Week 12 of the 2025 Big 12 football season is wrapped up with six games on the schedule this week. It was the first time in three weeks the Big 12 was not hosting College GameDay, but the league had plenty of big games on the schedule with College Football Playoff implications. And with six games in the books, here are the top five takeaways from Week 12.
Texas Tech Cruises
In a 48-9 win over UCF, the Red Raiders (10-1, 7-1 Big 12, No. 6 CFP) stayed on track for a shot at their first Big 12 championship in their regular-season home finale, reaching 10 wins for the first time since going 11-2 under the late Mike Leach in 2008.
Jacob Rodriguez scored his first offensive touchdown of his career on a two-yard Wildcat run, while also having an interception on the afternoon. His Heisman hype deserves to continue to grow after another strong performance, including a team-best nine tackles on the afternoon.
And thanks to the Texas Tech blowout, Behren Morton was able to rest for the second half after handing the reins to Mitch Griffis. Now, Tech has a bye week before wrapping the season vs. West Virginia. Hopefully this gives Morton time to heal the fracture in his leg.
Utah’s Statement
The Utah Utes probably need to blast their opponents to find their way into the College Football Playoff as a two-loss, at-large pick from the Big 12. Now, they could end up in the Big 12 Championship, but that would require Cincinnati to upset BYU next week to even have that conversation.
But Utah did a heckuva job continuing to build its resume and impress the committee after crushing Baylor 55-28. The Utes racked up 381 rushing yards on 42 carries, with five rushing touchdowns. This team was unbelievable on the ground, while also holding Baylor to 133. Utah did what it needed to do to try and slide up the CFP rankings and maybe make their way into the Playoff, whether they make the Big 12 Championship Game or not.
BYU’s Bounce back
BYU was back home after its first loss of the season vs. Texas Tech, and they took care of business against the TCU Horned Frogs in Provo. And not just taking care of business, but blowing out TCU 44-13. BYU is not a team that typically blows out its opponents, but they did it, and they needed it on Saturday. The gameplan to get freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier back on track after the Tech game was ideal, and he threw for 296 yards, rushing for 59, and combining for two touchdowns. Parker Kingston added 80 yards on five catches. LJ Martin led BYU (9-1, 6-1 Big 12, No. 12 CFP) with 88 yards and a touchdown on the ground. The Cougars scored on their first seven drives and did not punt until the fourth quarter. It was exactly the kind of impressive, bounce-back performance this team needed.
How About Those Wildcats?
Which Wildcats? Well, I’ll talk about them both here, but for different reasons.
Arizona used its top-ranked pass defense to hold Brendan Sorsby in check with only 154 passing yards. And it was great to see this Wildcats offense get Reescano going as the leading rusher with 94 yards on 13 carries with one touchdown. After missing some time due to injury, he had his best game of the season on Saturday in a tough road environment and with the win, Arizona is 7-3 overall and 4-3 in league play as Year 2 continues to look even better under Brent Brennan.
Meantime, the K-State Wildcats looked soulless vs. Oklahoma State in a 14-6 win. Sure, it’s a win, which happens to be Chris Klieman‘s first in Stillwater, but it wasn’t pretty. The Cats were 20-point favorites in the game (I was on OSU, FWIW), and they snuck out with a victory. KSU was actually outgained by 89 yards, but their five forced turnovers, which were the only drives that KSU scored on, turned out to be the difference in this game.
Arizona State Isn’t Done Yet
Arizona State may be without Sam Leavitt, but they’re still in contention to defend their Big 12 Conference title after coming back late to beat West Virginia 25-23 at home. Arizona State gave up two fourth-quarter touchdowns to blow a 12-point lead, but kept its title hopes alive with Gomez’s field goal and Keith Abney II‘s interception with 1:30 left.
And after Jeff Sims ripped Iowa State on the ground last week with nearly 300 rushing yards, he did it mostly with his arm on Saturday, throwing for over 200 passing yards, while rushing for 81 for yards. And most importantly, he didn’t have any turnovers to lead the Sun Devils to a win and keep them in the Big 12 Championship race. They play at Colorado and vs. Arizona State, and need a little help as well to get back to Arlington.
