Saturday’s chaos left the Big 12 sitting in a far better spot than it was before the weekend started.
The latest AP Top 25 shows five Big 12 teams in the poll, which is a season high for the conference. BYU is the face of that surge at No. 2, with Texas Tech at No.
8, Utah at No. 10, Houston at No. 14 and Arizona at No.
That’s a meaningful change in the playoff race. The Big 12 no longer has just one team hanging near the top; it now has multiple programs clustered inside the top 15, plus another ranked team giving the league even more presence in the national picture.
BYU’s climb is the loudest headline. The Cougars are up to No. 2, their highest ranking since the 1984 national championship season, putting the program back in a place it hasn’t occupied in decades.
Texas Tech and Utah give the Big 12 even more heft in the top 10, while Houston’s move to No. 14 adds another contender to the mix. Arizona rounding out the group at No. 25 gives the conference a fifth ranked team, and that kind of depth changes the way the league looks on the national stage.
There’s a flip side, though. More ranked teams means more chances for quality wins, but it also means more games where Big 12 teams can knock each other down. That’s the tradeoff when a league suddenly has real volume at the top.
The timing matters, too. Five of the AP Top 7 lost on Saturday, and that opened the door for a major reshuffle.
The Big 12 walked through it with a stronger collection of ranked teams and a legitimate national contender sitting at No. 2.
The conference has been asking whether it has enough playoff-caliber teams. This week, it answered that question with a pretty strong case. The harder part comes next: keeping it going.
In Other News...
Rece Davis Turns BYU Win Into Bigger Officiating Fight
The fallout from BYUs win over Notre Dame kept moving well after the final whistle, with ESPNs Rece Davis taking aim at the officiating mistake that ended the game with the Irish out of time for one last snap. The Big 12 later acknowledged the error, saying one second should have remained on the clock and promising a review of the replay officiating process, which only added to the sense that the finish was about more than just one result.
Davis also tied the episode into a broader conversation that has been simmering around the College Football Playoff expansion debate, using the clock mishap as another example of why the sport keeps getting pulled into bigger questions about fairness and control. For BYU, the win stands, but the way it ended has ensured the discussion will linger well beyond one Saturday night. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Just Got The Statement Win Fans Dreamed About
Bear Bachmeier gave BYU the kind of all-around performance that can change the way a season feels, helping the Cougars outlast Notre Dame in a 28-24 win that should resonate well beyond one Saturday. The sophomore quarterback was effective as a passer and a runner, and the offense found another steady presence in tight end Walker Lyons, who kept showing up as a reliable target when the game tightened up.
The result pushed BYU all the way to No. 2 in the Associated Press Top 25, a sign of how much national respect the Cougars earned with the victory. For a team trying to prove it belongs in the top tier, the bigger question now is how this performance carries over, because statement wins only matter if they become part of a pattern. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Just Turned The Big 12 Race Into Something Much Bigger
A wild Saturday across college football sent the AP poll into a spin, and BYU found itself at the center of it. Five of the top seven teams lost on the same day for the first time in the history of the poll, a shakeup driven by results all over the country as Miami moved to No. 1 after a double-overtime win against Florida State and the Cougars climbed to No. 2 after upsetting Notre Dame.
The bigger picture for BYU is how much larger its season has suddenly become. What had been a strong run inside the Big 12 now comes with national relevance, especially after a slate that also saw Ohio State beat Indiana, Tennessee knock off Alabama, Florida upset Texas and Auburn topple Georgia. The rankings changed fast, and with them the spotlight on a BYU team that has turned a conference race into something far more consequential. [Read more 🡒]