For 15 of the Big 12’s 16 teams, this weekend is their first opportunity to play someone other than their teammates in the last nine months.
All that practice, all that hard work in the hot summer sun has set them up to begin their campaigns to try and reach the Big 12 Championship game in December in Arlington. Some teams have better shots than others.
But this is the Big 12. After all, the team perceived as the last-place team in the conference won it two years ago.
Here are our Top 5 questions going into the weekend.
Will a Big 12 Team Lose to an FCS Team?
Many week one games feature Big 12 teams looking for that easy win over an FCS team. This year is no exception.
UCF will host Bethune-Cookman and Utah will host Idaho on Thursday. Kansas hosts LIU on Friday. Iowa State will host Southeast Missouri, Kansas State will host Nicholls, Texas Tech will host Abilene Christian, BYU will host Utah Tech, Arizona will host Northern Arizona and Arizona State will host Morgan Start on Saturday. You get the idea. Some call them “money games.” I call them “happy meal” games because they’re designed to send the crowd home happy.
But sometimes they backfire. The question is whether any of these games will backfire on Big 12 teams this weekend? I have a hard time seeing it. But two intrigue me. Bethune-Cookman is catching UCF as it tries to break in a new but experienced quarterback. Same for Southeast Missouri at Iowa State. I still think it’s far-fetched. But those are the two games I worry just a little bit about.
How Will Big 12 Teams Fare Against Power Conference Teams?
The Big 12 has only a smattering of games against power conference teams.
Colorado traveled and won at Georgia Tech on Thursday. Baylor will play Auburn in Atlanta on Saturday. Boston College will be in Cincinnati. Oregon State is at Houston, but we can’t really call the Pac-12 a power conference anymore.
Both Baylor and Auburn are dealing with plenty of unknown and coming off losing seasons. BC went 2-10 last year and the Bearcats are coming off a winning season and a bowl game.
If I’m ranking them by confidence level, it’s Cincinnati before Baylor. A 2-1 weekend against the power leagues would be a solid boost for the Big 12 after TCU’s loss to North Carolina.
Can the Big 12 Avoid a Group of 6 Upset?
A few Big 12 teams are playing G-6 schools this weekend. I already mentioned Houston. But West Virginia is going to host Coastal Carolina and Oklahoma State is going to Tulsa.
Houston beat OSU on the road last year, though it was a nail-biter, and has plenty coming back from last year’s team. Plus, an 11 a.m. start time in Houston in September is just wrong. Coastal Carolina is consistently good and coming off a bowl season. Tulsa went 4-8 last year but scored a massive upset over Oklahoma State in Stillwater in Week 3 that led to Mike Gundy’s firing.
WVU is the game I’m worried about. The Mountaineers should be breaking in a new quarterback and a brand-new defense. Coastal is just good enough to make that work for them.
Will the New QBs Shine?
Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark called the league the “Conference of Quarterbacks” at media days. And while there are great holdover passers from a year ago, there are a ton of new players to the league or to being the opening-night starter
That includes UCF’s Alonza Barnett III (new to Big 12), Colorado’s Julian Lewis (new opening-night starter), Kansas’ Isaiah Marshall (new opening night starter), WVU’s Michael Hawkins (new to Big 12), Iowa State’s Jaylen Raynor (new to Big 12), Baylor’s DJ Lagway (new to Big 12), Cincinnati’s JC French IV (new to Big 12), Oklahoma State’s Drew Mestemaker (new to Big 12), Texas Tech’s Will Hammond (new opening-night starter) and Arizona State’s Cutter Boley (new to Big 12).
The good news is all these quarterbacks have some level of experience in college football. Most of them have started at other programs. But as much as Yormark wants to brand the league as the “Conference of Quarterbacks,” he needs some of these new starters to put up big numbers in Week 1.
Who Has the Best Head-Coaching Debut?
The offseason led to three head-coaching changes. Morgan Scalley leads Utah after serving for more than a decade as Kyle Whittingham’s right-hand man in Salt Lake City. Whittingham’s exit wasn’t clean and Scalley has never been a head coach. Jimmy Rogers takes over at Iowa State for Matt Campbell. He won a national title at South Dakota State and is 33-9 for his three-year head-coaching career, including a 6-6 year at Washington State in 2025.
Oklahoma State’s Eric Morris takes over for Mike Gundy, who led the Cowboys for two decades. Morris played and coached at Texas Tech and is entering his eighth year as a head coach with a record of 46-34. His 11-2 season at North Texas helped him get the job.
All three have big shoes to fill. Whittingham built Utah into a Pac-12 champion. Campbell turned the Cyclones into perennial winners. Gundy took the Cowboys to 18 straight bowl games. Who gets off to the best start should be a story to watch this weekend.
