2023 Big 12 Women's Soccer Preview: Big Challenge for OU in 2023

[OUBeliever56A]

The 2023 Big 12 Women’s Soccer Pre-Season is now completed for all 14 Big 12 Teams. The 2023 pre-season has been very good for the Big 12 teams. The combined pre-season record is 57-31-17. Ten (10) teams have a record of .500% or better. The Big 12 looks to be a strong conference for 2023. But before I look at the 2023 Big 12 play, I will review 2022 results.

Here are the final records of the 2022 Big and four new Big 12 teams

Texas 1st 7-0-2 - overall 15-3-4 – Defeated K-State, Lost to West Virginia in Big 12 Tourney – NCAA Tourney W, L
TCU 2nd 5-1-3 - overall 14-5-5 – Defeated Kansas, OU, Lost to WV for 2nd Place in Big 12 Tourney – NCAA Tourney W, W, L
Texas Tech 3rd 5-1-3 - overall 9-4-6 – Lost to OU in Big 12 Tourney
West Virginia 4th 4-1-4 - overall 11-5-7 – Defeated OSU, Texas and TCU to win Big 12 Tourney – NCAA Tourney W, L
Oklahoma State 5th 4-2-3 - overall 11-4-4 – Lost to WV in Big 12 Tourney
Oklahoma 6th 3-5-1 - overall 9-8-3 – Defeated Tech, Lost to TCU in B 12 Tourney
Kansas 7th 2-5-2 - overall 9-8-3 – Lost to TCU in Big 12 Tourney
Kansas State 8th 2-5-2 – overall 6-10-3 – Lost to Texas in B 12 Tourney
Baylor 9th 2-7 – overall 4-11-2
Iowa State 10th 0-7-2 – overall 3-10-4

Here are the results for the Four new Big 12 Teams:

BYU 6-0-3 – 2nd in WCC conf – overall 11-3-7 – NCAA Tourney W, TW-PK, L
UCF 7-0-1 -1st in AAC conf – overall 9-2-7 – T-Won on PK in AAC Tourney – NCAA Tourney TW-PK, TL-PK
Cincinnati 3-1-4 -3rd in AAC conf – overall 7-3-7 – L in AAC Tourney
Houston 2-4-2 -T7th in AAC conf – overall 6-7-3
The group of 14 teams totaled 6 wins in the NCAA Tourney in 2022. As you can see, the four new teams add 2 very good and 2 good Women’s Soccer Programs to the Big 12 Conference.
= = =

Now back to the 2023 Pre-Season of the 2023 Big 12 Women’s Soccer. As noted above they have a pre-season record 57-31-17 of the 2023 Season. Here are the pre-season standings. (In parenthesis are matches against strong teams or common opponents of interest.)

1. BYU – 7-0 = 14 points (win over UCLA)
2. Houston – 6-1-1 = 13 points (Tied with Washington)
3. Texas – 6-1-1 = 13 points (loss to LSU, Tie Gonzaga)
4. Texas Tech – 6-0-2 = 12 points (Tie and a Win over Arizona State)
5. Oklahoma State – 6-2 = 12 points (Lost to SMU)
6. Kansas - 3-1-4 = 10 points (Ties against Wisconsin, Vanderbilt)
7. Baylor – 4-2-1 = 9 points (Win Oregon, Lost Nebraska and SMU, Tie A&M)
8. UCF – 4-2 = 8 points (Win Purdue, Lost to Georgia, Penn State)
9. Oklahoma – 4-3 = 8 points (Lost to Samford, Gonzaga, Win over ORU) (Lost to Baylor, Nebraska in Exhibition)
10. TCU – 3-3-1 = 7 points (Wins over SMU, A&M, Purdue, Lost to Florida State, Penn State)
11. Iowa State – 3-4-1 = 7 points (Win over Arizona, Lost to Memphis, Kentucky, Iowa)
12. Kansas State – 2-4-2 = 6 points (Tie Northwestern, Lost to Vanderbilt, Nebraska, Memphis, ORU)
13. West Virginia – 2-4-2 = 6 points (Loss to Duke, Penn State, Tie with Auburn)
14. Cincinnati – 1-4-2 = 4 points (Loss to Michigan State, Michigan, Pittsburg)
= = =

As of the September 11th here are the Massey Ratings of the Big 12 Teams.

BYU - #2 - 9.25 - Ranked #1 by United Soccer Coaches
Texas - #16 - 8.50 - Ranked #16 by United Soccer Coaches
TCU - #34 - 8.32 - Received Votes by United Soccer Coaches
UCF - #36 - 8.29
Texas Tech - #37 - 8.26 - Received Votes by United Soccer Coaches
Baylor - #40 - 8.20
Oklahoma State - #51 - 8.04
Kansas - #75 - 7.87
Houston - #76 - 7.86
West Virginia - #91 - 7.78
Oklahoma - #101 - 7.69
Iowa State - #120 - 7.59
Kansas State - #127 - 7.54
Cincinnati - #135 - 7.45

Kansas – RV
= = =

The Preseason Big 12 Coaches Poll had the 14 teams in this order:

School (First Place Votes) Points
1. BYU (6) 156
2. TCU (3) 155
3. Texas (5) 152
4. West Virginia 132
5. Texas Tech 117
6. UCF 115
7. Oklahoma State 100
8. Kansas 83
9. Oklahoma 68
10. Houston 47
11. Baylor 43
12. Kansas State 41
13. Cincinnati 36
14. Iowa State 29
= = =

Based upon the preseason results, TCU might not be as strong as the coaches thought. Baylor might be a bit better, and West Virginia seems to be a mystery to see if they can live up to the 4th place preseason ranking. But the WV preseason schedule has been challenging. Oklahoma State may have had a non-challenging schedule to build their preseason record.

I do think that Oklahoma has a chance to finish higher than the 9th place finish that they have been forecasted. But they will have to play well to do so.

The Top 10 teams in the Big 12 will proceed to the Big 12 Tourney to finish the season. I definitely think the Sooners should make the Big 12 Tourney barring a big injury or two.

The 2023 Schedule is an unbalanced schedule as the Big 12 Teams do not play each team with only 10 conference matches for each of the 14 teams.

Oklahoma plays at home in John Crain Field against Kansas, Kansas State, UCF, Texas and BYU. I think that the Sooners will be hard pressed to have a winning conference record at home in 2023. The matches against texas and BYU look very tough. The two matches against the Kansas teams are key. A 3-2 record at home would be very good for OU.

They play on the road at Houston, Texas Tech, West Virginia, Cincinnati and Oklahoma State. The Sooners could have a wining conference record on the road. Matches at Houston, Cincinnati and one other in what may be an upset on the road would give OU 3 wins on the road.

OU does not play Baylor, Iowa State or TCU. As an Oklahoma fan, it would have been nice to play Iowa State instead of a one of the Kansas teams or maybe Tech or OSU. But that is just be being an OU fan.

Oklahoma does have one non-conference game left on the schedule against Omaha on Sunday the 17th of September.

Here is the Oklahoma Sooner 2023 Schedule for your review:

https://soonersports.com/sports/soccer/schedule

Good luck to the Sooner Women Soccer Team in 2023.

Boomer Sooner!