Week 1 brings a short list of Big 12 games worth circling, and the early slate opens with a pair of matchups that should tell us a little something about how these teams are changing. Colorado and Baylor are both stepping into rematches against Power Four opponents, while Cincinnati gets a chance to show whether it can keep building after a rocky finish to 2025.
Colorado’s trip to Georgia Tech on Thursday night is the kind of game that can swing on one position group. The Yellowjackets beat the Buffaloes 27-20 in Boulder last season, and now they get the rematch at home on September 3rd at 7:00 PM CT.
Both teams are bringing in new quarterbacks, with Colorado turning to Julian Lewis and Georgia Tech replacing Haynes King with former Indiana backup Alberto Mendoza. Lewis, who is from the Atlanta, Georgia area and allegedly considered transferring to Georgia Tech in January, stayed put and now has a chance to lead Colorado to a road win.
Georgia Tech is the touchdown favorite, and there’s a clear reason for that, but Colorado has enough upside to make this interesting. The game could come down to whether the Buffaloes can slow down veteran running back Justice Haynes. Even so, a Colorado cover - or even an outright win - wouldn’t be a shock.
Saturday’s Baylor-Auburn matchup in Atlanta has a similar feel, just with a little more offensive firepower baked in. Auburn beat Baylor 38-24 in Waco last year, and this time the game shifts to Mercedes-Benz Stadium on September 5th at 2:30 PM CT. The neutral site setting still figures to feel a lot like home for Auburn in the middle of SEC country.
Both teams are breaking in new quarterbacks here as well. Baylor brings in former Florida quarterback DJ Lagway, while Auburn goes with South Florida transfer Byrum Brown.
Brown is the only quarterback in the NCAA to throw for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards last season, and he’s one of 12 quarterbacks to do that all-time. That kind of profile makes this one look like a shootout, and the over on total points stands out.
The continuity between Auburn head coach Alex Golesh and Brown, who both came over from USF, is enough to tilt the pick toward Auburn as a touchdown favorite.
Prediction: Auburn -7
Then there’s Cincinnati, which gets Boston College at 2:30 PM CT on Saturday in a game that should give the Bearcats a chance to start with control. Cincinnati’s 2025 season was a strange one: a neutral-site loss to Nebraska, then seven straight wins, then a five-game skid to finish it off, including a bowl loss to Navy. Boston College, meanwhile, came in at 2-10 and is trying to completely reset.
The line is only a touchdown, but it’s tough to see Boston College going on the road and pulling this off against a Cincinnati team that has improved in each of its last three seasons. The Bearcats do have to replace Brenden Sorsby at quarterback, but JC French IV is ready to take over after transferring from Georgia Southern.
He’s a dual-threat quarterback, and Cincinnati’s offense should stay aggressive. The defense still has some questions, but against Boston College, the Bearcats should have enough scoring to cover for it.
Taken together, Week 1 looks like a strong opening stretch for the league. Even if Colorado and Baylor come up short in the bigger matchups, the rest of the Big 12 should pile up wins and put the conference in position for a 13-2 week.
In Other News...
Baylors Deep Receiver Battle Puts Louis Brown In A Crucial Spot
Louis Brown IV spent last season in redshirt mode, but he sounded very much like a player ready to make that year count when Baylors offense opens the door this fall. The Bears have real competition in their receiver room, and Brown is pitching himself as the kind of flexible piece every coaching staff wants, someone who can line up in different spots and help in ways that go beyond just catching passes.
Brown also made clear he understands the value of doing the little things that keep an offense moving, including blocking, while pointing to the mental growth he picked up with help from Josh Cameron. He spoke highly of Dre'lon Miller and Gavin Freeman as well, a reminder that Baylors receiver battle is as much about depth and trust as it is about raw talent, with Brown trying to turn his preparation into a bigger role. [Read more 🡒]
DJ Lagway Faces An Early Baylor Test With Plenty Riding On It
The first weekend of the 2026 college football season already has a little extra bite for Baylor, with the Big 12 slate offering a handful of early measuring sticks and DJ Lagway landing in one of the spotlight games against Auburn. In a league that feels unusually open, the Bears are part of a larger group trying to establish an identity right away, and Lagways performance will be one of the first things people around the conference use to start sorting contenders from the pack.
Around the Big 12, the opening weekend also brings a familiar-coach setup for Houstons Makhi Hughes, a fresh offensive weapon in Arizona States Omarion Miller, Texas Tech leaning on Adam Trick to steady the defense and BYU counting on Faletau Satuala to set the tone on that side of the ball. For Baylor, though, the focus stays squarely on Lagway and how he handles an early test that carries more weight than a typical nonconference game, especially with so much riding on how the conference race begins to take shape. [Read more 🡒]
Baylor Faces An Early Test That Could Define Its Opener With Auburn
Baylor opens against Auburn with a matchup that already feels like more than a season opener. The Bears are trying to steady a defense that had real trouble a year ago, and the focus has shifted toward making that side of the ball more reliable right away. New defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman has been brought in to help drive that reset, while the offense will also be leaning on familiar pieces to set the tone in a game that should be tight from the start.
Dawson Pendergrass is part of that equation too, giving Baylor another name to watch as it tries to answer an early challenge from a physical Auburn team. The setup points to a game that could swing on a handful of plays rather than broad separation, which is exactly why this opener carries so much weight for the Bears. If Baylor can show real progress on defense and hold up in a close finish, it would say plenty about where this team is headed. [Read more 🡒]