Week 6 didn’t give the Big 12 many classic quarterback showdowns, but it did reshuffle the league’s pecking order behind center. Drew Mestemaker, Conner Weigman, Bear Bachmeier and Noah Fifita all put together statement outings, and that’s exactly why Week 7 brings two ranked matchups with real juice: BYU against Notre Dame and Oklahoma State against Houston.
Mestemaker is the biggest mover here, climbing to No. 2 after another clean, explosive day for Oklahoma State. In the Cowboys’ 42-28 win over UCF, he went 19-of-28 for 304 yards and two touchdowns, and he spread the ball around enough that all six receivers he completed a pass to produced a gain of at least 20 yards.
It was the fourth time this season he has topped 300 passing yards. Now he gets another big stage, with No.
20 Houston coming to Stillwater for the Cowboys’ first ranked Big 12 matchup. The Cougars were better against an FBS quarterback last week, but they have still given up their share of chunk plays, especially in non-conference games against Oregon State and Georgia Southern.
Weigman stays right in the thick of the conversation after his latest efficient, touchdown-heavy performance. Houston’s 35-16 win at Kansas State featured four scoring throws from Weigman, and every one of them went to tight end Patrick Overmyer.
He also hit Amare Thomas and Koby Young on deep balls in the first half, giving the Cougars the kind of vertical punch that can change a game fast. The test gets tougher this week against Oklahoma State, but the matchup sets up as one of the best quarterback battles on the board.
Bachmeier used Week 6 to show he can carry more than just the passing load. In BYU’s 24-10 win over Iowa State, he stepped in with LJ Martin out and delivered one of the best games of his career.
Bachmeier threw for 329 yards and two touchdowns, added 109 yards on the ground to lead the Cougars in rushing, and finished the job with a 39-yard run late to ice it. That earned him a major leap in the rankings, and it comes right before BYU’s toughest challenge yet: No.
2 Notre Dame at LaVell Edwards Stadium. The Irish have kept every offense they’ve faced through six games under 300 total yards.
Fifita also made a strong case after Arizona’s 52-31 win at West Virginia. He went 16-of-23 for 341 yards and three touchdowns, and some of his best work came on highlight-reel throws to Isaiah Mizell.
The concern remains the turnovers - a tipped pass deep in Arizona territory turned into a West Virginia first down at the 3-yard line early in the second quarter - but the production was undeniable. Through six games before Arizona’s bye, Fifita has thrown for 1,756 yards, 16 touchdowns and four interceptions.
Iowa State’s defense is up next after the break.
A few quarterbacks held their spots more by circumstance than fireworks. West Virginia’s Hawkins Jr. stayed in the rankings despite rough stretches from other passers and bye weeks around the league.
He ran for 98 yards and a touchdown against Arizona, but his passing inconsistency has been part of why the Mountaineers have lost two of their three Big 12 games. West Virginia’s third conference home game comes against Cincinnati, and the Bearcats have already shown they can be volatile against run-heavy offenses.
Kansas State’s Avery Johnson also remains in the mix after a difficult night in the loss to Houston. He finished 16-of-30 for 182 yards with two second-half touchdown passes, but he also threw a bad interception to Josh Manning early in the fourth quarter. Kansas is next, and the Jayhawks are coming off a rough defensive showing in their road loss to Utah.
Utah’s Devon Dampier had his own uneven outing in the Utes’ 41-24 win over Kansas. He turned it over twice - once on a strip sack and once on an underthrown interception - but still pieced together a productive night.
Dampier threw for 238 yards and three touchdowns, mostly on shorter throws, and added 71 rushing yards, his best mark of the season. Utah heads to Colorado in Week 7, where the Buffaloes’ defense has kept them in games against Baylor and Texas Tech, even if neither of those teams can run it the way Utah has this season.
Baylor’s Arch Lagway stayed in the rankings after the Bears’ Week 6 bye. He has played in only three of Baylor’s first five games because of injury, but in that stretch he still produced 860 passing yards, eight touchdowns and two interceptions while helping the Bears to a 2-1 record. Baylor returns to McLane Stadium for a rivalry game with TCU, and the Horned Frogs are still looking for their first Power Four win even though they haven’t allowed an opponent to top 350 total yards.
Week 7 should tell us even more. With ranked opponents waiting for BYU and Oklahoma State, the top of the Big 12 quarterback list could get another shakeup fast.
In Other News...
BYU Is Asking Bear Bachmeier To Do Too Much Right Now
LJ Martins injury has changed the shape of BYUs offense in a hurry, and it has left Bear Bachmeier carrying far more than a normal quarterback workload. With Martin expected to miss four to six weeks, the Cougars have leaned harder on Bachmeier as both a passer and runner, and that was clear in the 24-10 win over Iowa State, when he produced the bulk of the offense and helped steady the game from start to finish.
Bear Bachmeier has already shown he can keep BYU moving when the load falls on his shoulders, but the question now is whether that formula can hold up for long. Relying so heavily on one player is always a dangerous way to live, and the concern gets sharper with Notre Dame looming, because the Cougars may need more than a single high-level quarterback effort to keep the offense functioning at the same level. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Finally Gets The Notre Dame Showdown Provo Waited Years For
BYU finally gets the Notre Dame showdown it has been waiting years to stage in Provo, with the Fighting Irish set to visit LaVell Edwards Stadium for the first time since 2004. It is the kind of matchup that has long carried extra weight for the Cougars, not just because Notre Dame remains one of the sports biggest brands, but because the two programs have spent years trying to get a game on the calendar that actually stuck.
Scheduling friction has been part of the backdrop all along, from Notre Dame previously backing out of a planned trip to Provo to the schools working through a neutral-site meeting in Las Vegas in 2022. Recently, Notre Dame reached out about a two-game series, a move tied in part to the Irish needing a game that could help strengthen their playoff resume after USC backed out of their rivalry, giving BYU another high-profile opening in a series that has not always been easy to pin down. [Read more 🡒]
Kalani Sitake Has Extra Reason To Feel This Notre Dame Showdown
A little more than two decades after BYU knocked off Notre Dame in one of the signature wins of the LaVell Edwards era, Kalani Sitake still has a personal tie to that day. He was on the field for the Cougars in 2004, when the program handled one of college footballs bluebloods, and now he gets to lead BYU into another meeting with the Irish with the memory of that victory hanging in the background.
Sitake knows this version of Notre Dame brings far more than reputation, pointing to its depth and its recent run of wins while also showing clear respect for the staff and the standard the program has built. The matchup also carries some history for BYU beyond the nostalgia, with previous meetings giving the Cougars reasons to believe and Sitakes coaching record against the Irish adding another layer to a game that already feels bigger than a typical nonconference date. [Read more 🡒]