Utah made the cleanest statement of the weekend in the Big 12 race, and it came with the standings still packed tight enough to make every remaining Saturday feel loaded.
The Utes are the league’s lone unbeaten team after rolling past Cincinnati 49-25 on Saturday at Nippert Stadium. At 8-0 overall and 5-0 in Big 12 play, No. 3 Utah now sits alone at the top with four weeks left before the Big 12 Championship game on Dec. 4 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
That lead, though, is hardly safe. Seven teams are still within two games of first place, and the next few weeks will decide who gets a shot at Arlington and who gets left chasing.
Utah’s win was powered by a huge first half. The Utes went into halftime up 42-6, with quarterback Devon Dampier steering the offense and the defense adding two scores of its own. Dampier threw for 260 yards and three touchdowns, and Utah piled up 534 yards of total offense in the victory.
The result also pushed Utah up three spots in the Associated Press Top 25. It is the Utes’ highest ranking since Oct.
18, 2015. Utah’s highest ranking ever came after the 2008 season, when beating Alabama 31-17 in the Sugar Bowl lifted the Utes to No.
Now comes the matchup that could shake the whole league: Utah hosts No. 7 BYU on Saturday in the Holy War. The Cougars are trying to pull even with their rivals in conference losses.
BYU survived a tricky one of its own Saturday, edging Arizona State 27-20 in Provo, Utah. The Cougars were coming off an upset loss in Orlando to Central Florida last week, and the Sun Devils gave them another fight with freshmen Jake Fette at quarterback and Cardae Mack at running back.
Even with six first-half sacks, BYU could not fully shake loose. The Cougars needed a late 95-yard touchdown drive to hold off Arizona State and stay tied with Texas Tech for second place.
“There’s things we need to improve on,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake told reporters following the victory. “We’ll celebrate this and figure things out and try to get back on it and improve for next week, because we’ll need to be for that one.”
That “one” is Utah, and the stakes are obvious. A BYU win would give the Cougars the head-to-head edge over the Utes and could set up a three-way tie near the top of the conference depending on what Texas Tech does against West Virginia.
Texas Tech kept itself right in the middle of the chase with a 34-26 comeback win over Arizona. The Red Raiders were down 17-10 at halftime before quarterback Tommy Castellanos helped flip the game. Castellanos threw two touchdown passes and ran for 117 yards, while Texas Tech finished with 328 rushing yards.
Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita threw for 417 yards, but the Wildcats were held to just 12 net rushing yards. The loss dropped Arizona two games behind Utah and left it with conference defeats against both BYU and Texas Tech.
The Wildcats still have a path to make noise, though it gets steep fast. They host TCU on Nov. 7 and then welcome Utah to Tucson the following weekend in a game that matters for both the Big 12 race and their College Football Playoff hopes.
Texas Tech’s remaining schedule looks far more manageable. The Red Raiders still have West Virginia, Oklahoma State, Baylor and TCU left, and none of those teams are ranked right now. With either BYU or Utah guaranteed to take a conference loss Saturday, Texas Tech has a chance to gain ground without another ranked opponent on the horizon.
Oklahoma State took the weekend’s hardest hit among the contenders. The Cowboys lost 51-49 at Iowa State on a last-second field goal, falling to 5-3 overall and 3-2 in conference play. Oklahoma State had grabbed a 49-48 lead with 53 seconds left, only for Iowa State to drive into range and Kyle Konrardy to nail a 34-yard field goal as time expired.
That defeat knocked the Cowboys out of the AP Top 25 and dropped them into a four-way tie for fourth in the Big 12. They still have a chance to climb back in, especially with Texas Tech coming to Stillwater on Nov. 14 - their only remaining game against a ranked opponent.
Baylor is still in the mix too, and the Bears may have one of the toughest finishing stretches in the league. In their first game under interim coach Joe Klanderman, Baylor beat UCF 41-9 on Friday, one week after the Knights upset BYU. DJ Lagway threw for 319 yards and four touchdowns as the Bears improved to 5-3 overall and 3-2 in Big 12 play.
The road ahead is rough. Baylor hosts Iowa State and then faces three straight ranked teams: No.
7 BYU, No. 13 Texas Tech and No.
17 Houston. Those games could help the Bears climb directly over teams ahead of them, but there is almost no margin for error.
Houston had the weekend off and remains in the hunt at 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the Big 12. The Cougars’ remaining schedule is lighter than most, with Cincinnati, Colorado, West Virginia and Baylor still ahead. The issue is that Houston already has losses to Utah and Texas Tech, which could matter if the race comes down to head-to-head tiebreakers.
Arizona State, even at 4-4 overall and 2-3 in conference play, still has a role to play in all this. The Sun Devils host Oklahoma State on Nov. 21 and then visit Arizona for the Territorial Cup on Nov. 28, giving them chances to knock contenders off course.
For now, Utah sits in front. But with BYU coming to town, Texas Tech lurking, and four teams bunched at 3-2, the Big 12 race is still wide open.
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