Week 4 did what conference play always does: it separated the teams that are just hanging around from the ones that actually look built for the long haul. With five of the eight Big 12 games this week coming inside the league, the picture got a lot clearer, and in a few cases a lot louder.
Oklahoma State, for one, looks nothing like the team that was stuck in an 18-game conference losing streak. The Cowboys went into Morgantown and handled West Virginia 41-24, a result that makes the win over Oregon look less like a fluke and more like a warning shot.
The new-look offense keeps flashing. Wyatt Young caught eight passes for 192 yards, Drew Mestemaker went 20-of-27 for 389 yards with three touchdowns and one interception, and Caleb Hawkins added 158 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Once Oklahoma State grabbed control and pushed West Virginia into obvious passing downs, the game tilted fast. The pass rush took over from there.
Next up is UCF in Stillwater, and after the last two weeks, the Cowboys have every reason to think bigger than simple respectability.
Cincinnati is starting to feel like another team worth paying attention to. The Bearcats rallied past Kansas State 31-26, and the way they did it mattered as much as the result.
Cincinnati ran for 271 yards and held Kansas State to 155 on the ground, which meant Avery Johnson never got comfortable doing damage with his legs. The Bearcats were willing to live with some passing production if it kept Johnson from taking over on the ground, and that approach paid off.
Now they’re 4-0 for the first time under Scott Satterfield and heading to Arizona with a chance to become one of the most interesting teams in the conference. More than anything, this looks sustainable because Cincinnati is winning at the line of scrimmage, not leaning on chaos.
The temperature around Satterfield is cooling fast.
UCF also forced a rethink. The Knights beat TCU in a game that, on paper, looked like it should have tilted toward the Horned Frogs.
UCF had backup quarterback Keyone Jenkins, while TCU had Jordan Dwyer back in the lineup. But the afternoon belonged to the Knights’ defensive line.
Jaden Craig was under pressure all game, and TCU’s run game was erased, finishing with just 33 rushing yards on 27 carries. UCF’s offense was uneven, and there were chances for TCU to seize the moment, including after a Jenkins fumble following a Horned Frogs touchdown.
The defense kept the game from slipping and forced punts until the offense could slowly build enough separation. Without Alonza Barnett, UCF may not have the kind of offense that can carry it every week.
But if Alex Grinch’s defense keeps controlling the line of scrimmage like this, the Knights are going to be a problem. That makes next week’s trip to Oklahoma State a lot more interesting.
Colorado’s quarterback situation is becoming harder to ignore. Deion Sanders turned from JuJu Lewis to Isaac Wilson against Baylor, but the switch didn’t solve much.
Lewis finished the first half 11-of-16 for 75 yards, while the Buffaloes managed just one conversion on six third-down tries and missed their only fourth-down attempt. He was also sacked three times for a loss of 23 yards.
Wilson was a little better, going 12-of-25 for 156 yards and a touchdown, but he didn’t exactly lock down the job either. Baylor’s defense deserves credit, but Colorado has now looked bad offensively against Georgia Tech, Northwestern and Baylor.
At some point, that stops being a rough patch and starts looking like the offense itself. Sanders now has to sort out not only who his quarterback is, but whether either one can produce enough to win in the Big 12.
And then there’s Utah, which has gone from question mark to clear contender. The Utes went to Ames and beat Iowa State 31-17 in a game that never really felt as close as the score suggests.
Even when Iowa State trimmed the lead to 24-17, Utah answered with a seven-play, 61-yard touchdown drive and never let things get shaky. Devon Dampier kept the offense moving, Wayshawn Parker delivered another big performance, and the defense made things difficult all afternoon for Jaylen Raynor and the Iowa State offense.
This wasn’t some quirky road win built on breaks. Utah controlled both sides of the ball in a tough environment.
The questions about the schedule can go away now. The Utes look like a real Big 12 championship contender, and they’ll have a bye before returning to conference play against Kansas on October 10.
In Other News...
WVU Fans Have A New Mike Hawkins Debate After This Loss
The conversation around West Virginias defense after the loss has quickly shifted, and Mike Hawkins Jr. is suddenly part of it for reasons that go beyond the box score. Oklahoma State head coach Eric Morris came away impressed with Hawkins, calling him a dynamic runner and a special talent, which only adds another layer to the discussion for WVU fans trying to make sense of what went wrong on the field.
West Virginia leaned on a three-man front for much of the game, and it simply did not hold up against Oklahoma States offense. The setup left the Mountaineers vulnerable to explosive plays, and Morris noted the challenges that defensive look created throughout the night. For a fan base already sorting through a frustrating loss, the way Hawkins fits into that broader picture is now a debate with some real staying power. [Read more 🡒]
Zac Alley Suddenly Has A West Virginia Problem He Must Fix Fast
West Virginias defense came out of Saturday with more questions than answers after Oklahoma State piled up 609 yards of total offense and kept finding ways to turn routine snaps into big gains. The Mountaineers missed 18 tackles, gave up 389 passing yards and were gashed on the ground for 220 more, a stretch that made the night feel less like a bad outing and more like a warning sign for a unit that had been expected to be steadier.
Zac Alley is the coach under the microscope, because this kind of performance puts the defensive coordinator at the center of the conversation fast. The issues were not limited to one busted assignment or one coverage breakdown, and now the bigger concern is whether the scheme is asking too much of a group that still looks short on experience in the places it matters most. [Read more 🡒]
WVUs Oklahoma State Loss Exposed Problems Fans Cant Ignore
West Virginias Big 12 opener against Oklahoma State offered a familiar sort of frustration for fans, one that goes beyond the final score. The Mountaineers had enough success on the ground to keep themselves in the game, but the passing attack never really opened up, and that imbalance made every stalled drive feel heavier. It was the kind of performance that can survive for stretches in conference play, but only if the rest of the team holds up its end.
PFFs grades painted an even sharper picture on the other side of the ball, where the Mountaineers were undercut by a defense that struggled to get off the field. Carsten Casady and Kevin Brown had trouble in pass protection, while Nick Taylor and Andrew Powdrell were among the defenders who gave up chunk completions and yardage. For a team trying to establish itself early in league play, the issues were broad enough to raise questions that one rushing bright spot alone could not answer. [Read more 🡒]