The Big 12’s race is tightening with three weeks left, and the league’s picture is getting clearer in some places and messier in others. Utah keeps rolling, Texas Tech still sits in the driver’s seat among the one-loss teams, and Oklahoma State just injected a fresh dose of chaos into the conversation.
Utah’s win over BYU in the Holy War kept the Utes unbeaten and put them on a glide path to their first Big 12 championship game in Arlington. It also lines up with a bit of conference history: this will be the last Big 12 championship game before the expanded playoff to 24 teams wipes it out next season.
Texas Tech remains the only team in the league with one conference loss, but Saturday’s matchup with Oklahoma State looms large. That game will determine whether the Red Raiders stay in second place or whether the Cowboys can stir up a remarkable amount of trouble for the second title-game spot.
One of the biggest individual risers is Oklahoma State quarterback Drew Mestemaker, and the performance he just put together against Kansas State is the kind that gets people talking fast. He threw for more than 300 yards and became the first player in Big 12 history - and just the second in FBS over the last 30 years - to throw at least four touchdown passes with at least one rushing touchdown and one receiving touchdown in the same game. The only other player to do it was Northern Illinois quarterback Jordan Lynch.
The NFL buzz around Mestemaker is already loud, and the source of that buzz was in the building for the Kansas State game. He’s a redshirt sophomore, so he still has time to decide what comes next, but the momentum is obvious.
As the reporting put it, “enjoy watching him play in the Big 12 while you can. Because I don’t think he’s going to be in an OSU uniform in 2027.”
Baylor has become one of the league’s more surprising upward swings since Dave Aranda was fired and defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman took over as interim head coach. The Bears have won two straight, locked up a bowl berth and, as Pete Mundo pointed out, still have a path to the Big 12 championship game.
That turnaround is not what most people expected when Aranda was dismissed. Instead of folding, Baylor has stayed alive and competitive, which changes the feel of the coaching search entirely. Klanderman’s run has made the next step for the program look either easier or more complicated, depending on how you view it.
There’s also a broader sign of strength for the conference as a whole. When the College Football Playoff rankings came out Tuesday, the Big 12 had six teams in the Top 25.
Only Utah would make the playoff if it started today, but the depth is hard to ignore. The first five ranked Big 12 teams - Utah, Texas Tech, BYU, Houston and Arizona - all have two or fewer league losses.
Oklahoma State at No. 25 was the surprise, and it marked the program’s first Top 25 CFP ranking in nearly three years.
Not everyone is moving in the right direction. TCU’s loss to Arizona on Friday was ugly enough that it points toward changes ahead, whether that means assistants, transfers or more.
The Horned Frogs were expected to be a dark horse Big 12 contender back in August, but that idea looks a long way off now. The loss was described as one of the most absurd ways to lose a game, and with Sonny Dykes already under heavy pressure, it felt like the kind of result that can drag down both a season and a staff.
Colorado is in a similarly rough spot. The Buffaloes are one of the three teams in the conference with just one league win, and there’s little reason to think the offseason won’t bring more change.
But that’s been part of the pattern under Deion Sanders, who has already overhauled the staff and roster again this year by bringing in offensive coordinator Brennan Marion, defensive coordinator Chris Marve and a new wave of players. Julian Lewis was committed as the starting quarterback, but the offense has not come together.
The defense, especially the defensive line, has held up. The offense has not.
It’s a far cry from two years ago, when Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter were powering Colorado through Big 12 defenses. Right now, the program feels unsettled, and the final three games are set up to be a grind.
Then there are Kansas and Kansas State, the other two one-win teams in the league. The Sunflower State rivalry has turned into a rough watch, with the two programs combining for just seven wins this season.
Kansas State got blown out by Oklahoma State and gave up more points to the Cowboys than it ever has in Manhattan. Kansas, meanwhile, keeps flashing talent on paper without turning it into enough on-field production, and the quarterback situation remains far from ideal.
Colin Klein should get some patience at Kansas State because this is his first season and he’s a program legend. Lance Leipold’s situation at Kansas is less settled, even with a contract that carries a significant buyout.
In Other News...
TCUs Undefeated Start Suddenly Comes With A Real Concern
TCU kept its undefeated start intact with a 100-92 double-overtime win over UL Monroe, but the game came with a sharper edge than the record suggests. Micah Robinson delivered a career-high 27 points and helped carry the Horned Frogs through a night that demanded far more than a routine nonconference finish, with the outcome still hanging deep into the second extra period.
Jamie Dixon and several players pointed to the late-game execution that finally separated TCU from a stubborn opponent, and that is where the real concern begins to surface. The Horned Frogs found a way to win, but a game like this also leaves a reminder that the margin for error shrinks quickly once the competition tightens, and TCU will have to clean up the details if it wants the unbeaten run to mean more than just a clean record. [Read more 🡒]
TCU Is Rallying Around Ed Small After A Brutal Moment
TCU spent the days after its loss to Arizona trying to turn the page, but the conversation around the program kept circling back to sophomore wide receiver Ed Small. The critical onside kick recovery error became one of the defining moments of the defeat, yet coach Sonny Dykes and teammates have made clear they are not letting one play define a player they value for much more than a single snap.
As the Horned Frogs prepare for Kansas State, the message inside the building has been about support and response rather than blame. Smalls teammates have rallied around him, pointing to his character and the work he has put in, and TCU now faces the familiar challenge of carrying a difficult moment forward without letting it linger into the next game. [Read more 🡒]
TCU Is Remembering One Of The Programs Most Complicated Coaches
F.A. Dry, the coach who led TCU football from 1977 to 1982, died in Fort Worth at the age of 95, prompting a fresh look at one of the programs more complicated figures. His time in Fort Worth came with the kind of results that can make a coach easy to reduce to a record, but Drys place in Horned Frogs history is more layered than that.
Dry also spent time at Tulsa and as an assistant at Baylor, and his footprint reached well beyond the sidelines where he worked. He helped shape the development of modern offenses, with ties to the early roots of the West Coast offense, and his broader coaching legacy was recognized with induction into Tulsas athletics hall of fame. [Read more 🡒]