big12blast – Syndication Server

Last year’s title game rematch headlines Week 8 in Big 12

The slate of games in the Big 12 this week features a rematch of the 2022 conference title game and Dillon Gabriel faces his old team.

This week’s slate of games in the Big 12 will feature all but two teams taking the field. The Oklahoma Sooners lead the pack with a spotless record with the Iowa State Cyclones right behind them. The only loss in conference play for the Cyclones came at the hands of the Sooners.

Only one game will be shown on ESPN+ this week, and that would be the Baylor Bears (2-4, 1-2) at Cincinnati Bearcats (2-4, 0-3). Neither team really hit the ground running this year, so if you want to watch this game you will need to find it on the ESPN streaming channels.

As far as the remaining five games on the schedule for the Big 12, we ranked those games in terms of intrigue and watchability.

Midseason All-Big 12 team led by Oklahoma and Texas

Halfway through the season, we made our picks for the All-Big 12 team and awards at the midseason mark.

We are midway through October and midway through the 2023 college football regular season. There were plenty of changes prior to the season, including the four new teams joining the Big 12.

As expected by most of the experts, the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns are showing that they are the two best teams in the league. Both are set to leave for the SEC starting in July of 2024. The two teams are a combined 11-1, with the only loss coming in the annual Red River Rivalry game at the Cotton Bowl. They could be the Big 12 championship matchup in December if all goes their way. Which would be much to the chagrin of Commissioner Brett Yormark.

The Kansas Jayhawks have been a pleasant surprise as the season began. Much like Oklahoma they finished 6-7 last season and raced out to a 5-2 start this season. The expectations are much higher in Year 3 of the Lance Leipold era. He will be a hot commodity as the coaching carousel begins to pick up speed in the coming weeks.

Two teams that haven’t lived up to the expectations are the Texas Christian Horned Frogs and Texas Tech Red Raiders. The former made it all the way to the CFP championship game last year with the latter being the trending pick ahead of the season. They are a combined 7-7 through the first seven weeks of the year. Still time for them to get back on track.

While Week 8 is on the horizon, College Sports Wire made their selections for the midseason All-Big 12 team as well as the yearly awards through Week 7.

Texas moves into top five of latest FPI rankings

The Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns remain on top of the conference’s Football Power Index rankings.

This week’s update in the Football Power Index saw some movement among 12 of the Big 12’s 14 teams. This included a jump into the top five for the idle Texas Longhorns. The burnt orange will jump back into action when they travel to Houston. The Cougars are coming off a last-second victory over West Virginia.

The TCU Horned Frogs had the biggest jump up as they moved seven spots to leapfrog the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Big 12 rankings. TCU took care of BYU, 44-11. The Cougars had the biggest drop falling 15 spots which allowed both Oklahoma State and Houston to pass them. The Cougars host the Red Raiders, who will make their first trip ever to Provo.

[lawrence-related id=15771]

The idle Oklahoma Sooners remained in the top spot of the conference and the No. 2 team in the country. They will host the UCF Knights this coming weekend, who remained in the No. 7 spot this week.

A full look at the Big 12 FPI rankings after Week 7:

Rank	Team	Record	FPI	Movement
1	Oklahoma	6-0	26.4 (2)	–
2	Texas	5-1	23.8 (5)	+1
3	Kansas State	4-2	14.2 (19)	+3
4	TCU	4-3	10.8 (24)	+7
5	Texas Tech	3-4	8.0 (32)	-5
6	Iowa State	4-3	6.2 (39)	+5
7	UCF	3-3	5.9 (40)	–
8	West Virginia	4-2	4.9 (42)	+1
9	Kansas	5-2	4.6 (44)	-2
10	Cincinnati	2-4	4.0 (45)	-6
11	Oklahoma State	4-2	3.6 (47)	+5
12	Houston	3-3	-0.1 (66)	+4
13	BYU	4-2	-0.5 (68)	-15
14	Baylor	2-4	-3.0 (80)	-1

Iowa State and Kansas will be off this week with the remaining 12 teams in action for Week 8.

Contact/Follow us at the College Wire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of College Sports news, notes, and opinions.

Updated Big 12 QBR standings after Week 6 action

Dillon Gabriel, Behren Morton have the two-best performances of the week according to ESPN’s QBR.

10 of the 14 Big 12 teams were in action during Week 6 spanning over 10 games. The biggest featured the Oklahoma Sooners taking on the Texas Longhorns. The two quarterbacks ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the QBR metric from ESPN.

The duo produced two of the three best performances of the week sandwiched around Behren Morton of Texas Tech. It was Morton’s fourth appearance and second start since taking over for an injured Tyler Shough early against West Virginia. The Red Raiders have won both starts by a combined 88-42 margin. His performance helped the offense put the game away against Baylor and even their record.

The Kansas Jayhawks once again turned to backup Jason Bean in their matchup against UCF. He didn’t qualify for QBR after throwing just 12 passes in the game as KU ran all over the Knights’ defense. Both Chandler Morris and Josh Hoover saw action for the TCU Horned Frogs in a losing effort against Iowa State.

