Week 5 of the 2026 Big 12 football season is officially in the books, and it was a huge weekend across the conference. Baylor dominated Arizona State, Arizona stunned Cincinnati, BYU remained unbeaten with a road win over TCU, Texas Tech pulled away from Colorado and Houston completed a massive comeback against UCF. The action started early Saturday and didn’t wrap up until late Saturday night in Tucson.
Here is the Good, Bad and Ugly from Big 12 football in Week 5.
The Good
Kansas (Beat Middle Tennessee 55-0)
This was the only nonconference cupcake game of the weekend in the Big 12, and to Kansas’ credit, the Jayhawks took care of business. While the defense looked great and didn’t give up a single point, this game was all about the offense.
Kansas put up more than 700 yards of offense, with 480 of those yards coming on the ground. Dylan Edwards rushed for more than 100 yards and three scores, while Isaiah Marshall also used his legs to rush for 100-plus yards. It truly felt like Kansas took out all of its frustrations from the last couple of games on the Blue Raiders because this was an absolute beatdown.
Houston (Beat UCF 27-17)
The Cougars had me worried in the third quarter when they were down 17-0 and given less than a 10% chance to win the game. While the offense was able to move the ball in the first half with some long drives, Houston failed to make anything out of them.
But when the Cougars needed it most, the defense came up with a turnover and the offense turned it into seven points. From that point on, Houston played like itself. The defense didn’t allow a single point the rest of the way, while Connor Weigman used his legs to rush for three touchdowns in the final 20 minutes as Houston completed the comeback and outscored UCF 27-0 over the final quarter and a half.
My only gripe? The lackluster Houston Cougars crowd.
Iowa State (Beat West Virginia 45-42)
While I expected a low-scoring, low-possession game, I certainly didn’t expect a shootout to break out in Ames.
Sure, Iowa State’s defense needs to work on plenty, including its tackling, but the good news is the Cyclones have Aiden Flora, who stole the show. Flora accounted for five total touchdowns on the day, including two passing scores — and he’s not even a quarterback.
This was by far Iowa State’s best offensive performance of the season, as the Cyclones racked up more than 575 yards of offense. Also, I think it’s time to start talking about Aiden Flora when it comes to the Big 12 Player of the Year conversation.
BYU (Beat TCU 17-10)
For as good as I think BYU is, I thought the Cougars’ performance was a little like the weather in Fort Worth: sloppy.
The offense didn’t do a whole lot, but it didn’t have to because the defense was spectacular against a bad TCU offense. BYU won the field-position battle, and with the defense playing so well, the offense just had to do enough to win the game. Now we just need to keep an eye on the LJ Martin injury.
Texas Tech (Beat Colorado 29-7)
Don’t let the score fool you: this game was much closer than the final scoreboard indicated. Texas Tech was actually down 7-3 at halftime after yet another slow start by the Red Raiders.
Luckily for them, their defense continues to play lights out and even scored a touchdown to put Texas Tech up by two scores in the fourth quarter. Eventually, the offense got going and created some separation.
At some point, these slow starts could come back to haunt the Red Raiders. But for now, Texas Tech remains undefeated.
Baylor (Beat Arizona State 55-19)
What a win for Baylor down in Tempe on Saturday night.
DJ Lagway had his best game of the season with 306 yards and five total touchdowns, while the running game was rolling as the Bears finished with 244 yards on the ground.
Throw in the defense’s performance, and Baylor was not going to be denied. Time and time again, the Bears’ defense would bend but rarely break.
This was Baylor’s best game of the season, and at 4-1, look out. The Bears’ next three games are against TCU, Kansas and UCF.
Arizona (Beat Cincinnati 34-7)
Despite Noah Fifita not lighting up the stat sheet or having to carry the offense, the Wildcats still managed to put up 34 points against a respectable Cincinnati defense.
It helped that Arizona rushed for 238 yards and controlled the game from start to finish. By the end of the third quarter, this one was essentially over.
Credit Arizona’s defense, too, for completely shutting down Cincinnati’s powerful rushing attack and forcing the Bearcats to throw the football.
The Bad
UCF (Lost to Houston 27-17)
I would like to commend UCF for the effort it showed in Houston on Saturday afternoon. At one point, the Knights were up 17-0 in the third quarter, and then disaster struck as Keyone Jenkins went down with an injury.
After the turnover and injury, nothing went UCF’s way. The Knights were outscored 27-0 in less than 20 minutes of game time.
If Jenkins doesn’t go down, I wonder how this one turns out for UCF. But now the Knights have already been forced to use three quarterbacks this season.
West Virginia (Lost 45-42 to Iowa State)
As much as I liked the offensive performance from Michael Hawkins Jr. and Cam Cook, it wasn’t enough to overcome another bad defensive performance from the Mountaineers.
Iowa State ran for nearly 300 yards and piled up more than 575 yards of offense Saturday in Ames.
Until West Virginia gets its defense fixed, the Mountaineers will continue to find themselves in these types of high-scoring games, which is going to put a ton of pressure on the offense to deliver week in and week out.
TCU (Lost 17-10 to BYU)
I feel bad for TCU’s defense because it seems like every week it plays well enough to win games, only for the offense to let it down.
That was the same story Saturday night.
The Horned Frogs’ defense did a nice job keeping them in the game, but the offense just couldn’t put anything together. They can’t run the ball, and Jaden Craig isn’t the answer at quarterback.
I even saw some fans in Fort Worth wearing brown paper bags over their heads.
The Ugly
Colorado (Lost 29-7 to Texas Tech)
I know the game was closer than the final score, but that doesn’t change the fact that Colorado’s offense is hard to watch.
The Buffaloes made the switch to Isaac Wilson, but it didn’t matter. Colorado turned the ball over four times, and Wilson was responsible for three of them, including a pick-six.
This Colorado team reminds me a lot of TCU. The defense keeps the Buffaloes in games, while the offense does almost nothing to help.
Arizona State (Lost 55-19 to Baylor)
There aren’t many times in the Kenny Dillingham era when I’m left speechless, but I certainly was after this one.
It seemed like nothing went right for the Sun Devils on Saturday night in front of their home crowd. While the offense could move the ball, Arizona State struggled to punch it into the end zone and repeatedly settled for three.
It also doesn’t help when you turn the ball over three times and your defense has no answer whatsoever for Baylor’s offense.
It was one of Arizona State’s worst losses since joining the Big 12.
Cincinnati (Lost 34-7 to Arizona)
Just when I started to jump on the Cincinnati bandwagon, the wheels completely came off.
The running game was never there, as the Bearcats finished with just 74 yards on the ground. And because of the score, JC French was forced to throw the ball nearly 30 times, which is not the formula Cincinnati wants.
To make matters worse, Arizona beat Cincinnati at its own game by rushing for more than 230 yards and controlling the clock.
I know traveling west can be tough, but this was an ugly loss for Cincinnati.
