Sunday’s first real look at the 2026 Big 12 season didn’t exactly calm anybody down. If anything, it made the picture messier. There was plenty of uneven football across the league, a few eye-opening results, and a whole lot of evidence that September is still about sorting out who’s actually ready to play.
That showed up right away in the way several Big 12 teams looked like they were still trying to find their footing. Even some of the winners that handled FCS opponents by four touchdowns or more came away looking shaky, including Texas Tech.
West Virginia also provided a reminder that nothing is safe this early, jumping out to a 24-0 lead before nearly giving it all back. It was the kind of weekend that made “rust” feel like the most accurate word for the league as a whole.
There’s also a real chance the Big 12 race ends up looking different from what a lot of people expect. One take from the weekend was that the No. 2 team in the league could end up with two-plus losses, and maybe even three.
The logic is simple enough: there doesn’t appear to be a clean, obvious top two separating themselves the way teams did last year, when both conference championship game participants had just one loss. Utah, which finished third, only had two.
This year, the gap feels wider in the wrong direction.
At the same time, the bottom of the league may not be as hopeless as it looked a year ago. The idea here is that the worst team in the Big 12 could still end up with two-plus wins. Oklahoma State was the obvious cautionary example after going 0-9 last year and then opening this season with a loss to Tulsa, but the belief is that the Cowboys will eventually settle in once the pieces have had a few weeks to come together.
As for the weekend’s clear winners and losers, Colorado landed in the good column. It wasn’t clean, and it wasn’t pretty, but a cross-country road win over a team that was supposed to be pretty darn good is still a major result for Colorado and a positive one for the Big 12.
Baylor ended up on the bad side of the ledger in a game that kept slipping away in small, painful chunks. The Bears’ first drive got them inside the 30 before a fumble killed it.
The second drive reached Auburn territory and ended with an interception. The third got into field goal range and finished with a missed kick.
Even after all that, Baylor still had a chance to steal it with a two-point conversion with nine seconds left, but the attempt failed after video review, and the Bears walked away with a 17-16 loss.
Then there was Oklahoma State, which took the ugly spot. The offseason hype around the Cowboys was loud, with all the talk about transfers and what they had done at previous stops. None of that mattered against Tulsa, which forced four turnovers and beat Oklahoma State by two touchdowns.
That all leads into the Actual Accomplished Rankings, a blind-resume style look at what teams have really done on the field so far this season. No preseason expectations.
No brand names. No projecting forward.
Just what has actually happened in 2026 to this point. And because it’s this early, those rankings are going to move around a lot before things start to settle.
In Other News...
WVU Added A New DB But One Key Question Still Looms
West Virginia added another defensive back to its future plans this week when former Georgia defender JaCorey Thomas committed to join the program beginning in the 2026 season. Thomas got a look with the Carolina Panthers at rookie minicamp after going undrafted, but he did not sign an NFL contract, leaving his next stop pointed toward Morgantown instead.
For the Mountaineers, the move adds more depth to a position group that never stops needing it, even if Thomass exact timetable on the field is still unsettled. His arrival does not push anyone out of the current rotation, and the remaining question is when, not whether, he will actually suit up once he gets to campus. [Read more 🡒]
WVUs Defensive Breakthrough Came With One Immediate Concern
West Virginia opened the season with the kind of defensive performance Zac Alley had been chasing, squeezing Coastal Carolina on the ground and sending constant heat at the quarterback. The Mountaineers produced 39 pressures, their most in Alleys 13 games, a notable jump for a defensive line that entered the year with plenty of inexperience and still managed to look disruptive from the start.
The problem for West Virginia is that the breakthrough came with a major health scare attached. Darius Wiley went down with a lower-body injury during the game and had to be carted off the field, leaving the Mountaineers waiting for an update on his condition. For a defense that finally flashed the activity and edge it wanted, the next question is whether it can keep that momentum if Wiley is forced to miss time. [Read more 🡒]
WVUs Schedule Just Got More Interesting After Week One
Week Zero did not do West Virginia many favors on the schedule front, and the early returns across the Mountaineers upcoming opponents already have a different feel to them. The roundup of recent game performances showed how much can change in a hurry, with several future foes opening their seasons by setting the tone for what should be a more revealing stretch once the schedule gets rolling.
Oklahoma State and Cincinnati in particular now sit on opposite ends of the early conversation, which matters for a West Virginia team trying to judge where the real trouble spots might be. The Cowboys opener raised immediate questions about their polish, while Cincinnatis debut suggested a much higher ceiling at quarterback than some may have expected. For the Mountaineers, the bigger picture is still forming, but the first week at least gave a few upcoming matchups a little more edge. [Read more 🡒]