The college football season is in full swing and the Big 12 Conference had seven games on the schedule in Week 9. Iowa State and Arizona State were on bye weeks, but the other 14 teams were on the field as conference play wrapped up the month of October.
As has been the case too often this season, there was no 11:00 a.m. CST kick off this week in the Big 12, but once we hit the 2:30 p.m. CST window, we were off to the races with three games underway, and the action wrapped up after midnight in Boulder, Colorado.
Here are the Top 5 takeaways from Week 9 of the Big 12 football season.
Bye Time for BYU
BYU beat UCF 34-27 on Saturday and is 8-0 heading into its bye week and is well positioned to make the Big 12 Championship Game and potentially punch a ticket to the College Football Playoff. It was another game where BYU was the underdog and won the game out right to improve to 7-1 against the spread this season, as they continue to prove the Vegas doubters wrong.
Coming out of the bye week is the renewal of one of the best rivalries in college sports with BYU traveling to Utah for the Holy War. While Utah hasn’t come close to meeting expectations, you never overlook a rival. Then, BYU has Kansas and Arizona State, before wrapping up the season with Houston. Despite not being a Vegas darling this year, BYU should be expected to win each of these games down the stretch.
As long as they don’t spend their two weeks off reading their own press clippings, the Cougars are in an incredible position to make this a historic season in Provo.
Kansas State Does it Again vs. Kansas
The winning streak for K-State over KU is now 16 games, dating back to 2008. And just when it looked like KU might end the skid, while also sinking K-State’s Big 12 title hopes, the Wildcats turn the game around on a big forced fumble against Jalon Daniels with three minutes left in the game. That turnover led to K-State, trailing 27-26 at the time, to take the lead a few plays later on a Chris Tennant 51-yard field goal.
That win keeps Kansas State right in the thick of the Big 12 title race at 4-1 in league play, a game behind BYU at 5-0, and a 1/2 game behind Iowa State at 4-1, while tied with Colorado at 4-1 (although holding the tiebreaker).
And for KU, it remains since the iPhone 3 came out for $199, and T.I.’s “Whatever You Like” was the No. 1 song in America that the Jayhawks have beaten the Wildcats.
Related: Three Biggest Takeaways From Kansas State’s 29-27 Win Over Kansas
TCU and Texas Tech’s Flip Flop
TCU and Texas Tech are two teams trending in the opposite direction after playing each other on Saturday in Fort Worth, where TCU beat Texas Tech 35-34. TCU was 0-2 to start league play, had a bye week, and has now won two in a row vs. Utah and Texas Tech. Meantime, the Red Raiders started off 3-0 and have now lost two in a row to Baylor and TCU. Tech thought it could be a dark horse Big 12 contender, but that looks like a distant memory based on how this team has played the last two weeks, most notably on defense.
One week after giving up 59 to Baylor, they allow TCU to score 35, but it wasn’t just the point total, it was blowing a 31-14 second half lead when TTU had all the momentum. Tech scored a touchdown to start the second half to make it 24-14, then TCU threw an interception, which was followed by another Tech touchdown. 31-14 and all the momentum on the road. But the Horned Frogs put together three-straight touchdown drives of 75, 75 and 89 yards, which lengths of nine plays, six plays and two plays. That’s an abysmal finish for the defense in this game.
Don’t Discount Deion
If you’re still waiting for the other shoe to drop with Colorado, you’ll be waiting a while. This team is the real deal and keeps getting better. Colorado beat Cincinnati 34-23 on Saturday night in Boulder, led by Shedeur Sanders, who went 25/30 for 323 yards and two touchdowns. Travis Hunter had a Heisman-esque game with nine catches for 153 yards and two touchdowns, while finishing with four passes defended on the defensive side. CU was clearly the better team, despite both teams coming in at 3-1 in conference play and looking to get the win to be one of the surprise teams entering November.
Deion has this team getting better every week, most notably in the trenches on both sides, and now they’re 4-1 in Big 12 play heading into the final month of the season and right in the thick of the conference race.
Related: Three Biggest Takeaways From Colorado’s 34-23 Win Over Cincinnati
Oklahoma State Can’t Stop a Nosebleed
For all the talk about the offense being a problem, the defense has been absolutely terrible in Big 12 play, especially against the run. That continued on Saturday in a 38-28 loss to Baylor. Oklahoma State came into this game giving up 298 rushing yards per game over four Big 12 games. That is over 100 yards worse than any other team in the Big 12 through conference play.
Well on Saturday, the Pokes managed to make that average even worse, as they gave up 343 rushing yards to the Bears, Baylor averaged nine yards per carry over 38 carries. Oh, and so we’re on the same page, Baylor wasn’t exactly lighting it up on the ground. They came into the game 11th in Big 12 play, averaging 140 rushing yards per game.
For as much heat as Kasey Dunn is facing, Bryan Nardo should not be far behind based on this team’s defensive performance this season.
