Big 12 quarterback rankings took a noticeable shakeup after Week 4, and Drew Mestemaker was the biggest mover. His performance at West Virginia - a 41-24 Oklahoma State win - was the kind that forces attention. He was sharp late, repeatedly finding Wyatt Young on deep shots in the second half, and the Cowboys rode that burst to pull away.
Mestemaker’s jump came in a week that also brought a return, a benching and a few uneven outings. DJ Lagway stepped back into the mix in Baylor’s 23-13 win over Colorado, Keyone Jenkins handled his business in UCF’s 21-13 win against TCU, and Will Hammond’s day went sideways in Texas Tech’s 49-14 win over Sam Houston State after three straight interceptions. Colorado’s quarterback situation changed, too, with Deion Sanders benching Julian Lewis for Isaac Wilson at halftime and later saying Wilson would start going forward.
Here’s how the eight best Big 12 quarterbacks stack up entering Week 5 of the 2026 season.
Michael Hawkins Jr. remains one of the league’s most dangerous runners, and that showed again at West Virginia. He piled up 103 yards and three touchdowns on the ground, but Oklahoma State also exposed a limitation when the Mountaineers needed him to beat them with his arm as the game tightened in the fourth quarter.
That matters this week, because Iowa State will be Hawkins Jr.’s first Big 12 road environment of the season at noon EDT on TNT. The Cyclones were vulnerable against the run against Utah, which fits the way the Mountaineer offense wants to operate.
Lagway is back in the conversation after his return against Colorado. The box score was messy - he finished 19-of-39 passing - but he still accounted for both Baylor touchdowns, one on a contested throw into the corner of the end zone and the other on a 33-yard deep ball.
His first Big 12 road test comes at Arizona State at 10:30 p.m. EDT on ESPN, and the Sun Devils have already seen two inconsistent quarterbacks in Marcel Reed and Isaiah Marshall.
Conner Weigman delivered exactly what Houston needed in its 42-28 win at Georgia Southern. He went 17-of-22 for 239 yards and four passing touchdowns, then added the other two scores on the ground. Now he gets UCF in Houston’s first Big 12 home game of the year at noon EDT on ESPN2.
Mestemaker’s rise is built on more than one outing. Against West Virginia, he finished 20-of-27 for 389 yards and threw only one interception, and even that mistake came with four defenders around the intended receiver.
The rest of the afternoon was all about the deep ball, and Oklahoma State kept leaning into it until the game broke open. After a bye in Week 5, UCF will be his first conference home test.
The quarterback picture at Kansas State is quieter this week because the Wildcats are off, but Avery Johnson still has work to clean up after the 31-26 loss at Cincinnati. His legs were mostly taken away, with a 10-yard run on the first possession standing as his longest of the night, and most of his passing game stayed underneath.
He did connect with Derrick Salley Jr. on a 39-yard completion, though. Kansas State returns in Week 6 to host Houston.
BYU also comes off a bye, and Bear Bachmeier has been productive through three games: 642 passing yards, six touchdowns, one interception, plus 64 rushing yards and two more scores. The Cougars head to TCU for a 7 p.m. EDT matchup on ESPN, and Bachmeier figures to present a much different challenge than the first two quarterbacks the Horned Frogs saw, Billy Edwards and Keyone Jenkins.
Arizona’s Noah Fifita had a rough moment early in the Wildcats’ 34-24 win over Washington State when he threw a pick six to a safety who had crept in from behind his target. He recovered with big throws down the field, connecting with Tre Spivey, Caleb Smith and Chris Hunter III on long gains.
Cincinnati visits Casino Del Sol Stadium at 11 p.m. EDT on FOX, and the Bearcats now face their toughest test in the air after dealing with Mason McKenzie and Avery Johnson in September.
Utah’s Devon Dampier didn’t need to carry much of the load in a 31-17 win at Iowa State. He threw a 24-yard touchdown to Braden Pegan through traffic in the first quarter, but the Utes leaned mostly on Wayshawn Parker and the ground game from there.
Utah heads into the bye at 4-0, and Kansas is next on Oct. 10.
In Other News...
Baylor Is Turning McLane Stadium Into A Fan Experience Unlike Usual
McLane Stadium is set to take on a different kind of buzz later this month, with Topgolf bringing its Topgolf Live Stadium Series to Baylor University from Oct. 29 through Nov. 1. The setup will turn the football venue into a golf and fan entertainment space, complete with hitting bays, a watch party for the Baylor-UCF game, VIP football experiences and hospitality options that lean into the stadium atmosphere in a new way.
For Baylor, the event is part of a broader push by Topgolf to take its entertainment platform into college stadiums while supporting collegiate athletics and NIL programs. It gives the Bears another way to showcase McLane beyond game day, blending sport and social experience in a setting that is usually reserved for football first and everything else second. [Read more 🡒]
Dave Aranda Just Framed Baylors Biggest Competitive Problem
College footballs money race keeps getting harder to ignore, and Dave Aranda put Baylors place in it into plain terms this week. The Bears are investing heavily in their roster, but Aranda acknowledged there is still a gap between Baylor and the biggest spenders in the sport, a reality that shapes the margins on Saturdays and the kind of talent-rich opponents the program has to chase.
Arandas point was not just about dollars, though. He framed toughness as the trait Baylor has to lean on to keep competing when the financial terrain tilts the other way, a reminder that resource disparities are now part of the competitive math in college football. For Baylor, the challenge is not simply keeping up, but finding ways to win anyway. [Read more 🡒]
Dave Aranda Just Bought Himself Real Time At Baylor
Dave Aranda went into the season with plenty of questions hanging over him, but four games in, Baylor has given him something he badly needed: breathing room. The Bears are 3-1, a start that has outpaced expectations and put Aranda in a better spot than he was entering his seventh season in Waco. The broader picture still shows a coach with a slightly above-.500 record at Baylor, but the early returns matter, especially with the defense looking sharper under new coordinator Joe Klanderman.
Arandas situation also stands out because he is not alone in changing the conversation around his job. Wisconsins Luke Fickell, another coach who had been viewed as vulnerable, has also opened 3-1 and just picked up an upset win over Penn State that earned him Coach of the Week honors for week four. For Baylor, the immediate issue is less about long-term judgment and more about whether this early momentum can hold once the season settles into its tougher stretches. [Read more 🡒]