Welcome to Week 8 of the Big 12 football season, and the league’s schedule has a little bit of everything this weekend.
BYU-Notre Dame is the biggest name on the board, but the Big 12 still has plenty to sell, with Kansas-Kansas State and Baylor-TCU giving the slate some extra edge. If you’re hunting for value instead of splurging, there are a few tickets that stand out.
TCU at Baylor is the cheapest of the bunch at $48, and it comes with both momentum and intrigue. Baylor returns to Waco after a big win at Arizona State, carrying a perfect 2-0 start in Big 12 play into a rivalry game on its home field.
DJ Lagway is also trending in the right direction after an early-season injury in the Auburn loss. The Florida transfer threw for 306 yards and four touchdowns last week in Tempe, and he’ll be challenged by a TCU defense that has been better than its 2-3 record suggests.
The Frogs held BYU to 17 points last week, limited Bear Bachmeier to just 62 total passing yards, and were steady enough against the run in a one-score loss, allowing 154 rushing yards and two Bachmeier rushing touchdowns. TCU is still trying to sort out its scoring issues, but it did get a decent line from Jaden Craig last week - 18 completions on 25 attempts for 187 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
No. 18 Oklahoma State at No.
20 Houston is the priciest budget option at $47, and it may be the most compelling matchup of the three. Houston, which is a 4.5-point favorite at home, is coming off an impressive 35-16 win at Kansas State, where Conner Weigman threw for four touchdowns.
The Cougars don’t always get much of a home-field edge in terms of crowd size, but this is still a top-25 conference game with real weight to it. Oklahoma State enters with its own story line, as Drew Mestemaker and the Cowboy offense take a perfect 2-0 Big 12 start on the road after conference wins at West Virginia and against UCF at home.
Mestemaker already has 1,575 yards this season and is in line for midseason honors attention.
Then there’s Cincinnati at West Virginia, the tightest line of the weekend and the cheapest seat on the list at $42. West Virginia is a 1.5-point favorite in Morgantown, even though the Mountaineers are 0-3 to open Big 12 play under Michael Hawkins Jr.
Cincinnati comes in after a rough 34-7 loss at Arizona, its first dip from the production level it had been carrying earlier in the year. JC French IV has shown he can handle pressure, including in close games against Kansas State and Miami (Ohio), but this trip sets up as a difficult road ask.
The Bearcats still want to lean on the run game, with Gi’Bran Payne leading the way, and that approach should be in play again against a West Virginia defense ranked 98th against the run. The Mountaineers are giving up 163.8 rushing yards per game and have already allowed nine rushing touchdowns.
In Other News...
Booker T Finally Gets An Overdue Fix To Its 1971 Title Story
Booker T. Washington High School is finally getting a long-delayed correction to one of its proudest football moments. A new gold ball trophy is on the way to replace the one that sat as the schools championship keepsake for decades, after the original piece of hardware was linked to the wrong classification even though the Hornets earned the state crown they were actually playing for.
The school plans to honor members of the 1971 team during a halftime ceremony at an upcoming game, a fitting backdrop for a fix that has been overdue for years. For a program that still treasures that title run, the new trophy is more than a cosmetic upgrade. It is a cleaner version of the record, and a reminder that some old victories deserve to be told correctly. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma State Faces A Big 12 Test That Could Reveal A Lot
Oklahoma State is heading into a Big 12 matchup with Houston that feels like more than just another conference game. Both teams have winning records, and the stakes are clear for the Cowboys, who could learn plenty about where they stand in the league when they meet a Cougars team that has played well enough to make this a meaningful early barometer. The game will also be on national television, adding a little extra weight to a meeting that already carries conference implications.
Matt Galatzan of Houston On SI pointed to several names that could shape how this one unfolds, including Oklahoma State quarterback Weigman and Houston contributors Re'Shaun Sanford and Overmyer. He also broke down where Houston has looked sturdy and where it has been vulnerable, the kind of information that makes this matchup more than a simple checkmark on the schedule for the Cowboys. For Oklahoma State, it is the sort of test that can reveal a lot about how far this team has come and how much farther it still has to go. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma States Houston Test Will Show If This Offensive Surge Is Real
Oklahoma State heads into its upcoming game against Houston with a scoring surge that has changed the conversation around the Cowboys' offense. After topping 40 points in three straight games for the first time since 2018, there is at least some evidence that this unit is finding a rhythm, and the matchup ahead offers a cleaner measuring stick for how real that improvement might be.
Houston brings the kind of test that can separate a hot stretch from a true turnaround, especially with writers circling the key players and defensive matchups that could tilt the afternoon. The Cowboys still enter as a modest underdog, which only adds to the intrigue, because a road result here would say plenty about whether this recent burst is the start of something bigger or just a strong run against the wrong opposition. [Read more 🡒]