Week 5 of the college football season is officially in the books as it was another monumental weekend for the Big 12. The action started on Saturday morning in Manhattan, Kansas and ended late Saturday night in Salt Lake City.
Here is the good, bad, and ugly from Week 5 in the Big 12.
The Good
Powerful Rushing Attacks
There were three teams who got the job done on the ground on Saturday. Kansas State ran for a whopping 300 yards against Oklahoma State. DJ Giddens led the way for the Wildcats with 187 yards and a score while Avery Johnson added two more rushing touchdowns as well. I was extremely impressed with the way they controlled the game on the ground.
Meanwhile, Iowa State rushed for 240 yards against the Cougars down in Houston. Abu Sama III led the way thanks to his big 77-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter and Jaylon Jackson has some juice as well. The Cyclones won that game thanks to their ground game and great defense.
Later in the evening, Texas Tech’s Tahj Brooks had a monster game against Cincinnati. Brooks had 32 carries for 172 yards and two touchdowns. He also averaged 5.4 yards per carry, which is why Texas Tech kept feeding him the football. He is the engine of this Red Raider offense.
BYU Survived
After going up 21-0 in a hurry, BYU started to get a little complacent. The Cougars ended up getting outscored 28-14 after their three-touchdown lead but luckily, they were able to hold on late. BYU made some costly mistakes later in the game between turnovers and penalties and it got a little too close for comfort when Baylor had a chance to tie the game. But in the end, BYU got the win and move to 5-0 for the first time since 2008.
Welcome Back Arizona
The last time we saw the Wildcats, they were getting blown out by Kansas State. But that team seems like a distant memory after Saturday night. Arizona’s defense completely shut down Utah’s rushing attack, and as crazy as it sounds, the Wildcats outrushed the Utes 169 to 84. Between the lockdown defense and Noah Fifita making some incredible throws, I was extremely impressed with the way Arizona handled itself in a tough environment.
Colorado is Better Than We Thought
I know everyone loves to hate on this team, but they were picked to finish eleventh in the Big 12 preseason poll. Call me crazy but they don’t look like the eleventh best team to me. On Saturday, I saw a physical football team which is something I hadn’t seen from them all season. They were dominant up front on the offensive line, and I thought their defense did an excellent job of slowing down UCF’s offense outside of one busted play. We already know this team is talented at the skill positions with guys like Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter (who should be the Heisman favorite) but when they put it all together like they did against UCF, watch out because this team can compete with anyone.
TCU Stayed Alive
Out of all the teams in the Big 12, the one team I can’t quite put my finger on is TCU. One week the Horned Frogs look great, they next, they look terrible and the week after they look to be somewhere in the middle. The one thing I do know is that Josh Hoover is capable of keeping this team in games, but he has to stop turning the football over. If he can do that, then TCU can stay in the Big 12 title hunt.
The Bad
Costly Mistakes
The Bearcats played extremely well offensively on Saturday and Brendan Sorsby is without question the guy for Cincinnati at quarterback after tossing four touchdown passes. But the problem on Saturday night was the mistakes by the Bearcats. The offense had a costly fumble coming out of halftime that cost them six and in the fourth quarter, Sorsby threw a pick six. Between those two turnovers and the lack of stopping Tahj Brooks, that is why Cincinnati couldn’t quite get the job done.
Another team that shot themselves in the foot at times was UCF. The Knights turned the ball over four times and had seven penalties in their ugly loss to Colorado. KJ Jefferson didn’t play his best and those turnovers were just absolute drive killers. It also didn’t help that their defense couldn’t get off the field on third down and the fact that they got pushed around up front.
Where Does Kansas Go from Here?
I know they just lost to TCU, but I wanted to focus on the big picture here for a bit. The Jayhawks are now sitting at 1-4 on the season and once again quarterback Jalon Daniels was underwhelming. Daniels completed just 44% of his passes and had less than 200 passing yards. Forget about Arlington because if this team loses to Arizona State on the road next weekend, they would be 1-5 and their chances of making a bowl game would be next to none.
Utah’s Offense
I know that Utah’s offense looks a lot different without Cam Rising but until he is healthy, they need Isaac Wilson to be a game manager. Unfortunately for them, he didn’t do that well on Saturday night. Wilson completed just 50% of his passes and threw two interceptions. Without a stable run game, this team is going to be in trouble until Cam Rising comes back.
The Ugly
Oklahoma State
I am not sure what to think of this team anymore. Usually, it’s the offense who leaves me wanting more and on Saturday, it was on both sides of the ball. The defense gave up 300 yards on the ground against Kansas State and they let Avery Johnson pick them apart as well. As for the offense, they look like a shell of themselves from a year ago. Ollie Gordon III is almost nonexistent out there and Alan Bowman has regressed tremendously. I think it’s time to shake things up with this team especially offensively. Maybe it’s time to see if someone else can get the job done at quarterback and offensive coordinator.
Houston’s Offense
If you are wanting to torture someone for 60 minutes, I would suggest making someone watch Houston’s offense. While they can run with their two quarterbacks, that is literally all they can do. After being shutout (34-0) against Cincinnati last weekend, they were shutout once again on Saturday (20-0) against Iowa State. As crazy as it sounds, this offense hasn’t scored a single point in their last 127 minutes of football.
Dave Aranda
There is no need to talk about the game since Baylor lost and the big storyline in Waco has now shifted to Dave Aranda’s job status. In his last 14 conference games, Aranda is 2-12 and is 3-16 in his last 19 games against FBS opponents. This program has been going in the wrong direction ever since he won a Big 12 title back in 2021. It’s not a matter of if a change will happen but a matter of when a change will happen. Wake up Baylor and move on.
