Week 10 of the Big 12 football season delivered another wild weekend, with Utah taking control of the conference championship race, Texas Tech surviving a shootout against West Virginia and Oklahoma State putting up an eye-popping 66 points against Kansas State.
The No. 2 Utes remained undefeated with a 28-20 victory over BYU in the Holy War, while Texas Tech kept pace in the Big 12 standings with a 53-48 win over West Virginia. Meanwhile, Arizona, Houston and Baylor continued to find ways to win as the conference championship picture began to take shape.
But not everyone had a weekend to celebrate. Kansas and TCU suffered heartbreaking losses, BYU stumbled in the second half against Utah, and Kansas State turned in one of the ugliest defensive performances of the season.
With three weeks remaining in the regular season, here is the Good, Bad and Ugly from Week 10 of Big 12 football.
The Good
Utah (Beat BYU 28-20)
The Utah Utes walk away as the biggest winners of the weekend after taking down a Top 10 BYU team.
It was a great game in the first half, with both teams trading blows before Utah decided to take control in the second half, outscoring BYU 14-0.
During those final two quarters, Utah’s defense not only held BYU scoreless but also forced three turnovers.
With the defense rolling, Devon Dampier was also excellent, finishing with four total touchdowns on the day.
This game showed me just how good Utah can be when it’s at its best. Nobody in the Big 12 is playing as well as the Utes right now, and that’s why they remain one of just two undefeated teams in college football.
Texas Tech (Beat West Virginia 53-48)
If you’re a fan of no defense and a lot of scoring, then this was the game for you.
Thomas Castellanos put up video game-like numbers against West Virginia, finishing with 362 passing yards, five touchdown passes and another 100 yards on the ground.
Between Castellanos and J’Kolby Williams, Tech’s offense could not be stopped, racking up nearly 650 yards as a team.
As great as the offense was, the defense was awful.
Tech needed every bit of those 53 points on Saturday just to come away with a win.
Arizona (Beat TCU 29-28)
Even though it took a crazy pooch kick and a late score to beat TCU, a win is a win. And in this conference, that’s all that matters.
Noah Fifita didn’t have his best day, but he had some help as others stepped up in crunch time.
Ultimately, it was a play made by the special teams and another by the defense that sealed the deal for Arizona.
Again, it wasn’t pretty, but it doesn’t matter.
Houston (Beat Cincinnati 31-24)
It was another close call for the Cougars, but they found a way to get it done.
Connor Weigman had a nice game, but the star was running back Re’Shaun Sanford II, who finished with 126 yards and a touchdown, including his fourth-quarter run to take the lead.
Houston relied on its running game, and it delivered with nearly 250 rushing yards.
A 10-win season is still on the table for this team. And who knows? Maybe even a trip to Jerry World if things shake out.
Baylor (Beat Iowa State 42-31)
After the first quarter, Baylor fans had to be worried because nothing was going right for the Bears.
But once the second quarter started, it was all Baylor from there.
DJ Lagway made all kinds of plays with his arm and, more importantly, his legs, rushing for 119 yards and a touchdown.
Even Baylor’s defense managed to come up with a few key stops later in the game.
This team is dangerous when Lagway can use his legs to make the offense go, but by no means are the Bears a complete team.
Oklahoma State (Beat Kansas State 66-28)
After a disappointing game against Iowa State, Oklahoma State rebounded in a big way, putting up 66 points against Kansas State.
Drew Mestemaker had a day to remember, accounting for six total touchdowns. He threw for four, rushed for one and even caught a touchdown pass.
And on top of that, the defense looked much better.
UCF (Beat Kansas 33-32)
If not for a miraculous play as time expired, the Knights could have found themselves in the Ugly portion of this column.
Why? Because they blew a 26-7 lead in the final 20 minutes of the game.
It took a long drive with less than a minute remaining, led by Alonza Barnett III, and a nice catch (or no catch, depending on who you ask) by Caden Piening to get the job done.
