The Big 12’s 2026 season has started with a thud, and the conference has already spent the opening stretch digging out of a bad look.
Through the first few weeks, Big 12 teams are just 2-3 against Power-4 opponents, and the two victories haven’t exactly moved the needle. That matters because if the league wants any real shot at getting two teams into the College Football Playoff, it has to start stacking results that actually impress somebody.
The early damage has been spread around. TCU opened the season by looking rough in a 15-10 loss to North Carolina, a particularly ugly result given that the Horned Frogs were expected to be a dark-horse Big 12 contender and North Carolina had just finished 4-8.
Baylor had a prime chance to give the league a marquee SEC win in Atlanta, but the Bears fell 17-16 to Auburn after a failed two-point conversion in the final seconds. Baylor outgained Auburn and won the turnover battle, but the conference still came away empty in the win column.
Kansas then added another setback last night, falling 38-21 at home to rival Missouri after getting outscored 24-7 in the second half. And Oklahoma State’s first game of the Eric Morris era was no better, with the Cowboys losing 24-10 at Tulsa for a second straight defeat to the Golden Hurricane.
The wins haven’t done much to rescue the conference’s image, either. Colorado’s 14-13 escape against Georgia Tech came thanks to a last-second field goal block, and the Buffs were fortunate to survive after the Yellow Jackets missed two makeable field goals. Cincinnati’s 34-15 home win over Boston College was cleaner, but Boston College went just 2-10 in 2025, so that one isn’t going to earn the Big 12 much respect.
Still, there’s time for the league to change the conversation.
That starts this week with Utah hosting Arkansas in a game featuring two new head coaches. The Utes are widely viewed as a conference contender, and they need to handle an SEC team that is being treated as an afterthought.
Arizona State also has a big opportunity, heading to College Station to face No. 10 Texas A&M.
An upset there would land hard for the conference.
Elsewhere, UCF and Pitt meet in a matchup of Power-4 conference pretenders, Iowa State heads to No. 21 Iowa with a chance to deliver an important win for the Big 12, and Oklahoma State hosts No. 6 Oregon, though no one expects the Cowboys to keep that one close, even at home.
The next week brings more chances. West Virginia travels to No.
25 Virginia, and Colorado goes to Northwestern of the Big 10. After that, the schedule offers one more major shot at a statement when BYU hosts No.
3 Notre Dame on October 17.
If BYU wins that one and runs the table, the Cougars would have a strong path to the playoff after coming painfully close the past two seasons. And if another Big 12 team, hopefully Texas Tech, also runs the table, the conference title game could end up featuring two undefeated teams, which would give the league its best chance at sending a pair of playoff teams.
That’s the long game, though. Right now, the Big 12 has work to do just to stop the early-season slide and start looking like a conference the rest of the sport has to take seriously.
In Other News...
Texas Tech Faces Its First Real Test Away From Lubbock
Texas Tech handled Abilene Christian 33-10 and now turns to something a little more revealing, its first road game of the season against Oregon State. Joey McGuire came away encouraged by what he saw from quarterback Will Hammond and a running backs group that helped the Red Raiders control enough of the game to move on without much drama. The challenge changes quickly now, though, because this trip gives Tech its first chance to show whether that early rhythm travels.
Oregon State is coming off a loss to Houston, but the Beavers still look like a far more complete test than the one Texas Tech just cleared. Braden Atkinson and Jesse Legree give Oregon State the kind of passing-game threat that can force a defense to stay honest, and this matchup should tell Tech a lot more about where it stands away from Lubbock. For McGuire, the next step is less about what the Red Raiders did last week and more about how they handle a different kind of pressure on the road. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Techs Oregon State Trip Includes A Contract Twist Fans May Not Expect
Texas Techs trip to Oregon State this fall carries a little more than the usual non-conference plotting. The Red Raiders are set to meet the Beavers on Sept. 12, 2025, and the game is part of a two-game series contract signed back in May 2018, one of the many non-conference matchups on Techs schedule through 2034 that come with an appearance fee attached.
In this case, the arrangement includes a payment due to Texas Tech by Dec. 31, 2025, and the officiating assignments are spelled out too. Pac-12 officials are scheduled to work the 2025 game, with Big 12 officials set for the return meeting in 2026, a small but notable detail in a matchup that has a few more moving parts than the average early-season road trip. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Tech's First Road Test Puts A Few Red Raiders Under Pressure
Texas Tech heads into its first road test after opening the season with a week-one win, and the Red Raiders are already dealing with a few lineup wrinkles as they prepare for Oregon State. The trip will put added attention on players expected to carry more of the load, including Jamond Mathis, Cameron Dickey and Malik Esquerra, while the defense also adjusts without starting edge rusher Trey White.
Mathis in particular gave Texas Tech a glimpse of what he can do in his debut, flashing as a disruptive presence right away and giving the staff another option to lean on in a tougher environment. Esquerras role is also expanding with Brendan Jordan serving a suspension, which pushes the safety into a second straight start and gives Texas Tech one more spot where the margin for error is a little thinner than it was a week ago. [Read more 🡒]