popular sentiment that plays a role. If Utah, OSU, and KSU had each done well with only 1-2 losses I think the big 12 gets 2 out of those 3 in because they were ranked high enough to start the year that people believed they were good. As it was, BYU, ASU, and ISU were playing well but people thought they were fools gold and would fade—but they never did. By the time it was ending and people realized they’d be the best of the big 12, they weren’t ranked well and there was no public outcry because people never bought into them. CO wasn’t great but the networks did everything they could to get them ranked as high as they could with a straight face just for TV ratings.