Week 1 of the Big 12 Football season is officially in the books, as it was a big weekend for the conference. The action started on Thursday night in Orlando and ended Saturday night in Tempe.
Week 1 gave us plenty to digest across the conference, and we broke down the biggest takeaways from the Big 12’s opening weekend as the league finished with an impressive overall showing.
Here are the good, bad, and ugly from Week 1 in the Big 12.
The Good
Colorado (Beat Georgia Tech 14-13)
I won’t dive too much into this one since I already shared my thoughts from this game on Friday morning, but it still deserves its own space here. Colorado looked much improved up front; in fact, I thought they outplayed Georgia Tech in their own game by dominating the line of scrimmage.
Even though I still worry about the offense, Julian Lewis made the throw of the game, hitting Charlie Williams to take the lead with less than a minute to play. If Colorado can figure the offense out, then they will be a force to be reckoned with in the Big 12.
Cincinnati (Beat Boston College 34-15)
Much like Colorado, Cincinnati deserves a little praise, too. I didn’t think they would beat Boston College by nearly 20, but they did. JC French IV didn’t have to do much in this game with his arm thanks to the rushing attack as the Bearcats ran over the Eagles with 254 yards on the ground. Gi’Bran Payne led the way with 108 yards while French added three rushing scores of his own. And with the defense playing well, there was no denying Cincinnati on Saturday.
The Wins
I wanted to include everyone else on this list, but since there are so many cupcake games and no other Power Four wins, I decided to group them together.
Devon Dampier lit up Idaho in their 66-14 win on Thursday night as the Utes racked up over 600 yards of offense, including 364 rushing yards. Also on Thursday, UCF ran over Bethune-Cookman with 360 rushing yards in their 73-6 win. On Friday night, we saw the debut of Isaiah Marshall as the Jayhawks took care of Long Island 51-6.
And then came Saturday, which was full of blowouts. Texas Tech beat Abilene Christian 33-10 thanks to Will Hammond, while on the other side of the state, Houston beat Oregon State 33-20 as Connor Weigman threw for over 300 yards.
Heading east, West Virginia squeaked by Coastal Carolina 31-24 as the Mountaineers ran for 281 yards. Avery Johnson tossed three touchdown passes in Kansas State’s 71-3 win over Nicholls. Iowa State’s defense looked good against SEMO, and Jaylon Raynor threw two touchdown passes in their 38-10 win.
Off to the west now, BYU put a beatdown on Utah Tech 63-7 as Bear Bachmeier threw a trio of touchdowns. Then heading to the state of Arizona, we saw Cutter Boley toss six touchdown passes in Arizona State’s 70-7 win over Morgan State, while Arizona’s defense looked great against Northern Arizona in their 35-7 victory.
The Bad
Baylor (Lost 17-16 to Auburn)
I will give Baylor credit because I didn’t really give them a chance to win this game, and they were one foot away from securing an upset of Auburn. The defense looked better, and despite giving up nearly 400 yards, they allowed only 17 points. They certainly played well enough to win the game.
However, the offense was a different story at times. While they managed 436 yards of offense, they failed to turn it into much. Outside of that final drive, they just couldn’t capitalize and turn it into points. DJ Lagway showed flashes at times but also showed inconsistencies.
When Baylor scored late, I didn’t mind them going for two with less than 15 seconds left. It was aggressive, and that’s something I haven’t seen much from Dave Aranda. Unfortunately, they couldn’t convert.
The Ugly
Oklahoma State (Lost 24-10 to Tulsa)
For a team that had plenty of hype this offseason, it feels like all of that positivity died in Tulsa on Saturday afternoon. Drew Mestemaker looked nervous, and the offense never really made explosive plays. Plus, the offensive line didn’t look great either. Outside of the defense, there wasn’t much to like about the Cowboys’ performance. At the end of the day, you can’t turn the ball over four times, score just ten points, and expect to beat many teams, even against a team like Tulsa, whom they have lost to in back-to-back seasons.
