Welcome to our newest feature, which we’re calling “What-If Wednesday.” In this column, I’ll propose a handful of questions that, at this point, have not come to fruition. But IF they do, what will come out of it? What’s the end game?
Join us for this one, and let’s have some fun and talk some Big 12 football.
What If… Big 12 Teams Overlook Kansas Down the Stretch?
Then the Kansas Jayhawks will pick off a couple of teams, no doubt about it. Kansas crushed Houston on Saturday coming off their bye week, and Jalon Daniels finally looks like the quarterback many people expected he would be in 2024. That being said, Daniels struggles on the road, and tends to play much better against lesser competition (which Houston qualifies as), but let’s not forget Kansas led in the second half of each of its five losses this season. So looking at Kansas as a 2-5 team is the wrong way to view it.
Kansas has four games in a row coming up against Big 12 contenders: Kansas State, Iowa State, BYU and Colorado. If any of those four overlook KU, the Jayhawks could put an end to the Big 12 Championship hopes of any of those four.
Proceed with caution.
What If… West Virginia Doesn’t Make a Bowl Game?
Then Neal Brown will be fired as the head coach of the Mountaineers.
There would be no way to justify giving Neal Brown another season, if this team can’t get to bowl eligibility. Some WVU fans feel that no matter what happens the rest of the way, Brown can’t continue on. I don’t think it’s that simple.
West Virginia is 3-4 and needs to go 3-2 in its finals five games to get to bowl eligibility. They still play Arizona, Cincinnati, Baylor, UCF and Texas Tech. Those feel like five coin flip games for the Mountaineers, but none of them feel like “can’t-win” games. WVU is 0-9 under Neal Brown in their last nine games vs. ranked opponents. Right now, none of those teams are ranked, which means they have a chance!
So if Neal Brown can’t win three of those, it would be very hard to justify going into the 2025 football season with him as the head coach.
Related: Neal Brown Shares Who He Thinks is the Best Team in the Big 12
What If… Cincinnati Upsets Colorado?
Then we have to start talking about Cincinnati as a legit threat in the Big 12 Championship race. They would improve to 4-1 in the Big 12 and Colorado would fall to 3-2, given them a leg up over the Buffaloes, one of the other current contenders in the Big 12.
And the schedule is tough, but also breaks very well for Cincinnati as they have games left against Iowa State and Kansas State in Weeks 11 and 12, respectively. That matters because if they could win those games, they would have the tiebreakers over both teams, and have a huge leg up to get to the Big 12 Championship.
It won’t be easy, but Cincinnati remains the team that during this crazy Big 12 season, we likely aren’t talking enough about. And if they beat Colorado on Saturday, it will be long past time to pick up that conversation.
Related: Cincinnati vs. Colorado Kick Off Time, TV Channel Announced