UCF got lucky with this one because it was almost a disastrous loss.
Arizona State (Beat Colorado 20-10)
There’s not a ton for me to take away here.
Arizona State beat a bad Colorado team, but I will say that its defense has improved over the last few games.
Jake Fette also played well, and now the Sun Devils are one win away from bowl eligibility.
By no means are they a great team, but they have been playing much better.
The Bad
BYU (Lost to Utah 28-20)
For the first half of this game, BYU was right there. In fact, the Cougars had the lead going into the second half.
But that’s where things started to go wrong, as the offense struggled to score any points and turned the ball over three times.
Even though LJ Martin returned, it was clear he wasn’t 100%, which put more pressure on Bear Bachmeier to try to do everything himself.
Until Bear gets some help, BYU is going to struggle in these types of games.
But I will tip my cap to the Cougars for their effort because playing in that game, in that environment, is no easy task for any team in the country.
West Virginia (Lost to Texas Tech 53-48)
The good news is that West Virginia’s offense was outstanding for most of the game, outside of the fourth quarter, when the Mountaineers were held scoreless.
West Virginia racked up nearly 600 yards of offense, as Michael Hawkins Jr. and Cam Cook were damn near unstoppable.
The bad news is that the Mountaineers’ defense was like Swiss cheese, giving up more than 50 points and 638 yards of offense.
Their defense has been a problem all season long, and it continues to be one.
TCU (Lost to Arizona 29-28)
For one of the few times this year, I felt like TCU played some of its best football for a good chunk of the game.
The offense was punching it into the end zone instead of settling for field goals, Jaden Craig looked decent throwing the football, and the defense did its thing.
But when TCU had a chance to put the game away, the Horned Frogs botched a pooch kick and let Arizona have the ball right back to score.
And when the offense came back onto the field, it immediately turned the ball over.
It’s like TCU played its worst football when it mattered most.
Cincinnati (Lost to Houston 31-24)
I’ll give some credit to Cincinnati here because the Bearcats fell behind 14-0 quickly and could have packed it in.
But they didn’t. They fought their way back and even managed to tie the game in the fourth quarter before giving up a big run and turning the ball over late.
Between the penalties, costly turnover and giving up nearly 250 yards on the ground, it’s going to be hard to win like that on the road.
And now, Scott Satterfield is 1-12 in the month of November.
Iowa State (Lost to Baylor 42-31)
At one point, the Cyclones had a 10-point lead and were on the verge of extending it.
But a replay review and a missed kick started turning the tide before Aiden Flora’s muffed punt gave Baylor life.
From there, Iowa State was outscored 42-21, as the Cyclones had no answer for DJ Lagway and the Bears’ offense.
On top of that, it didn’t help that Iowa State didn’t produce much offensively outside of Aiden Flora breaking a few runs.
Kansas (Lost to UCF 33-32)
When Kansas fell behind 26-7 in the third quarter, I’ll admit I thought it was well over.
But to the Jayhawks’ credit, they clawed their way back into the game and even took the lead with a little over a minute remaining.
Then, in typical Kansas fashion this season, they let UCF march right down the field and gave up the go-ahead score as time expired.
This team is now 3-6 and must win out just to reach a bowl game.
Colorado (Lost to Arizona State 20-10)
I’m not shocked by this outcome for Colorado, which has now fallen to 3-6 on the year.
Just to make a bowl game, the Buffaloes would have to win out, which likely isn’t going to happen.
Forget about this game or even this season at this point. The real story is what Deion Sanders is going to do moving forward.
The Ugly
Kansas State (Lost to Oklahoma State 66-28)
There’s ugly, and then there’s whatever the hell this was from Kansas State.
My goodness, what an embarrassing performance.
I know the Wildcats are banged up and down a quarterback or two, but there’s no excuse for their defense to give up more than 60 points and look that bad.
There’s plenty of work for this team to do because, right now, the Wildcats look like the worst team in the Big 12.
