State at West Virginia – Perhaps this was a bit of a homer pick? We shall see. I’m obviously down on West Virginia and with that, I think that Iowa State will find a way to be better than most people think. Paul Rhoads usually does that. I have Iowa State playing for bowl eligibility in this game. I don’t have that being the case for the Mountaineers. I took the Cyclones but I think we all know this one could go either way.

Why so high on TCU?

1) Gary Patterson is in my opinion, one of the top two to three coaches in the league.

2) TCU’s defense that led the Big 12 in total defense and rush defense while only giving up 22.62 points per game last season returns nine starters. Former Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, Devonte Fields, should only be better as a sophomore.

3) Casey Pachall, who was the nation’s top-rated passer through TCU’s first four games last season (before his arrest), is back and is supposedly a changed man. We’ll see about that but if he is, then watch out.

4) If it doesn’t work out with Pachall, Trevon Boykin might be the best backup quarterback in the league (one of the two OSU guys is in the conversation as well).

5) From Waymon James to Brandon Carter, the pieces are there at key offensive skill positions to give the Horned Frogs more pop in 2013.