The Big 12 Broadcast: Ranked Cowboys, Unbeaten Bearcats, and Fort Worth Temperatures Rising

By Simon Carroll

There is a point every season when the Big 12 stops being a collection of individual results and starts to reveal what it might actually be. Four weeks into 2026, we may have reached it. The conference has five teams in the AP Top 25, with BYU, Texas Tech and Utah all sitting inside the top 13, and Oklahoma State and Houston joining them in the rankings. Cincinnati is unbeaten and receiving votes, Arizona is also attracting attention, and suddenly there are more credible contenders than there are comfortable answers.

That is both the appeal and the problem. The Big 12 has genuine depth, but depth in a conference without divisions means somebody has to lose. The teams currently sitting near the top of the standings will eventually start taking wins from one another, and by the time November arrives we could be left with a conference full of very good teams trying to explain why their two losses should not outweigh somebody else’s résumé.

Elsewhere, there are more immediate questions. Oklahoma State has gone from a program seemingly in freefall to one of the most intriguing teams in the country. Cincinnati is beginning to look like something more substantial than a nice September story. TCU has reached the point where another slow start might start to expose some holes in the Horned Frogs, particularly with BYU coming to Fort Worth. And, because this is college football, there is always time for a throwback uniform to become a story in its own right.

So, as conference play begins to consume the schedule, here are five things demanding our attention in the Big 12 this week.

Five Into The Poll

The easiest way to demonstrate the changing perception of the Big 12 is to look at the AP Top 25. There are five conference teams in it this week: BYU at No. 10, Texas Tech at No. 12, Utah at No. 13, Oklahoma State at No. 19 and Houston at No. 20. Cincinnati and Arizona are also receiving votes. For a conference that has spent much of the last few years being asked whether it could produce enough quality at the top to compete nationally, that is a fairly emphatic answer.

The most interesting name on that list, however, is Oklahoma State. Not because the Cowboys were expected to be there – considering the level of change, they were not – but because of how quickly the entire narrative around Eric Morris’ first season has changed. A few weeks ago, Oklahoma State’s loss at Tulsa looked like the sort of result that might define a difficult rebuilding year. Now it is increasingly being treated as the outlier in a season that has taken a remarkable turn. Following their emphatic win over Oregon, the Cowboys went into Morgantown last Saturday and beat West Virginia 41-24, opening Big 12 play with a road victory and earning their first AP ranking since 2024.

The performance itself was considerably more convincing than a box-score glance might suggest. Oklahoma State produced 609 yards of offense, with quarterback Drew Mestemaker throwing for 389 yards and three touchdowns while Caleb Hawkins added 180 yards on the ground. Wide receiver Wyatt Young contributed eight catches for 192 yards and a touchdown, and the Cowboys pulled away after West Virginia had made the better start. Oklahoma State is now ranked third nationally in total offense, hitting the heights that were made possible with Morris’ appointment and his pipeline to the North Texas talent.

That is what makes this more than a feel-good story about a program emerging from a difficult period. Oklahoma State is beginning to look structurally interesting. Mestemaker has given the offence stability, the running game has provided balance and the passing attack has demonstrated the ability to produce explosive plays. Morris inherited a program that needed considerably more than cosmetic change, yet four games into his tenure the Cowboys are already playing with an identity that is difficult to dismiss.

Of course, this is where the Big 12 tends to get you. Oklahoma State is ranked No. 19, but it is also sitting behind four conference teams that have their own ambitions. BYU, Texas Tech, Utah and Houston are not going anywhere, and Cincinnati is trying to force its way into the conversation. The AP ranking is a snapshot, not a destination.

Still, five Big 12 teams in the poll is important. More importantly, the fifth team is not simply filling the final slot. Oklahoma State’s arrival gives the conference another school with a story, momentum and enough offensive firepower to make the rest of the league uncomfortable. After the Cowboys’ win in Morgantown, the Big 12 suddenly has rather more to talk about than it did a month ago.

Can The Big 12 Turn Depth Into Multiple CFP Places?

