Week 7 gives the Big 12 a little bit of everything: a top-10 showdown in Provo, a rivalry with plenty of history behind it, and a few conference games that could tell us a lot about who’s real and who’s just hanging around.
Start with the biggest stage of the weekend. BYU gets Notre Dame at home in a game that feels like the center of the college football universe, with College GameDay headed to Provo.
It doesn’t get much bigger for a regular-season matchup. Even so, BYU is still stepping in as a double-digit underdog, and that says plenty about how the matchup is being viewed.
Notre Dame has the look of a national championship contender, but the Irish haven’t faced this kind of test yet. BYU, meanwhile, still has plenty of doubters wondering whether the talent gap is simply too steep.
That’s the question hanging over the entire weekend: can BYU hang with Notre Dame?
Kansas and Kansas State bring a different kind of pressure. The Sunflower Showdown always matters, even with both teams carrying a couple of losses.
These teams don’t need extra motivation when they see each other, and the history has been brutal for Kansas. Kansas State has won 17 straight in the series, and the Jayhawks haven’t taken one from the Wildcats since 2008.
Still, rivalry games have a way of ignoring the script. Kansas State hasn’t exactly been untouchable this year, and Kansas has enough issues of its own to make this feel unpredictable.
For Lance Leipold, there’s another layer: he’s 0-7 against Kansas State and Missouri since taking over in 2021. A win here would break that run in a hurry.
Another Big 12 game worth circling is Oklahoma State’s trip to Houston, where the quarterback talent should be front and center. Drew Mestemaker and Conner Weigman rank among the best quarterbacks in college football, and both offenses have the kind of firepower that can turn a game into a track meet.
The concern is on the other side of the ball. Neither defense has been consistently elite, even if Houston’s numbers have looked better on paper.
The wrinkle is that Houston hasn’t had to deal with an offense as dangerous as Oklahoma State’s. Points should come in bunches, but this one may come down to which defense can squeeze out the decisive stop or two.
There’s also Baylor, where DJ Lagway keeps building momentum. Through just three starts, the former five-star has thrown for 860 yards, eight touchdowns and only two interceptions.
The completion percentage still has room to climb, but the production is already there, and his last game against Arizona State was his best yet. The next chance to keep it rolling comes against TCU.
If Lagway carries that form into this one, Baylor starts looking a lot more dangerous in the Big 12 picture.
Then there’s West Virginia, which enters the weekend with a defense that has been hard to watch. The Mountaineers have one of the worst units in the Big 12, and arguably one of the worst in the country.
Defensive coordinator Zac Alley said the staff simplified things before the Arizona game, but the results didn’t change much, as West Virginia still gave up more than 50 points in the loss. Cincinnati now brings one of the top three rushing offenses in the conference into a matchup that could expose the same problem again.
West Virginia is allowing more than 163 rushing yards per game and has struggled to hold up against physical run games. Since JC French isn’t much of a threat through the air, the Mountaineers should be loading the box and daring Cincinnati to beat them another way.
The question is simple: can West Virginia finally stop the run?
In Other News...
WVU Just Got A Secondary Boost Fans Needed Before Cincinnati
West Virginia got a welcome midweek lift ahead of Saturdays noon meeting with Cincinnati, as the Mountaineers released an updated availability report that cleared five players off the probable list. For a team trying to tighten things up on the back end, any added stability in the secondary matters, especially with conference play carrying more weight this time of year.
The bigger development is at cornerback, where starter Nick Taylor moved from doubtful to questionable, keeping alive the possibility he could be available in Morgantown. West Virginia still has one more availability update to come before kickoff, so the picture could change again, but for now the Mountaineers have a little more breathing room than they did earlier in the week. [Read more 🡒]
West Virginia's Defense Just Put More Pressure On Cincinnati Showdown
Phil Steele sees plenty of offense looming when West Virginia heads into its matchup with Cincinnati, and the concern starts on the defensive side for the Mountaineers. Both teams bring strong running games into the game, which is why Steele expects the total to climb past 62.5 and why this feels like the kind of Big 12 meeting where possession control and tackling discipline could matter almost as much as explosive plays.
For West Virginia, the challenge is making sure its own attack can keep pace if the game turns into a shootout. Steele pointed to Cam Cook and Michael Hawkins as important pieces for the Mountaineers, and their production could become even more valuable if Cincinnati is able to lean on the ground game and keep the pressure on West Virginia's defense throughout the night. [Read more 🡒]
Pat McAfees Next ESPN Deal Could Change His Place In Sports Media
Pat McAfee has already carved out a rare lane for himself in sports media, turning a former NFL punters platform into a full-scale broadcasting empire. The West Virginia native currently makes about $30 million a year from ESPN for his show and other network work, a number that already reflects just how central he has become to the companys daily sports conversation.
Now McAfee is in extension talks with ESPN, and the reported figures are eye-opening. Offers have been floated in the $60 million to $65 million range annually, which would put him atop the networks pay scale and further underscore how far his career has traveled from the field to the center of sports entertainment, after earlier deals with FanDuel and DraftKings helped build the brand he now carries. [Read more 🡒]