Best College Football Tailgating Experience in the Big 12

Best College Football Tailgating Experience in the Big 12
Fact Checked by Nate Hamilton

Despite the mercury hovering around the triple-digit mark, the 12-week circus that is college football season is drawing nearer by the day, which means that Saturdays are about to get a whole lot more entertaining in places like Lawrence and Manhattan.  

The latter is among the leaders in tailgating among the newly expanded Big 12 Conference, with the Kansas State Wildcats scoring the third most points of any team in the league, behind Pac-12 expats ASU and Utah.  

Weā€™re getting closer to tailgating season for college football fans across the country. BetKansas.com paused Kansas sports betting updates and wanted to know where the best tailgating experiences are out of the Big 12 Conference. Using StadiumJourney.com, and Sports-Reference.com, we factored in food and beverage, atmosphere, fans, return on investment, and overall records in our scoring system to find the top 10 campuses for college football tailgating in the Big 12. 

Top 10 Big 12 Tailgating Experiences

You won't find this info on Kansas Sports betting apps, but it will surely guide you if you're planning a trip to any of these venues. 

Rank 

Team 

Total Score 

Arizona Sun Devils 

233 

Utah Utes 

232 

3 

Kansas State Wildcats 

222 

Oklahoma State Cowboys 

204 

TCU Horned Frogs 

193 

Colorado Buffaloes 

191 

 7 

UCF Knights 

185 

Texas Tech Red Raiders 

183 

 9 

West Virginia Mountaineers 

173 

 10 

Arizona Wildcats 

171 

Where K-State Ranks in the Big 12

Of the top 10 teams in the expanded Big 12 sphere, K-Stateā€™s score of 222 points ranked third overall, behind ASUā€™s total of 233 points and Utahā€™s sum of 232 points and ahead of Oklahoma Stateā€™s 204.  

The bottom of the leagueā€™s top 10 includes schools like Arizona, which finished with 171 points, while West Virginia (173 points), Texas Tech (183 points), UCF (185 points), Colorado (191 points) and TCU (193 points) rounded out the upper end of the conferenceā€™s tailgating list.  

Of the six schools that didnā€™t make the top 10 in the expanded Big 12, Kansas and their newly revived football program did not make the cut, joining schools like Baylor, BYU, Cincinnati, Iowa State and Houston.  

At least KU football fans can take credence in the fact that oddsmakers at FanDuel Sportsbook list the Jayhawks just behind their Sunflower State rivals when it comes to Big 12 championship odds, with KU coming in at +850 (third overall) to K-Stateā€™s +350 (second overall behind Utahā€™s +290).  

The two sides will have a shot at settling their scores when the two Kansas programs meet in the Little Apple on Oct. 26, as KU looks for their first win in the series since 2009.

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Author

Christopher Boan

Christopher Boan is a lead writer at BetKansas.com specializing in covering state issues. He covered sports and sports betting in Arizona for more than seven years.

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