There is a fascinating contradiction developing in the Big 12. On one hand, five ranked teams at this stage of the season is precisely what the conference needs if it wants to establish itself as a genuine national power rather than simply the league that produces one champion every December. On the other, having five ranked teams creates the possibility that they spend the next two months taking chunks out of one another until nobody is left with the pristine record that tends to make life easier with the College Football Playoff selection committee.

That tension is going to define the conference over the next eight weeks.

BYU is currently the highest-ranked Big 12 team at No. 10 and has already demonstrated that it belongs in the national conversation. Texas Tech is unbeaten at 4-0 and sits at No. 12, while Utah is also unbeaten and has moved to No. 13 after beating Iowa State 31-17 in Ames. Oklahoma State has climbed into the rankings at No. 19 after its win at West Virginia, while Houston sits at No. 20 following its 3-1 start. Cincinnati, meanwhile, is 4-0 and receiving votes.

The problem for all of them is that there is nowhere to hide in this conference.

That is particularly true because the Big 12’s best teams are not operating in isolation. Texas Tech still has to negotiate the conference schedule, Utah has already established an impressive win at Iowa State but has plenty of work ahead, and BYU now faces TCU before eventually welcoming Notre Dame to Provo. That October 17 game against the No. 3 Fighting Irish could become one of the most important non-conference games on the entire Big 12 schedule, because a BYU victory would give the Cougars exactly the kind of résumé-building result that can change the conversation around a playoff contender.

And then there is the cannibalisation question.

The Big 12 does not need every contender to finish unbeaten. In fact, that is impossible. What it needs is for its best teams to accumulate enough significant victories that their losses can be contextualised rather than defining. A 10-2 team that has beaten two or three ranked opponents and spent the season navigating a difficult conference can make a very different argument from a 10-2 team whose résumé contains very little outside its record.

That makes the conference’s depth both its weapon and its potential weakness.

There is also a psychological element to this. The Big 12 has spent years being told that it lacks the overwhelming national brand power of the SEC and Big Ten. The response has often been that the league’s depth makes it difficult to navigate. That argument sounds convincing when you are talking about how hard the conference is to win. It becomes less useful if that same depth leaves the eventual champion with multiple losses and no truly elite victories.

This is why the next month matters so much. The conference is currently in an enviable position because it has multiple teams capable of entering the Playoff conversation. But the objective is not to have five teams ranked in September. It is to have at least one or two teams still carrying genuinely compelling résumés when the committee starts putting the bracket together.

For now, the Big 12 has given itself options. BYU, Texas Tech, Utah, Oklahoma State and Houston are all ranked, while Cincinnati is waiting just outside the door. The next step is turning that collective strength into individual cases for consideration.

Sonny Dykes Isn’t On The Hotseat - But Temperatures Are Rising In Fort Worth

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Is patience wearing thin at Texas Christian University?

The Sonny Dykes conversation needs some context before it needs any heat. This is not a coach who has failed at TCU. Quite the opposite. Dykes has won 36 games since arriving in Fort Worth, including the extraordinary 2022 campaign that took the Horned Frogs all the way to the national championship game, and TCU has now produced consecutive nine-win seasons. The program itself points to those 36 victories as the most by any Big 12 school during that period.

That is precisely why the current situation is so intriguing. The issue is not whether Dykes can coach TCU. It is whether the standard has changed.

TCU enters the weekend 2-2 and 0-1 in conference play, having lost to UCF last Saturday. BYU now arrives in Fort Worth ranked No. 10, unbeaten and carrying the sort of national profile that means this game has consequences beyond the standings. TCU cannot afford to treat it as simply another opportunity to correct its course. It is a chance to change the tone of the season before October really gets going.

The arrival of offensive coordinator Gordon Sammis has inevitably become part of that discussion. Sammis joined Dykes’ staff after working with quarterback coach Brad Robbins at UConn, where the pair helped produce an offense that averaged 32.3 points per game in 2024. The expectation was therefore not simply that TCU would change coordinators, but that Sammis and Dykes would develop an offense capable of giving the Horned Frogs a fresh identity.

