Week 8 belonged to the Big 12 quarterbacks who weren’t supposed to steal the spotlight.
JC French IV and Keyone Jenkins both turned upset wins into résumé builders, and that kind of chaos reshuffled the top of the conference quarterback board heading into Week 9. French IV helped Cincinnati take down No.
8 Texas Tech, while Jenkins steered UCF past No. 2 BYU.
In a week where ranked teams kept getting tripped up, those two were right in the middle of it.
Jenkins’ rise has been building for a while. Since stepping in for an injured Alonza Barnett III against Georgia State in Week 3, his output has climbed every week. Against BYU, the Florida International transfer threw for 293 yards and three touchdowns and added another score on the ground, powering UCF to its first ranked win in almost three seasons.
That performance sets up another big Friday night test, when UCF hosts Baylor at 7:30 p.m. EDT on ESPN.
The Bears have one of the better defenses in the Big 12, but they’re coming off their worst showing of the season in a loss at Kansas, a defeat that also cost head coach Dave Aranda his job. UCF will still be riding with Jenkins, since Alonza Barnett III still isn’t fully healthy.
French IV’s jump into the rankings comes after one of the loudest wins of the weekend. He threw four touchdown passes in the middle two quarters against Texas Tech and also chipped in 46 rushing yards.
He did turn it over twice, including one interception that caromed off a defender behind the play, but Cincinnati still walked away with a 37-24 stunner. It was the Bearcats’ second ranked victory under Scott Satterfield.
Now Cincinnati gets another shot at a ranked opponent: No. 6 Utah.
That matchup comes at 3:45 p.m. EDT on ESPN, and it gives French IV a chance to keep building after the Texas Tech breakthrough.
The Utes haven’t seen many of the conference’s best quarterbacks, but they did hold Conner Weigman and Houston to 13 points last week.
Weigman still put up numbers in that loss, even if the result didn’t go Houston’s way. He threw for 282 yards and produced the Cougars’ longest run of the day, but he finished 19-of-35 and lost a fumble on a strip sack in the final two minutes.
It was the first game this season in which he wasn’t responsible for a Houston touchdown. Through eight games, he has thrown for 2,053 yards, 20 touchdowns and two interceptions, while adding 249 rushing yards and six scores.
On Utah’s side, Devon Dampier delivered a mixed bag against Houston. He threw two interceptions for the second straight week, including one after taking a hit on a corner blitz and another on an underthrown ball intended for Wayshawn Parker. Still, he carried the Utes on the ground with 150 rushing yards and two touchdowns, and his final score sealed the 21-13 win in the last two minutes.
There’s another ranked quarterback worth watching in Arizona’s Noah Fifita, who was sharp in the Wildcats’ 39-3 win over Iowa State. Fifita completed 27 of 34 passes for 308 yards and two touchdowns, hitting Isaiah Mizell for a 71-yard score on the second play of the game and later connecting with tight end Henry Gabalis on a 40-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Saturday brings a tougher assignment: No. 13 Texas Tech, Arizona’s first ranked test in more than a month.
Texas Tech’s defense has already shown some cracks against passing games. Even with the Red Raiders winning both of their September games, the secondary struggled against Braden Atkinson and Conner Weigman.
Elsewhere, Jalon Daniels’ spot near the top of the league remains intact after a strange week for the position around him, even if the source material’s biggest movement came from the quarterbacks who changed the conversation at the top. Hawkins Jr. also stayed in the mix after a strange stat line of his own.
One week after throwing for 464 yards against Cincinnati, he was held to 79 passing yards in West Virginia’s 24-20 win at TCU. He still hurt the Horned Frogs with his legs, rushing for 87 yards and two of the Mountaineers’ three touchdowns.
West Virginia is off to finish October, and its first game after the bye is at Texas Tech. That setting matters, because the Red Raiders just allowed Cincinnati to rush for 255 yards against them.
Mestemaker also made a case for himself in Oklahoma State’s 57-24 win at Colorado. He threw for 386 yards and four touchdowns, a performance boosted by yards after the catch, with Justin Bowick, Wyatt Young and Miles Coleman all finishing as deep-ball targets. The Cowboys close October at Iowa State, and the Cyclone defense has already given up 300 passing yards to both Bear Bachmeier and Noah Fifita in its last two games.
Bachmeier himself had a strong day in BYU’s loss to UCF, throwing touchdown passes to Kyler Kasper and Legend Glasker while also running for the Cougars’ second touchdown. He finished with 257 passing yards, but the 16 incompletions stood out, including three misses from inside the 4-yard line in the second overtime. BYU heads back to Provo next to host Arizona State, which just beat Kansas State after facing backup Jacob Knuth in place of Avery Johnson.
Quarterback injuries and substitutions were a thread throughout the league in Week 8. Arizona State’s win over Kansas State came with Mikey Keene exiting with an injury in the second half after he had stepped in for Cutter Boley in the Sun Devils’ loss at Texas Tech.
Kansas State opened with Jacob Knuth under center because Avery Johnson was unavailable. And Iowa State’s Jaylen Raynor was briefly pulled for Connor Moberly during a 39-3 loss at Arizona, though head coach Jimmy Rogers said Raynor will start against No.
24 Oklahoma State in Week 9.
The weekend ahead starts Friday, then turns into a full slate of tests for the quarterbacks who surged and the ones still trying to hold their ground.
In Other News...
Arizona Can Make A Big 12 Statement Against A Vulnerable Texas Tech
Arizona heads into Lubbock with a chance to make a clear Big 12 statement against a Texas Tech team trying to steady itself after taking its first loss of the season. The Wildcats have answered an early setback with five straight wins, and they have done it behind the kind of composed quarterback play that usually travels well this time of year. Noah Fifita has settled in as the face of the offense, giving Arizona a level of confidence it did not always have earlier in the season.
Texas Tech, meanwhile, is dealing with a far less settled picture. The Red Raiders have had issues finding consistency on both sides of the ball, and the uncertainty at quarterback only adds to the pressure as they try to regroup at home. For Arizona, this is exactly the sort of road game that can change how the rest of the conference sees it, especially if it can keep leaning on a veteran passer and avoid getting pulled into the kind of messy game Texas Tech has been playing lately. [Read more 🡒]