The college football season is back and the Big 12 Conference had 13 games on the schedule between Thursday night, Friday night and Saturday in Week 3. It’s a new era for the Big 12, without Oklahoma and Texas, while adding Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State this offseason.
Week 3 saw our first conference game between TCU and UCF, while other notable non-conference games were also in action.
Here are the Top 5 takeaways from Week 3 of the Big 12 football season.
Big 12 Opener a Sign of Things to Come
UCF trailed TCU 31-13 in the third quarter before coming back for a huge 35-34 win over the Horned Frogs that included a two-minute drill touchdown drive and then TCU missing a potential game-winning field goal as time expired.
It was the perfect way to kick off Big 12 play, in what we expect to be the wildest conference in college football this fall. This season is going to be filled with unexpected comebacks, games down to the wire and thrillers all over the conference. That will be Big 12 football. And that’s what we saw in Fort Worth.
For TCU, it’s a brutal way to start conference play as the Frogs look to turn the page from a tough 2023 (5-7) and try and get back to their 2022 form (College Football Playoff). But for Gus Malzahn and the Knights, it’s the perfect way to begin the season given UCF is expected to be one of those teams in the hunt for the Big 12 title. Plus, there has been some pressure on Malzahn to compete this year given the solid recruiting classes and additions in the transfer portal this offseason.
Kansas Concerns
Kansas is now 1-2 after back-to-back losses to Illinois and UNLV. The Jayhawks are a mess on offense. Jalon Daniels looks like a shell of himself and the move to Jeff Grimes at offensive coordinator is not paying positive early dividends after Andy Kotelnicki moved to Happy Valley for the same position with the Nittany Lions.
That’s two weeks in a row that the Jayhawks have looked completely out of sorts. There were some who predicted Kansas to win the Big 12 (I had them at 4-5 in league play, FWIW), this team needs to turn it around, and do it fast. The good news is they’re 0-0 in league play, but there’s little to suggest they’re going to turn it around. With Daniels, it looks like more than just rust. Everything is off. And while running back Devin Neal is a stud, defenses are going to begin to basically force Daniels to beat them with their arm.
Arizona’s State’s Story of the Big 12
Arizona State ended up hanging on for a win at Texas State on Thursday night to complete a 3-0 non-conference slate. Raise your hand if you saw that coming? I didn’t.
I’m happy to mention when I get something right (like projecting KU to be middle-of-the-pack), but I am not afraid to admit when I’m wrong. And I did not see this kind of potential season coming from the Sun Devils.
Sam Leavitt and Cam Skattebo are methodically leading this offense, while the defense is also showing serious promise with Myles Rowser, Keyshaun Elliott and Shamari Simmons helping lead that side of the ball for the Sun Devils.
Kenny Dillingham is quickly becoming one of the most promising up-and-coming head coaches in the sport, which is a good thing for ASU, but also dangerous. Now time for conference play.
The Other Arizona Team
The Arizona Wildcats had their major test of the season and they got smoked in a brutal performance in their 31-7 loss to No. 14 Kansas State on Friday night at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
Arizona’s running backs and defensive line, the two position groups with the most substantial turnover in the offseason, are mostly struggling through three games. After losing its top three rushers from last season, the Wildcats added Quali Conley, Jacory Croskey-Merritt and Kedrick Reescano in the transfer portal with hopes of junior Rayshon “Speedy” Luke having a breakout season. Against Kansas State, Arizona was outrushed 235-56 — 124-12 in the second half.
On the other side, Arizona replaced nine defensive linemen the year after the UA had a top-30 rushing defense. Through the first three games of the season, Arizona has surrendered 518 rushing yards combined, which ranked 101st in FBS as of Saturday night.
If this team is going to come into the Big 12 and compete at the top of the conference, those two areas need to vastly improve, and fast.
No Embarrassing Losses
The Big 12 had itself its final slate of non-conference games on Saturday (for the most part), and the good news is no one ended with an embarrassing loss.
Utah was on the ropes early vs. Utah State without quarterback Cam Rising, but came back to take care of business 38-21.
Elsewhere, Houston rolled Rice 33-7, BYU blasted Wyoming 34-7, Baylor handled Air Force 31-3, Oklahoma State crushed Tulsa 45-10, Cincinnati bounced back to beat Miami (OH) 27-16 and Texas Tech smoked North Texas 66-21.
Given the heart attacks we all nearly suffered on behalf of multiple Big 12 teams in Week 2 (OSU, KSU, Cincinnati and Iowa State stand out), this was a relatively ho-hum week for Big 12 football, which we all needed, because next week, conference play begins in full force, and no one knows what we are going to see unfold.