The transition has not been seamless.

That does not necessarily mean Sammis is the wrong man for the job, nor does it mean TCU’s offense cannot improve. First-year coordinators are allowed to have growing pains, particularly when a new system has to establish itself with a new quarterback and new personnel. But the Horned Frogs are operating in a conference where there is very little patience for being almost good enough. We’ve already mentioned five teams receiving national recognition. TCU cannot afford to wait until November for everything to click.

Sonny Dykes might not deserve to have his job security questioned, but that’s what happens when you fail to maintain high standards at a school that traditionally punches above its weight. Particularly when his successful predecessor is still in the game and the subject of a rising level of seller’s remorse…

Gary Patterson’s name carries a weight at TCU that few former coaches could match. He built the modern program, spent 22 seasons in Fort Worth and remains one of the most important figures in its history. Rumours about a possible return, therefore, are always going to attract attention, particularly when the current team is struggling for consistency.

But rumours are not evidence of an impending coaching change, and the actual facts point in a different direction. TCU backed Dykes with a contract extension earlier this year, and the university has publicly emphasised the progress made under his leadership. The more interesting question is what happens if that progress stalls. Because this is no longer the TCU of the early Big 12 years, where reaching eight or nine wins could feel like a successful season. Dykes has already demonstrated that this program can reach the national championship game. The bar has consequently moved.

That makes Saturday fascinating. A win over BYU would not solve every problem, but it would immediately change the conversation. TCU would have a major victory, momentum and a reason to believe the offense can still find its rhythm. A loss, particularly if the Horned Frogs struggle to generate much offensively again, would intensify questions that have already started to appear.

Dykes is not suddenly on the verge of being dismissed simply because TCU is 2-2. The nature of the two defeats – in Dublin against North Carolina and last weekend at UCF – were concerning in a microcosm. But he is entering the part of the season when the excuses become less useful and the evidence becomes more important.

Against BYU, we are about to get some.

Uniform Watch: When a Throwback Actually Means Something

There is a tendency to treat college football uniforms as disposable content; a new helmet here, an alternate jersey there, another social-media reveal accompanied by the obligatory cinematic video. Sometimes that is exactly what they are. But when a program understands what it is doing, a uniform can become something considerably more interesting: a way of connecting the current team to the people and moments that built the history of the team in the first place.

Baylor’s throwback against Colorado was an excellent example.

The Bears brought back the iconic bear paw design associated with Grant Teaff’s tenure, recreating a look worn between 1982 and 1992. The bear paw appeared on the shoulder pads, “B-A-Y-L-O-R” returned across the chest and the helmet featured 10 stars, a nod to Teaff’s 10 victories over Texas and the tradition he established. Baylor also used the game to recognise the 1991 team, which produced one of the defining wins of that era by beating defending national champion Colorado in Boulder.

That last part is what makes the uniform more than a fashion exercise.

Baylor was not simply bringing back an old logo because somebody in the marketing department thought it looked good. The opponent mattered. The history mattered. The people who wore the uniform mattered. Santana Dotson, a member of that 1991 team and a Baylor Hall of Famer, was among those involved in the celebration. BU was effectively using the uniform to tell a story about itself, and that is when these concepts tend to work best.

Iowa State’s Whiteout offers a different version of the same idea. Against Utah, Jack Trice Stadium was turned into a sea of white as the Cyclones paired the occasion with an all-white uniform combination. The game ultimately went Utah’s way, 31-17, but the visual spectacle remains part of the modern identity of Iowa State home games.

That is an important distinction. A Whiteout does not require a throwback. It creates an atmosphere rather than recreating history. But both concepts work because the uniform is part of a wider experience. The fans know what the game represents before the first snap.

There is plenty more to keep an eye on as the conference schedule settles into its weekly rhythm. BYU, for example, has increasingly leaned into the clean, traditional look that has become part of its modern identity, while other Big 12 programmes continue to use alternates to mark specific occasions rather than simply changing the uniform for the sake of it. And UCF famously deliver their Space uniforms once a season, with designs that can only be described as a work of art.

