Sooners overwhelming preseason pick to repeat as Big 12 champs
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}STILLWATER, OK - NOVEMBER 28: Quarterback Baker Mayfield #6 linebacker Eric Striker #19 and head coach Bob Stoops of the Oklahoma Sooners pose with the Big XII Championship trophy after defeating the Oklahoma State Cowboys on November 28, 2015 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma. (Photo by Jackson Laizure/Getty Images)
IRVING, Texas (AP) -- Oklahoma is the overwhelming preseason pick to win another Big 12 title.
With quarterback Baker Mayfield among seven returning starters on offense, the Sooners got 24 of 26 first-place votes in the preseason media poll released Thursday.
TCU got the other two first-place vote and was picked second, followed by Oklahoma State, Baylor and Texas. Texas Tech, West Virginia, Kansas State, Iowa State and Kansas rounded out the poll.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Sooners last year won their record ninth Big 12 championship, all in coach Bob Stoops' 17 seasons, and made it into the College Football Playoff.
Mayfield was the Big 12's offensive player of the year last season, and has been tabbed as the preseason offensive player of the year. He threw for 3,700 yards and 36 touchdowns last season.