Week 9 brought a little more clarity to the top of the Big 12 standings, but plenty of chaos everywhere else.
Utah left no doubt that it remains the team to beat, going on the road and hammering Cincinnati 49-25 to improve to 8-0 and 5-0 in Big 12 play. Meanwhile, BYU and Texas Tech bounced back from their first losses of the season with important wins to remain right behind the Utes in the conference championship race.
But farther down the standings? Good luck making sense of any of it.
Iowa State stunned No. 24 Oklahoma State in a 51-49 shootout, Colorado finally picked up its first Big 12 win by beating Kansas State in overtime, and Baylor suddenly looks rejuvenated after blowing out UCF in its first game since firing Dave Aranda.
With November here and the Big 12 Championship race entering the home stretch, the contenders are starting to separate themselves from the pack.
Here are the five biggest takeaways from Week 9 in the Big 12.
Utah Is the Team to Beat
Until proven otherwise, the Utah Utes are the team to beat. They steamrolled Cincinnati on Saturday in a game that was never in doubt, while BYU and Texas Tech, despite sitting just one game behind, continue to have question marks and have been much more inconsistent.
The Utes (8-0, 5-0 Big 12) have won 14 straight games, the longest active streak in the FBS and their longest since winning 16 straight from Dec. 20, 2007, to Sept. 12, 2009. The Utes are 8-0 for the first time since 2010 and have won 10 consecutive Big 12 games.
Devon Dampier continues to put together an incredible season at quarterback, throwing for 260 yards and three scores while rushing for another 45 yards. The defense remains stout.
Meanwhile, Texas Tech just made a change at quarterback and has been up and down, while BYU had to hold on against Arizona State and appears to be missing LJ Martin more and more with each passing week.
But, of course, this could all change with Utah and BYU playing on Saturday.
Welcome, Thomas Castellanos
Joey McGuire finally pulled the plug on Will Hammond and handed the keys to his offense to Thomas Castellanos. And it paid off.
Castellanos finished 11-of-24 for 144 yards and two touchdown passes while rushing 19 times for 117 yards and a score. The Red Raiders won the game 34-26 over Arizona, and the running game was the biggest reason why: 47 carries for 328 yards.
If this running game, which we have been waiting to see with consistency this season, shows up the rest of the way, along with a defensive front that got better as the game progressed, Texas Tech is going to be well-positioned to win the Big 12 Conference.
But the Red Raiders can’t afford another slip-up the rest of the way, either.
Iowa State’s Walk-Off Win
Kyle Konrardy made a 34-yard field goal as time expired to give Iowa State a 51-49 victory over No. 24 Oklahoma State on Saturday night. It was a game of big plays for the Cyclones, who snapped a two-game losing streak in which they had scored just 13 points.
But this game was also about an inexcusable defensive performance from Oklahoma State.
The Pokes had deployed a bend-but-don’t-break defense this season. But on Saturday night, it bent, and it broke. Horribly.
Jaylen Raynor was benched last week at Arizona, and he came home and threw for 300 yards against the Cowboys. How does that even happen?
Oklahoma State’s offense did its job, scoring 49 points. Drew Mestemaker threw for 323 yards and five touchdowns. Oklahoma State running back Caleb Hawkins had 194 rushing yards.
But when the Cowboys scored the go-ahead touchdown with less than one minute left, I looked at my dog and said, “That’s too much time.”
The unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the OSU touchdown was unfortunate, but that’s not why the Pokes lost this game. There’s no blaming that call when you give up nearly 600 yards of offense to what has been the worst offense in the Big 12.
Welcome to the Win Column, Coach Prime
Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes got their first Big 12 win of the season on Saturday in overtime against Kansas State. Isaac Wilson found Charlie Williams for a touchdown on third-and-long to win the game in walk-off fashion.
Coach Prime needed this one just to calm — or quiet, for now — some of the doubters. I’m not convinced it changes much about the program or its trajectory, but it’s a win, and you take it and enjoy it.
It was nice to see the Buffaloes put together a semblance of a running game, rushing for more than 200 yards, led by Alabama transfer Richard Young, who rushed 24 times for 120 yards. That’s more carries than he had all season combined entering Saturday. If there’s something there, I hope they lean into it down the stretch.
And Isaac Wilson isn’t elite, but he’s developing in the system and getting better each week.
Defensively, this team can get pressure in the backfield, which it did again on Saturday with five sacks and nine tackles for loss.
Now the question is whether the Buffaloes can parlay this win into another one against a lackluster Arizona State team next Saturday in Tempe.
What Was Lance Leipold Thinking?
Kansas was leading TCU 13-0 on the road with a backup quarterback. The defense was playing great. And on fourth-and-5 with a few minutes left in the third quarter, the Jayhawks decided to go for it from the TCU 40-yard line rather than trying to pin the Horned Frogs deep.
I have no idea what the analytics say to do there. It doesn’t matter.
The way that game was flowing, you punt it.
You’re playing your backup quarterback, Cole Ballard. He had done his part to that point, along with a really strong defensive performance. Instead, Ballard threw a pick-six, the Horned Frogs suddenly had life down 13-7, and they scored on their next drive to take a 14-13 lead.
KU did go back on top 16-14 before TCU scored a touchdown with a minute to play in the game.
But that fourth-and-5 decision completely changed the game, and the decision from Lance Leipold was one of the worst I’ve seen from a Big 12 head coach this season, given the circumstances.