That restraint matters. If every Saturday is a special uniform day, then none of them are particularly special. The best concepts give the fans something to anticipate and the players something that feels different when they run out of the tunnel.

And that is why Baylor’s throwback was worth talking about. The best uniform stories are rarely about the jersey itself. They are about what the jersey allows a program to remember.

Can We Believe In The Bearcats?

There was always going to be some scepticism around Cincinnati.

That is what happens when a program finishes a season by losing five straight games and then starts the next one 4-0. People remember the ending. They look for the catch. They wait for the unbeaten record to become a September curiosity rather than evidence of a genuine turnaround. The Bearcats have not quite managed to shake that label yet, but Saturday’s trip to Arizona offers them the perfect opportunity to do it.

Cincinnati arrives in Tucson with a 4-0 record, including a 31-26 victory over Kansas State that was arguably the most meaningful result of its season so far. It is the first 4-0 start of Scott Satterfield’s tenure and Cincinnati’s first since 2021; the season that ended with the Bearcats becoming the first Group of Five team to reach the College Football Playoff.

The interesting thing about this Cincinnati team is that it does not look like a team desperately trying to recreate 2021. Instead, it has found a different way to win.

The offensive line has been the foundation. Cincinnati’s rushing attack has become the engine of the offense, with Cole Tabb and Gi’Bran Payne providing production behind a line that has been one of the most impressive units in the conference through four games. Quarterback JC French has largely been asked to manage the game rather than carry it, while new defensive coordinator Nate Woody has overseen a defense that has shown a greater ability to create turnovers. That is important because sustainable teams tend to have something they can fall back on.

Cincinnati can run the football. It can control stretches of games. It can put pressure on opposing offenses. It does not require French to throw for 350 yards every week to have a chance of winning. Against Kansas State, the Bearcats found a way through a game that could easily have become a referendum on whether last season’s late collapse was still hanging over the program.

Now comes Arizona, a team with conference ambitions of their own. The Wildcats are 3-1, have already opened Big 12 play and will be playing at home, while Cincinnati has to deal with the added challenge of travelling west for a late kick. This is the sort of game that separates a team with a good record from a team that deserves to be discussed among the conference’s contenders.

There are still legitimate questions. French has not yet demonstrated that he can consistently win games when Cincinnati’s rushing attack is contained. The Bearcats have not navigated the full depth of the Big 12 schedule. And there is a considerable difference between being 4-0 in September and being relevant in November.

But that is precisely why this game matters. Cincinnati does not need to prove it can win the Big 12 in Tucson. It needs to show that the first four weeks were not built on a favourable stretch of the schedule. Beat Arizona on the road and suddenly the Bearcats are 5-0, sitting just outside the AP Top 25 and possessing a résumé that becomes considerably harder to dismiss.

If the Bearcats win Saturday, you might see a sixth school gatecrash the rankings next week.

Big 12: Week 5 Schedule

Saturday:

5pm: UCF (3-1) @ #20 Houston (3-1)

5pm: West Virginia (3-1) @ Iowa State (2-2)

5pm: Middle Tennessee State (2-2) @ Kansas (1-2)

12am: #10 BYU (3-0) @ TCU (2-2)

12:30am: #12 Texas Tech (4-0) @ Colorado (2-2)

3:30am: Baylor (3-1) @ Arizona State (2-1)

4am: Cincinnati (4-0) @ Arizona (3-1)

Bye Week:

#13 Utah (4-0), #19 Oklahoma State (3-1), Kansas State (3-1)

Mock Draft

SIMON CARROLL

Lead Writer, Head of Content

PREVIOUSLY THE FOUNDER OF NFL DRAFT UK, SIMON HAS BEEN COVERING COLLEGE FOOTBALL AND THE NFL DRAFT SINCE 2009. BASED IN MANCHESTER, SIMON IS ALSO CO-CREATOR & WEEKLY GUEST OF THE COLLAPSING POCKET PODCAST AND COVERS THE JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS FOR SB NATION.

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