The Big 12 Conference is passing the halfway point of the season. We now have a good sense of which teams are contenders, semi-contenders and pretends for the back half of the regular season.
Two teams will play in the Big 12 Championship Game in December. That’s what the top teams in the league will be competing for as we head toward Thanksgiving weekend.
Here are five notes going into Week 8, and what they mean.
Note 1: The Undefeated
BYU and Texas Tech are two of the 11 remaining undefeated programs in FBS, while Cincinnati, Houston and Utah give the Conference five teams with one or fewer losses.
What it Means: As I pointed out in Postscripts on Sunday, it matters. Naturally, both want to get to the Big 12 Championship Game, win and claim the automatic berth in the College Football Playoff. Now, one of them will lose a game because they’ll play each other in November in Lubbock. But the race is to get to 10 wins before Arlington. Why? Last year’s at-large playoff selections had 10 or more wins. So, having 10 wins by selection Sunday gets you serious consideration. With six wins at the halfway point in the season, both have a good chance to reach 10 wins by December.
Note 2: The Passers
Baylor (1st), Texas Tech (3rd) and TCU (5th) give the Conference three of the top five teams in FBS in passing yards per game.
What it Means: I guess the Big 12 is a passing league again? But it also lays bare the differences between the three teams. Baylor and TCU have had continuity at quarterback with Sawyer Robertson and Josh Hoover, respectively. Meanwhile, at Texas Tech, Behren Morton has missed parts of two games and has been replaced capably by Will Hammond.
Yet, it’s the Red Raiders that are undefeated and the Bears and Horned Frogs that are sitting on two losses. The difference has nothing to do with the quarterbacks. It has to do with the defenses.
Note 3: Margin of Victory
Texas Tech leads all undefeated FBS teams in margin of victory at 35.3 points per game this season.
What it Means: That’s for the season. Let’s look at the margin in the Red Raiders’ three Big 12 games — 24.3 points per game. So, yes, those non-conference games inflate the margin. But, so far, Texas Tech has been as dominant in Big 12 action as it was in non-conference.
Note 4: BYU Likes to Win
For the first time in program history, BYU has started consecutive seasons 6-0.
What it Means: All those years under LaVell Edwards and the Cougars never started consecutive seasons 6-0? That’s incredible. Edwards, who coached current BYU boss Kalani Sitake, went 257-101-3 from 1972-2000. That included a stretch from 1979-85 in which the Cougars won 10 or more games six out of seven seasons, including the 13-0 national championship season in 1984. The year before the Cougars lost their opener with Baylor. The year after the Cougars lost their second game of the season to UCLA.
For what it’s worth, Sitake is 78-43 going into the Holy War this weekend.
Note 5: Pass Protection
Cincinnati’s offensive line has only allowed one sack this season, the fewest in the FBS. The only other Big 12 teams to allow one or zero sacks through six games of a season were Texas Tech (one in 2008) and Iowa State (zero in 1998).
What it Means: Been trying to figure out why the Bearcats are undefeated in Big 12 play and only one loss on the ledger all season? Well, this is a good indicator. Their ability to protect quarterback Brendan Sorsby has made the Bearcats a potential Big 12 spoiler.
But, for what it’s worth, that Texas Tech team in 2008 finished 11-2 under Mike Leach and that Iowa State finished 3-8. So … there’s that.
