Big 12 football figured to seem a tad strange without Texas and Oklahoma hanging around the top of the league standings after the Longhorns and Sooners defected to the Southeastern Conference. No one, however, could have forecast some of the early-season surprises that could wind up affecting whether the Big 12 will be able to land more than one berth in the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff. No.
18 Utah (4-1, 1-1 Big 12), No. 20 Kansas State (4-1, 1-1) and Oklahoma State (3-2, 0-2) — the three teams considered preseason favorites in the expanded 16-team Big 12 — didn’t even make it into October without a league loss. Some of the damage has been inflicted on one another.
Oklahoma State, which tumbled out of the Top 25 this week, lost to Utah 22-19 at home and Kansas State 42-20 on the road. Kansas State was blown out on the road 38-9 by No. 17 BYU, while Utah fell by double digits at home to Arizona 23-10.
That leaves unbeaten BYU (5-0), improved Colorado and Texas Tech atop the conference standings at 2-0 in league play. No. 16 Iowa State, the Big 12’s only other unbeaten team, Arizona and West Virginia are 1-0.
Granted there’s a long way to go. But, it’s already looking like in an expanded CFP field, there may be only one playoff team from the Big 12. What if How would the top of the standings look if not for Baylor losing in heartbreak fashion the past two weeks.
The Bears were one play away from winning at Colorado before the Buffaloes tied the game on.