It’s finally college football season. Week 1 will be getting underway on Thursday night with four Big 12 games on the schedule. There’s one game on Friday night in TCU vs. Stanford, and the rest scheduled for Saturday.
So with another year of Big 12 football about to get underway, with now 16 schools in the conference, what are the top five storylines to watch this week? Here you go.
1. Can West Virginia Upset Penn State?
I’ve called West Virginia vs. Penn State the most important game in the Big 12 this season. And as the game inches closer, I only feel more passionate about that statement. It’s a critical year in college football as the powers try to create a Power 2, rather than a Power 4, with the Big 12 and ACC excluded from the SEC and the Big Ten. So for the Big 12, it will be imperative to get some impressive wins in 2024 to put to bed the narrative that the Big 12 can’t compete with the top two conferences in college football.
If West Virginia can upset a Top 10 Penn State team on Saturday, it immediately changes the narrative around the Big 12 as having a competitive conference that is entertaining, but lacks teams who can compete atop the Big Ten/SEC, into a conversation around, “Wow! Maybe the Big 12 can hang!”
That’s exactly what this league needs as it begins its new era without Texas and Oklahoma.
2. Will Colorado Trip Up vs. North Dakota State?
To get right down to it, there are many in media and across college football who want to see Deion Sanders fail. That’s indisputable.
I don’t, because he’s great for the Big 12. But if Deion and the Buffaloes drop this game against North Dakota State, the knives will be out for Coach Prime. And even if you’re not a fan of Deion Sanders, Big 12 fans should not want this.
We don’t want our biggest story to be about a superstar coach who loses to an FCS team, even if it’s a quality one like NDSU. Let’s be honest, if West Virginia beats Penn State, but Colorado loses, what do you think the bigger story will be to ESPN? Of course it will be the latter. That’s not beneficial to the Big 12, at all.
So let’s all root for CU to take care of business on Thursday night.
3. Big 12 vs. FCS
Speaking of Big 12 vs. FCS games… the Big 12 has some tricky games this week. Oklahoma State vs. South Dakota State is no cake walk. And as we’ve seen in recent seasons, the Big 12 has lost some of these match ups. Last season, Baylor vs. Texas State and Oklahoma State vs. South Alabama stand out.
But in this new world of college football, with so many players in the transfer portal, my new theory is that FCS teams have never been better positioned to upset Power 4 teams early in the season. FCS teams are mostly filled with players who have been in the program together for at least a couple of years. They know each other better than the Power 4 teams, which are now littered with players who have never played a down of real football together.
If there’s a time for FCS teams to start picking off Power 4 teams, it’s early in the season. Every Big 12 team will need to be careful this weekend, and ideally the Big 12 avoids any disastrous pitfalls.
4. TCU’s Late-Night in California
TCU vs. Stanford isn’t going to get a ton of attention, but any time the Big 12 is playing another Power 4 school, it matters, especially with the new beef between the Big 12 and ACC. TCU is the better team on paper, but the late kick off time (9:30 CT) on the road is always tricky for teams, and I expect that to be no different for TCU.
Just get out of town with a win in this game and get the Big 12 it’s first Power Conference win of the non-conference schedule. Lose this game against a subpar Stanford team, and some folks will begin to write their own narratives about the Big 12.
5. Late Nights for Big 12 Fans
We begin the New World Order of Big 12 football where you can sit for 14 hours straight and watch games from this conference.
Games wills start on Saturdays at 12pm ET/11am CT, and will go until 2am ET/1am CT. Do you have the stamina for that? I admit, it’ll be a challenge! Not only because I have three children five and under, but because most Big 12 fans are used to being tapped out by around 10pm CT. Heck, in prior seasons there were plenty of Saturdays when the Big 12 didn’t have any night games.
That likely won’t be the case this year as the Big 12 is going to land in the old, “Pac-12 After Dark” timeslot for ESPN.
So make sure you pace yourself, Big 12 fans. It’s Week 1 of 14, and we are set to have some late nights. Which, by the way, will be fun, but I won’t blame you for catching at nap during the late-game’s halftime show. I know I will be. Just make sure you set your alarm to wake up for the second half.
