As we roll into another weekend of college football, one pressing question hangs in the air like a goalpost in a tie game: Will there be any upsets in the Big 12?
This Saturday, No. 9 BYU (8-0), No. 23 Colorado, Utah, West Virginia, Kansas and Cincinnati will bask in the comfort of a bye week, but contenders No. 11 Iowa State will play Texas Tech in Lubbock, and Kansas State visits Houston. In other Big 12 games, Arizona takes on UCF, ASU and Oklahoma State battle, and TCU and Baylor fight over Texas territory.
The Big 12 has flipped the script this season, turning preseason predictions on their heads faster than a quarterback’s scramble.
Who would’ve guessed that BYU, picked to finish 13th, would be sitting pretty at No. 1 in the Big 12? Preseason darling Utah, boasting 20 first-place votes, finds itself languishing at a dismal 1-4, 0 for October. Kansas State — projected to be a contender with 19 first-place votes — sits tied for second at 4-1 alongside Colorado.
And let’s not even talk about Oklahoma State, projected for a top-three finish with 14 first-place votes, now holding the unfortunate title of winless at 0-5 in league play.
It’s utter chaos out there.
But welcome to the era of college football in the age of NIL and the transfer portal, where last season’s triumphs mean as much as yesterday’s newspaper.
Iowa State’s Matt Campbell has his eye on the prize, acknowledging that November is when the rubber meets the road.
“Whether you’re 5-2, 4-3 or 7-0, it kind of goes out the window,” Campbell mused. “You want to be in the mix.”
With his track record, he knows that the teams that thrive in November often find themselves on the doorstep of greatness.
This season has been a roller coaster, with UCF nearly upending an undefeated Iowa State in Ames and BYU snatching victory from the jaws of defeat against a struggling Oklahoma State. The fourth quarter has been a theater of drama, with 17 lead changes in conference matchups and 11 go-ahead scores in the final three minutes.
And then there’s Kansas. Picked to finish fourth, the Jayhawks have found themselves in numerous nail-biters, leading in the fourth quarter of multiple games yet standing at just 2-6. It’s a cruel twist for a team that was expected to contend.
Meanwhile, Kalani Sitake’s Cougars have stunned the experts, leading by at least 21 points in six of their eight victories. With two wins against ranked opponents and a defense that’s denied them a single touchdown, BYU has proven itself the surprise of the year.
As for Utah, if they had managed to score just 24 points in each of their games, they could easily be sitting at 7-1. But as the saying goes, “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.”
So, as we look ahead to this weekend, don’t hold your breath for any surprises. Expect the chalk to hold as the conference battles heat up in November — a month that separates the pretenders from the contenders.
This week’s predictions
- Penn State 31, Ohio State 28
- Miami 28, Duke 21
- Ole Miss 34, Arkansas 24
- Army 38, Air Force 21
- Illinois 37, Minnesota 24
- North Carolina State 21, Stanford 17
- Oregon 34, Michigan 28
- Georgia 37, Florida 31
- Iowa State 28, Texas Tech 24
- Indiana 34, Michigan State 21
- Kansas State 27, Houston 14
- Nebraska 17, UCLA 14
- UCF 24, Arizona 24
- New Mexico 42, Wyoming 34
- Arizona State 35, Oklahoma State 28
- Texas A&M 27, South Carolina 24
- Washington 24, USC 21
- SMU 34, Pittsburgh 31
- Baylor 27, TCU 24
Last week 16-3; overall 117-37 (.759)