Week 9 brought a little bit of everything to the Big 12.
Utah continued to look like the team to beat in the conference with a dominant road win over Cincinnati, while Texas Tech bounced back from its first loss with an important Top 25 victory over Arizona. BYU survived another scare, Iowa State and Oklahoma State combined for 100 points, and Colorado finally found the win column in Big 12 play.
Then there was Baylor, which apparently just needed a coaching change to suddenly look like one of the most complete teams in the conference.
On the other side, UCF followed up its biggest win of the season with an absolute dud, Cincinnati came crashing back to earth and Kansas let a very winnable game slip away in Fort Worth.
With another wild Saturday in the books, let’s break down the Good, the Bad and the Ugly from Week 9 in the Big 12.
The Good
Baylor (Beat UCF 41-9)
After losing to Kansas last weekend and finally firing Dave Aranda, Baylor went on the road to Orlando and looked the best it has all season in a blowout win over UCF.
DJ Lagway threw for more than 300 yards and four touchdowns, while the running game rolled for 184 yards. What was even more impressive was Baylor’s defense, which held UCF to fewer than 300 yards and less than 10 points on Friday night.
To go into the Bounce House and stomp UCF like that was impressive, to say the least.
Who knew all it took was getting rid of Dave Aranda to look this good?
Texas Tech (Beat Arizona 34-26)
If anyone needed a bounce-back win this weekend, it was Texas Tech.
After a shaky first half, the Red Raiders played a great second half, outscoring Arizona 24-9. The reason? The quarterback change from Will Hammond to Tommy Castellanos, who accounted for three touchdowns and 177 rushing yards.
It also helps when J’Koby Williams runs for 175 yards.
Tommy helped open up the offense, while the defense made life difficult for Noah Fifita and completely shut down Arizona’s running game, holding the Wildcats to just 12 rushing yards.
It was a much better all-around performance from Texas Tech than what we saw last weekend.
Colorado (Beat Kansas State 27-24)
Colorado got a win!
Sure, it was against a third-string quarterback, but at this point, the Buffaloes will take all the wins they can get.
Isaac Wilson wasn’t great, but the running game was strong as Colorado rushed for more than 200 yards, led by Richard Young. And the defense was able to get the key stop in overtime to help set up the win, which came on another Charlie Williams touchdown catch.
TCU (Beat Kansas 22-16)
After TCU went into halftime down 13-0, I didn’t think the Horned Frogs would come back. But after forcing a pair of turnovers in the third quarter, not only was TCU back in it, but it had the lead.
The Horned Frogs were able to stay in the game because their defense held Kansas to just three points in the second half.
It certainly wasn’t pretty at times, but at the end of the day, Sonny Dykes cooled his seat for at least another week with this win.
Utah (Beat Cincinnati 49-25)
What a beatdown we saw in Cincinnati, thanks to Utah delivering a butt-kicking that the Bearcats won’t soon forget.
Devon Dampier accounted for four total touchdowns, and the running game was on fire with 268 yards. It also helps when your defense can score, as the Utes had two defensive touchdowns on the day as well.
This game was pretty much over at halftime, with Utah leading 42-6.
And once again, Utah remains the only unbeaten team in the Big 12.
BYU (Beat Arizona State 27-20)
When BYU was up 17-3 at halftime, I thought the Cougars were going to coast to an easy win. That didn’t happen at all.
The offense really struggled in the second half, and with so much pressure on Bear Bachmeier to deliver, things tightened up quite a bit. The defense had some tough breaks as well.
I’m not sure if it’s the emotions of the last few games or what, but this team needs to snap out of it because BYU is not playing its best football right now.
And the Cougars have a massive game against Utah next weekend.
Iowa State (Beat Oklahoma State 51-49)
It feels like we have been waiting all season for this Iowa State offense to get going, and it finally did against Oklahoma State.
A week after being benched, Jaylon Rayner had a season-high 309 passing yards and three touchdowns. And he had plenty of help, as Aiden Flora rushed for more than 200 yards and a pair of scores, while Jamal Polite Jr. had a career day as well.
This offense responded time and time again before marching down the field one final time to set up another Kyle Konrardy game-winning kick.
The Bad
Arizona (Lost to Texas Tech 34-26)
After a great first half, things got tough for Arizona in the second half.
Noah Fifita didn’t have much help, as the Wildcats finished with just 12 rushing yards on 30 carries. Meanwhile, the defense had no answer for Texas Tech’s rushing attack, giving up 328 yards on the ground.
You simply can’t give up that many rushing yards on the road and expect to win.
Kansas State (Lost to Colorado 27-24)
I’m not going to be too hard on Kansas State.
The Wildcats went to Boulder having to start their third-string quarterback in Blake Barnett, who did throw three touchdown passes, by the way.
However, their defense wasn’t good enough on Saturday afternoon. Run defense has been a problem for this team all season, and that continued against Colorado as the Wildcats gave up more than 220 yards on the ground.
Sure, they made some plays late, but between the injuries and the defensive issues, it’s going to be a grind for Kansas State to get to a bowl game.
Kansas (Lost to TCU 22-16)
There’s no other way to say it: The Jayhawks blew this game.
Up 13-0 at halftime, the offense was doing enough and the defense was rolling. But thanks to a pair of turnovers in the second half, Kansas suddenly found itself trailing and could never get anything going offensively, scoring just three points in the final 30 minutes.
Now at 3-5, I think we may need to have a conversation about Lance Leipold.
Arizona State (Lost to BYU 27-20)
When the Sun Devils were down 17-3 at the break, I didn’t give them much of a chance.
However, they made a nice comeback as their defense stepped up and quarterback Jake Fette got more comfortable as the game went on. Those two scoring drives in the third quarter lasted a lifetime and kept Bear Bachmeier on the sidelines.
Unfortunately for Arizona State, the roles were reversed in the fourth quarter, with BYU responding with two long drives of its own.
Oklahoma State (Lost to Iowa State 51-49)
If there’s one thing you can’t blame for Oklahoma State’s loss, it’s the offense.
The Cowboys put up nearly 550 yards and 49 points. Sure, Drew Mestemaker had a pair of turnovers, but he also threw five touchdown passes.
This game was 100% on the defense, as Oklahoma State let one of the worst offenses in the conference do whatever it wanted, racking up season highs all over the place.
Until this defense gets fixed, Oklahoma State is going to find itself in a lot of shootouts.
The Ugly
UCF (Lost to Baylor 41-9)
What a difference a week makes.
After knocking off a Top 5 BYU team at home last weekend, Scott Frost and UCF laid an egg by getting blown out by a Baylor team playing its first game without Dave Aranda.
Even though Keyone Jenkins got banged up, I’m not sure it mattered whether it was him or Alonza Barnett III at quarterback. The offense couldn’t run the ball, and this team isn’t exactly built to throw it all over the field.
UCF went just 2-of-15 on third down and turned the ball over twice, while the defense gave up more than 500 yards to Baylor.
This team had a huge opportunity: ESPN, primetime, the Space Game and a chance to build off its biggest win of the season.
Instead, UCF was a no-show.
Cincinnati (Lost to Utah 49-25)
Speaking of being a no-show, that’s exactly what Cincinnati did against Utah.
A week earlier, the Bearcats looked incredible against Texas Tech. They followed it up with a complete dud.
Cincinnati trailed 42-6 at halftime, and quite honestly, this game was over in the second quarter.
The defense was bad, and the offense couldn’t get out of its own way with turnovers that ended up costing the Bearcats 14 points.
This was, by far, the worst Cincinnati has looked all season.
