The Big 12 showed up in force in Tuesday night’s College Football Playoff rankings, with six teams making the Week 11 Top 25 and Utah sitting all the way up at No. 2 nationally.
The Utes are still the league’s highest-ranked team, and they’re joined in the rankings by BYU, Texas Tech, Houston, Arizona and Oklahoma State. With three weeks left in the regular season, that gives the conference a crowded national footprint and a race that still has plenty of moving parts.
Utah kept its hold on the top spot inside the league after taking down rival BYU 28-20 in the Holy War last weekend. The Utes are unbeaten in Big 12 play and remain in control of their path to the conference championship.
Even with that loss, BYU stayed in the Top 10, giving the Big 12 two teams among the nine highest-ranked programs in the country.
Texas Tech comes in at No. 12 after a tense 53-48 win over West Virginia. At 5-1 in Big 12 play, the Red Raiders are still very much in the hunt for the conference championship game.
Houston is right behind at No. 14 after beating Cincinnati 31-24. Arizona enters the rankings at No. 23 after edging TCU 29-28, while Oklahoma State rounds out the group at No. 25 after a 66-28 rout of Kansas State.
This weekend could shake everything up again.
No. 2 Utah heads to No.
23 Arizona in one of the biggest games on the Big 12 slate. No.
9 BYU is at home against Baylor in a game with major conference championship implications. Texas Tech faces a tough road trip to No.
25 Oklahoma State, and No. 14 Houston travels to Colorado on Friday night.
With six ranked teams and multiple head-to-head matchups still on the schedule, the Big 12 has a chance to keep building its national profile before the regular season ends. At the same time, those same games are going to knock some contenders off course before the postseason even gets here.
In Other News...
Oklahoma State Has Real Reason To Watch Eric Morris And Texas Tech
Texas Techs coaching situation has become part of the background noise around Oklahoma State, especially with Eric Morris now in Stillwater and his name already surfacing in other conversations. Morris, a former Red Raiders player, has tried to keep the focus on his own program, saying he is committed to Oklahoma State even as outside interest follows a coach with his profile.
The Texas Tech side of the equation matters because Joey McGuire has built real momentum in Lubbock, including guiding the Red Raiders to their first College Football Playoff appearance last season. With Texas Tech leadership publicly backing McGuire and signaling stability, Oklahoma State has a reason to keep an eye on how that situation develops, even if Morris keeps insisting his attention is elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Could Be Running Out Of Proven QB Options
The quarterback market is tightening fast across college football, and Oklahoma State has to be watching the ripple effects closely. Mississippi States Kamario Taylor is reportedly finalizing a new deal to stay with the Bulldogs, a move that would put him in position to become the highest-paid quarterback in the sport and only adds to the sense that proven options are disappearing early.
For programs trying to navigate the portal, the timing matters. The pool of available passers is shrinking as more quarterbacks choose to stay put, and the demand for anyone with real starting experience remains high. For the Cowboys, that kind of squeeze only raises the stakes around every decision at the position, especially with the market moving quickly and the best names getting locked in before other schools can make a push. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma State Has A Real Chance To Wreck Texas Techs Playoff Push
Texas Tech comes into Saturday night in a spot it has spent most of the season chasing, sitting at 8-1 and just outside the College Football Playoff picture. But the Red Raiders are walking into a dangerous matchup at Oklahoma State, where ESPN analyst Greg McElroy pointed to the Cowboys offensive upside as the kind of thing that can make life uncomfortable for a team trying to protect a postseason push.
A big part of that threat starts with quarterback Drew Mestemaker, who has been piling up big passing days and giving Oklahoma State a real chance to stress a Texas Tech defense that has not always looked steady. With kickoff set for 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, this has the feel of a game where the Cowboys can do more than just play spoiler, and Texas Tech will have to prove its playoff case on the road against a team that can score in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]