jabber is right though in the sense that not everyone will be better.
Team by team look:
Oklahoma State - Worse. Their offense will likely be their worst in years with the loss of their QB and #1 WR even with the Hawaii QB transfer and the blue chip true freshman at QB. Their defense should see an improvement with the implementation of the new, more aggressive defensive coordinator, but any improvement on defense would be unlikely to compensate for the offensive regression.
Oklahoma - Push. They lost their best QB of all time, but, to be fair, they are replacing that QB with a QB that went undefeated during his time as a HS QB, and Riley's innovative play calling in 2017 provides him with the benefit of the doubt that he will scheme up plays to take advantage of the traits of that new QB. However, that being said, the real question for Oklahoma will be how much its defense improves with new schemes, depth from the 2018 recruiting class, and the addition of Bob Diaco.
TCU - Push. They have a lot of turnover, but Patterson has earned the presumption of having TCU playing at a high level, especially on defense, unless proven otherwise as shown by his 3 top 10 AP finishes out of the last 4 seasons. TCU has to break in a new QB starter and has to ensure that the OL is where it needs to be, and neither of those are easy feats for programs that do not recruit at the same level as Oklahoma. The performance of the QB would be worth keeping an eye on as that QB is the first non-transfer QB to start for TCU since the departure of previous co-offensive coordinator Doug Meacham.
Texas - Better. Assuming that the defense should again be at a top 10 or 25 level depending on how it is gauged, the question is whether the offense can finally be cohesive and competitive enough to score on Big 12 conference defenses. More experience with Herman's system should improve the team on that front regardless, but taking that cohesiveness to the next level will be contingent on determining who will effectively call offensive plays and whether the addition of Herb Hand will have a positive effect on the OL.
West Virginia - Better. The combination of the return of both the possibly the best QB in college football and their #1 WR along with their mountain of transfers should have them fielding their best team since they joined the Big 12. Because of the arguable over reliance on transfers and what happened in 2017, the question for WVU is whether they could withstand injuries to players in certain positions and still be able to field a competitive team.
Iowa State - Push. They experienced a few notable losses of players from 2017, but the return of their QB along the entering into year 3 of Campbell's system should continue to have them playing at competitive level. Given what Campbell was able to do in year 2 and how he was able to do it, it seems likely that he will continue to find a way to both put the best players on the field and put those players in the best positions in order for ISU to succeed even if those positions are not the ones that they signed with ISU to play.
Kansas State - Push. Kansas State lost both of its coordinators in the offseason and lost some of its best players on defense, but it Snyder is still coaching and they have solid QB and other offensive depth with experience, and, for Snyder, this would be a push given his history of doing more with less.
Kansas - Push. Everyone knows what this is.
Tech Tech - Better. They should have the most experienced defense in the Big 12, and that is cause for optimism given both their improvement from 2016 to 2017 on defense (124 to 88 according to defensive S&P+) and the media selection of 3 Tech players on the defensive side of the ball in the preseason all Big-12 team. A similar defensive improvement from 2017 to 2018 should have them playing at an competitive level on that side of the ball, but the question is whether Kingsbury can continue his run of good offenses given his limited returning production on offense.
As this moment in time, it looks like 3 betters, 5 pushes, and 1 worse, but, of course, that could always change once the games start and there are results to examine.
