The Good: Utah shellacked UCLA 43-10, which reminded us all why the Utes are usually strong under head coach Kyle Whittingham. And TCU embarrassed North Carolina 48-14 in Bill Belichick’s college …
Five different Big 12 teams played in marquee games last week.
The results of those matchups were mixed.
The Good: Utah shellacked UCLA 43-10, which reminded us all why the Utes are usually strong under head coach Kyle Whittingham. And TCU embarrassed North Carolina 48-14 in Bill Belichick’s college debut.
The Bad: Auburn ran all over Baylor, Georgia Tech outlasted Colorado and Nebraska eked out a close one against Cincinnati.
What to make of those results? Well, things are certainly looking up for the Utes and the Horned Frogs. Both teams have playoff potential, and they could use these early statement wins as a springboard to something bigger. But alarm bells have to be going off for the Bears. They have enough time to rebound from an early loss, but they looked overmatched against Auburn.
More big games loom for the conference this week as Iowa State hosts Iowa, Baylor heads to SMU, Oklahoma State goes to Oregon, BYU hosts Stanford and Arizona State takes on Mississippi State. The biggest game of all might be Kansas and Missouri as they renew the Border War.
We will learn much more about the Big 12 in the coming days.
With that in mind, let’s take some time to analyze everything we have seen up to this point — heading into Week 2 — and project what will happen in the future with a new edition of Big 12 Power Rankings.
As good as expected
1. Arizona State (1-0): It looks like Tempe is starting to catch football fever. A sellout crowd of nearly 60,000 showed up in 100-degree heat to watch the the Sun Devils demolish Northern Arizona on Saturday at Mountain America Stadium. A more difficult road game looms next against Mississippi State. But Arizona State’s title defense is off to a good start.
2. Texas Tech (1-0): Behren Morton is already considered day-to-day with an injury. Boy, do the Red Raiders have trouble keeping their quarterback healthy. For his sake, hopefully it’s nothing too serious. Texas Tech looked fantastic otherwise as it dropped 67 points on Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
3. Iowa State (2-0, 1-0 Big 12): An argument could be made for moving the Cyclones all the way up to No. 1 this week. But it’s hard to know exactly what to make of their Farmageddon win over Kansas State, given how much the Wildcats struggled at home against North Dakota. Moving to 3-0 with a win over Iowa would validate Matt Campbell’s early success.
Better than expected
4. Utah (1-0): Maybe last year was a fluke. The Utes looked like their old, bad selves during a 43-10 romp over UCLA on Saturday. Devon Dampier threw for 206 yards and two touchdowns to go along with 87 yards and a score on the ground. Utah’s revenge tour got off to an impressive start.
5. TCU (1-0): A national viewing audience tuned in to ESPN on Monday to watch Bill Belichick’s college debut at North Carolina. What they ended up seeing was a three-hour commercial for TCU football. The Horned Frogs put an absolute hurting on the Tar Heels and won 48-14. Perhaps they can be a surprise team in the Big 12 this season.
6. Kansas (2-0): Have the Jayhawks played a quality opponent yet? No. Have they looked impressive in both of their wins? Yes. It’s hard to know exactly how good Lance Leipold’s team is after easy wins over Fresno State and Wagner. But Jalon Daniels has the offense humming. We will learn more about the Jayhawks this weekend as they renew the Border War against Missouri.
7. BYU (1-0): I hope Portland State demanded a large paycheck to play a road game at BYU on Saturday, because the Cougars dropped 69 points on the Vikings for the biggest blowout of Week 1.
Cause for concern?
8. Kansas State (1-1, 0-1 Big 12): There is no option but to downgrade the Wildcats after they needed last-minute heroics from quarterback Avery Johnson to beat North Dakota 38-35. K-State has been unable to run the ball or get stops in its first two games. Chris Klieman’s team came dangerously close to its first 0-2 start since 1989.
9. Baylor (0-1): The Bears showed promise on offense, as they amassed 483 yards against Auburn. But it didn’t matter, because the Tigers rushed for 307 yards against them. I thought Dave Aranda was a defensive coach.
Too early to tell
10. Houston (1-0): Conner Weigman threw for 159 yards and three touchdowns in his debut with the Cougars. The Houston defense also pitched a shutout.
11. Cincinnati (0-1): Sorry Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. The Bearcats weren’t able to pull out a win against Nebraska with their most famous fans watching in Kansas City.
12. Colorado (0-1): Deion Sanders needs to hire a time-management coach ASAP.
13. Arizona (1-0): I need to see the Wildcats play a stronger opponent before I upgrade them too much in these rankings, but Brent Brennan’s team showed promise during a 40-6 win over Hawaii.
14. Oklahoma State (1-0): Starting quarterback Hauss Hejny suffered a broken foot in Oklahoma State’s lackluster win over Tennessee-Martin. Ouch for him, and the Cowboys.
15. West Virginia (1-0): The Mountaineers eventually pulled away from Robert Morris in the season-opener for both teams. But some WVU fans had to be feeling nervous when the score was 10-3 at halftime.
16. UCF (1-0): Scott Frost won his first game back in Orlando, but a 17-10 victory over Jacksonville State was far from impressive. The Knights still have much to prove before they climb out of the basement of these power rankings.
Kellis Robinett covers Kansas State athletics for The Wichita Eagle and The Kansas City Star. A winner of more than a dozen national writing awards, he lives in Manhattan with his wife and four children.
Source: Utah News