The following is a brief preview of a few of the top contenders to win the Big 12 this season as well as Bovada's futures odds for all the teams in the conference.

Oklahoma Sooners

• Odds to win the Big 12 Championship 2/3
• Odds to win a National Championship 10/1

Oklahoma has a long tradition of winning in the Big 12 and the combination of solid experience and a veteran head coach in Bob Stoops is always a recipe for success. It also helps when you come into a new season with nine starters back on a defense that is projected to be one of the best in the nation. The team also returns seven starters on an offense that averaged 32.8 points a game last year.

The expectation level for quarterback Trevor Knight remained pretty low heading into the 2013 season and his performance as a starter in several games last season did little to dramatically raise the bar. That all changed when he lit up Alabama in the Sugar Bowl for 348 yards passing and four touchdowns in a 45-31 upset that had the Sooners listed as prohibitive 17-point underdogs. Also back is wide receiver Sterling Shepard, who was second on the team last year in receptions with 51 for 603 yards.

Baylor Bears

• Odds to win the Big 12 Championship 11/4
• Odds to win a National Championship 28/1

Everyone expected Baylor to be an offensive powerhouse when Robert Griffin III was the team's starting quarterback a few years back, but with an up-tempo, fast paced system in place under head coach Art Briles, the Bears finished the 2013 season ranked sixth in the nation in passing with 259.1 yards a game and first in the country in scoring with 52.4 points a game. The quarterback behind all of this production was Bryce Petty with 3,844 yards passing and 30 scoring strikes.

Petty is back for another season as part of six returning starters from last year's offense. Also back are wide receivers' Antwan Goodley and Corey Coleman. Goodley led the Bears with 71 receptions for 1,339 yards and 13 touchdowns and Coleman added another 35 catches for 527 yards. Baylor will have a number of new faces on defense with just four starters back from last season. Middle linebacker Bryce Hager returns to anchor the front seven and cornerback Terrell Burt is the lone starter returning in the secondary.

Texas Longhorns

• Odds to win the Big 12 Championship 6/1
• Odds to win a National Championship 50/1

The long tradition of winning programs at the University of Texas has lost some its shine in recent years with less than 10 wins in each of the last four seasons. The Mack Brown era has given way to new head coach Charlie Strong and this change as the top has brought a renewed sense of optimism in Austin that this year's squad can legitimately compete for a Big 12 title. The Longhorns will first have to address an offense that was ranked 66th in the nation in scoring (29.3 points per game) as well as a defense that allowed an average of 25.8 PPG.

David Ash appears to be the incumbent as the team's starting quarterback, but the arrival of freshman Jerrod Heard has some Texas fans thinking that the high-school phenom might be able to work his way to the top of the depth chart sometime this season. Texas should still have a solid running game in place with the return of both Malcolm Brown and Johnathan Gray. These two combined for 1,684 rushing yards last season while each averaged over four yards a carry. The Longhorns return a number of starters on defense including preseason All-Big 12 defensive tackle Malcom Brown.

The Rest of the Big 12

Oklahoma State and Kansas State each have the fourth-best odds to win the conference at 10/1 and TCU is next on the list at 15/1. From there we are left with the longshots starting with Texas Tech at 33/1 followed by West Virginia at 66/1. Iowa State and Kansas have the longest odds to win the Big 12 this season at 100/1.