Now that the Big 12 has moved into the games that actually carry some weight, it’s worth taking a quick, messy look at the league’s middle and lower tier. Call it the “Other 14” if you want, but this conference feels pretty clearly split in two: BYU and Texas Tech at the top, and everybody else trying to sort itself out.
The gap is big enough that the league’s third-place-through-last race can almost feel like a blind draw. Utah is first out of the box here, and that’s no accident.
The Utes are 3-0, they’re heading to Jack Trice Stadium to face Iowa State at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, and they’ve rolled through Idaho, Arkansas and Utah State while averaging 47 points a game.
Devon Dampier has already put himself among the Big 12’s top five quarterbacks, and the defense has been giving up just 8 points per game - with the usual asterisk that those numbers came against teams that aren’t very good.
After that, Houston lands next. The Cougars are listed at 0-1, 2-1, which fits a résumé built on a one-point loss to Texas Tech and comfortable wins over Oregon State and Southern. West Virginia comes after that, also unbeaten in conference play at 0-0 and 3-0 overall, with wins against Coastal, UT-Martin and Virginia, and a Saturday home game against Oklahoma State waiting.
Then comes the rest of the pile: Oklahoma State, Arizona, Kansas State, Baylor, TCU, Iowa State, Arizona State, Cincinnati, UCF, Colorado and Kansas. Honest.
There’s still a chance the league is a little better than expected. Iowa State, in particular, has already shown more than plenty of people thought it would, especially with 83 newcomers in the mix. That doesn’t mean the Cyclones are suddenly being mistaken for a finished product, but the opener did show some real upside.
Saturday is also one of those irritating TV days that leaves Iowa fans juggling remotes and screens. Iowa State’s matchup with No.
15 Utah is on FOX. Iowa’s trip to No.
18 Michigan is on CBS. Both kick at 2:30 p.m.
It’s the rare day when the two biggest fan bases in the state are both staring at top-20 opponents at the same time, and the networks have no interest in making that easy.
If you don’t have picture-in-picture, you’re stuck. If you’ve got two TVs, congratulations.
The market numbers don’t help the case for Iowa viewers, either. The Des Moines-Ames market is 67th, according to Nielsen, and Iowa City-Cedar Rapids is 94th.
So no, the people setting game times probably weren’t spending much energy thinking about how this would land in Iowa. It doesn’t happen often, and Utah being this good under a new coach probably wasn’t the easiest thing to predict.
The last time Iowa State and Iowa both had ranked conference opponents on the same day and at the same time - with the Cy-Hawk game excluded - was Nov. 16, 2019.
Even that comparison comes with a wrinkle, since Iowa State’s game against No. 22 Texas that season started at 3:30 p.m., while Iowa’s game against seventh-ranked Minnesota was scheduled for 3 p.m.
Still, the point stands: this is a big Saturday for anyone in the state who just likes to watch good college football.
Iowa State’s 55-point outburst and 365 rushing yards against Bowling Green didn’t suddenly turn everybody into believers, and it probably won’t change much outside the program. Nobody is about to assume Aiden Flora will keep piling up nearly 200 rushing yards every week.
And Cameron Pettaway turning in a 100-yard kickoff return in every one of the remaining nine games? Sure, why not - if we’re making jokes.
But the performance did say something about what Jimmy Rogers’ team might be capable of. Against the Cyclones’ weakest nonconference opponent in a long time, there was enough there to suggest this new group has breakout potential, even if some people never expected much from a roster that had to be rebuilt from scratch.
For pure fun, here’s the guesswork version of the weekend: Utah beats Iowa State by 10. Iowa steals one at Michigan with a walk-off goal-line stand.
Colorado’s hot-seat talk gets louder after a loss at Baylor. UCF knocks off TCU.
Kansas State wins by two scores at Cincinnati. West Virginia edges Oklahoma State on the last possession.
And in Happy Valley, Wisconsin running back star Abu Sama and his former Iowa State teammates and coaches now at Penn State share a hug after the Badgers lose.
Just for fun.
In Other News...
Tamin Lipsey Gives Iowa State A Huge Boost With One Catch
Tamin Lipseys path back to Iowa State basketball just got a major lift, at least for now. A Monroe County Circuit Court injunction in Indiana cleared the way for Lipsey and roughly 90 other athletes to receive a fifth year of eligibility, giving the Cyclones guard a potential avenue to return for the 2026-27 season under a challenge to the NCAAs new age-based rule.
For Iowa State, the development matters because Lipsey has been central to the programs recent rise, and any chance to keep that core intact is worth watching closely. The catch is that the NCAA is expected to appeal, so while the ruling opens the door, his status is still far from settled as the legal fight over which 2022 high school graduates qualify continues to play out. [Read more 🡒]
Iowa State Gets An Early Big 12 Test It Cant Fake
Utah has spent the opening month looking every bit like a Big 12 heavyweight, outscoring its first three opponents by a combined 142-24 and stacking up impressive numbers on both sides of the ball. Now the Utes step into conference play against Iowa State, a team that has built its own early case with strong defensive production and a run game led by its top rusher. It is the kind of league opener that should tell both programs something real about where they stand.
For Iowa State, this is less about surviving an early test than meeting a contender on the same field and finding out whether its defensive foundation can travel. The matchup also carries some added familiarity, with the two programs having a recent history that gives this one a little more edge than a typical opener. Both coaches have already acknowledged the stakes of the moment, and the Cyclones now get a first Big 12 measuring stick they cannot really sidestep. [Read more 🡒]
Tamin Lipsey Just Changed Iowa States Ceiling Again
A court ruling in Indiana has opened the door for nearly 90 college athletes to play another season, and that includes a familiar name for Iowa State fans in Tamin Lipsey. Judge Kara Krothe granted a preliminary injunction in Monroe County Circuit Court, giving the group access to a fifth year of eligibility and setting up a potential ripple effect across college basketball.
For the Cyclones, Lipseys possible return matters because it keeps one of the programs most important pieces in the picture as the roster takes shape for another run. The ruling also touches several other notable players around the country, from Malik Reneau to Tre White, and the NCAA is expected to appeal, so the final answer is still unsettled even if the immediate impact is already being felt. [Read more 🡒]