Big XII Football Roundup: Week 1

Week 1 is in the books and there were several losses to note. The biggest being future Big XII conference foes matching up in Fort Worth. The Colorado Buffaloes faced off against last season’s biggest fraud, TCU. Yes, I am still bitter about last season’s loss and several convenient quarterback injuries that occurred in the Horned Frog’s early games. But that result was not the biggest surprise of the conference slate, that title goes to Baylor’s lose to Texas State.

It was a bad week for the upper middle class of the conference. Let’s take a look back at the week one Big XII action.

Colorado 45, TCU 42: The marquee game of the week, and Fox’s Big Noon Matchup, saw the Buffaloes roll into the metroplex with Dion Sanders as head coach and his son, Shedeur, at quarterback. Once they rolled into town, they kept rolling at Amon G. Carter Stadium as they beat the Horned Frogs. For me the question all season will be is Dion really a coach or just a celebrity playing a coach on TV? That will not be answered after one game, but his son had a record setting performance in his debut, Dylan Edwards came in as a true freshman from Derby, Kansas to score 4 touchdowns, and Travis Hunter played both ways seeing 120 total snaps in the game. Most importantly the Buffalo defense got a stop when it needed it most late in the fourth quarter to keep TCU from regaining the lead. I do not know what to make of Dion as a coach, but he certainly put Nebraka on notice for next week with this win over TCU.

Wyoming 35, Texas Tech 33: In a game that stretched late into the night due to a 78-minute lightning delay and double overtime, the Red Raiders were not able to leave Laramie with a win despite taking a early 17-0 lead. Is this a game one anomaly, or a sign of what is to come? Tech seemed to shoot themselves in the foot with the Cowboys’ pistols every time they had a chance to do something good. Three missed field goals being a prime example of that.

Texas State 42, Baylor 31: To me the most surprising result of the conference slate. Baylor goes down to lowly Texas State. The win was Texas State’s first-ever win over a Power Five conference opponent and was Baylor’s fifth straight loss (K-State, TCU, Texas, Air Force) since beating Oklahoma on November 5, 2022. The Bobcats have a new coach and and new quarterback, and now a win over a Big XII opponent. What is going on in Waco? I can forgive the Big XII losses. Those were the three top teams in the conference last season. They probably should have beat Air Force, but it is a bowl game so okay. Texas State? Yikes.

Houston 17, USTA 14: Of the 14 game conference schedule, this may have been the game with the most interesting result for a game the Big XII won. A matchup the SP+ number 56 and 57 teams, the game lived up to its “billing”. Houston never trailed in the game leading 7-0 and later 17-7. The Cougars, sporting the Houston Oiler inspired uniforms, found themselves in a 17-14 game with a little over 5 minute remaining in the game. The Cougars were able to hold off the Roadrunners for the home win to open the season.

UCF 56, Kent State 6: In their first game as a Big XII member and the opening game for the Big XII this season, the Golden Knights wasted little time in distancing themselves from Kent State. John Rhys Plumlee scored 4 total touchdowns and accounted for 371 total yards on offense leading UCF to an easy win on Thursday night.

Kansas 48, Missouri State 17: In what I argue was a crockpotting KU took care of business on Friday night. Read the rapid recap and View from the Stands for more.

Penn State 38, West Virginia 15: The Mountaineers gave it a run for a half. The second half brought the expected result. A relatively easy, but not scoreboard-dominating result. New year, same song.

Texas 37, Rice 10: It took Quinn Ewers until the 3rd quarter to find the endzone, when he found it three times. Texas wins comfortably but certainly not dominatingly over a bad Rice team led by JT Daniels at his 4th college football stop. Oh, and Ewers looks some much better with short hair, that is one good choice he has made since high school.

K-State 45, SEMO: 0: Not much to see or say here. The Wildcats dominated a bad team.

Oklahoma 73, Arkansas State 0: The Sooners scored early and often as Dillion Gabrielle goes over 300 yards passing in the first half. It was a complete drubbing of the Red Wolves.

Iowa State 30, Northern Iowa 9: The Cyclones run away and hide from the Panthers. After scoring a early 3rd quarter touchdown to take a 30-0 lead Iowa Stae shut it down to eventually win by 21 points in a game they were favored to win by only 7.

Cincinnati 66, Eastern Kentucky 13: The one thing I know about this game is Eastern Kentucky is not Western Kentucky. Cincinnati scored the first 35 points of the game and won the game without breaking much of a sweat.

Oklahoma State 27, Central Arkansas 13: Never really in danger of losing, but never threatening to dominate the Bears, the Cowboys win in uninspiring fashion.

BYU 14, Sam Houston 0: BYU, led by Kedon Slovis at his third collegiate stop as a quarterback, played Sam Houston State in their first game at the FBS level. BYU scored once in the first quarter and once in the fourth and rode there defense to a 14-0 win. Not sure the result speaks well for the Cougars, but at least they did not lose.