Week 6 QBR results:

QB	School	QBR	Team Result
Dillon Gabriel	Oklahoma	92.8	W vs Texas
Behren Morton	Texas Tech	80.8	W at Baylor
Quinn Ewers	Texas	75.9	L vs Oklahoma
Alan Bowman	Oklahoma State	68.5	W vs Kansas State
Rocco Becht	Iowa State	52.8	W vs TCU
Will Howard	Kansas State	42.4	L vs Oklahoma State
Chandler Morris	TCU	23.0	L vs Iowa State
Timmy McClain	UCF	22.5	L vs Kansas
Blake Shapen	Baylor	16.4	L vs Texas Tech
Josh Hoover	TCU	15.2	L vs Iowa State

Updated Season Rankings:

Rank	Quarterback	Team	QBR	Last Week’s QBR (Ranking)
1	Dillon Gabriel	Oklahoma	91.0	89.4 (No. 1)
2	Quinn Ewers	Texas	81.1	82.9 (No. 2)
3	Chandler Morris	TCU	74.3	78.8 (No. 4)
4	Will Howard	Kansas State	69.4	76.3 (No. 5)
5	Kedon Slovis	BYU	64.9	63.3 (No. 10)
6	Garrett Greene	West Virginia	64.7	64.7 (No. 9)
7	Rocco Becht	Iowa State	64.7	62.0 (No. 8)
8	Donovan Smith	Houston	64.4	65.8 (No. 7)
9	Emory Jones	Cincinnati	64.1	63.1 (No. 11)
10	Timmy McClain	UCF	62.7	69.8 (No. 6)
11	Tyler Shough	Texas Tech	55.4	55.2 (No. 12)
12	Behren Morton	Texas Tech	46.3	–
13	Alan Bowman	Oklahoma State	46.0	33.6 (No. 14)
14	Blake Shapen	Baylor	43.2	–

Morton and Baylor’s Blake Shapen qualified for the season standings after missing out on the list in Week 5. Morton could pass teammate Shough in Week 7 as the Red Raiders host Will Howard and the Kansas State Wildcats Saturday night at Jones AT&T Stadium.

Contact/Follow us at the College Wire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of College Sports news, notes, and opinions.

Top 3 teams remain in place according to the FPI after Week 6

Oklahoma, Texas still lead the way in the Big 12 according to FPI

The postseason picture is starting to become clear according to the Football Power Index. The Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns are still the clear-cut favorites to face off in Arlington, Texas, at AT&T Stadium for the Big 12 championship.

The Sooners saw a bump in the win-out percentage as well as their win-conference percentage after the 34-30 victory over the Longhorns. Texas also saw a bump in the win-out percentage but dropped in the win conference category. Not a shock for either team. Oklahoma might not face another ranked team all season. Kansas is currently ranked but with three weeks remaining before that matchup, it is a wait-and-see approach.

Kansas State remained No. 3 in the FPI rankings despite the loss to Oklahoma State on Friday night in Stillwater. Texas Tech moved into No. 4 behind KSU with their win over Baylor in Waco. The Red Raider leapfrogged TCU who fell to Iowa State this week.

With Week 6 now in the record books, we check in on how the FPI breaks down for the Big 12.

Last Week	Team	Projected Record	Win Out%	Win Conf%
No. 1	Oklahoma	12-1	41.2	62.9
No. 2	Texas	11-2	22.4	33.5
No. 3	Kansas State	7-5	0.5	1.4
No. 6	Texas Tech	6-6	0.3	0.8
No. 4	TCU	6-6	0.1	0.1
No. 7	Cincinnati	6-6	3.1	0.1
No. 5	UCF	6-6	0.3	0.0
No. 9	Kansas	7-5	0.1	0.1
No. 8	West Virginia	7-5	0.0	0.8
No. 10	Iowa State	5-7	0.0	0.1
No. 12	Oklahoma State	6-6	0.0	0.1
No. 11	BYU	6-6	0.0	0.0
No. 14	Houston	4-8	0.0	0.0
No. 13	Baylor	4-8	0.1	0.0

Contact/Follow us at the College Wire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of College Sports news, notes, and opinions.

Mike Gundy, Brent Venables are the highest-paid coaches in the Big 12

Not a surprise to see which coaches in the Big 12 are the highest-paid.

According to the USA TODAY coaches salary database, the Oklahoma duo of Mike Gundy and Brent Venables are the highest-paid coaches in the conference. Not at all surprising for the former since he has been in place with the Cowboys since 2005. Venables became a head coach for the first time in 2022 and his first season didn’t go well.

The database doesn’t have any salary information for BYU and TCU since they are private universities. There is a salary number for Dave Aranda but USA TODAY was unable to find a buyout number due to Baylor also being a private university.

Venables is not only among the highest-paid coaches in the conference, he also has the largest buyout. That figure is just ahead of Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman, who signed a new contract this offseason after leading the Wildcats to a Big 12 title in 2022.

Check out the full listing for Big 12 head coaches.

Head Coach	School	FBS Rank	Salary (millions)	Buyout (millions)
Mike Gundy	Oklahoma St.	14	$7.6	$24.9
Brent Venables	Oklahoma	17	$7.1	$30.6
Lance Leipold	Kansas	29	$5.8	$27.3
Steve Sarkisian	Texas	30	$5.6	$12.9
Chris Klieman	Kansas St.	38	$4.8	$29.6
Dana Holgorsen	Houston	41	$4.3	$14.8
Joey McGuire	Texas Tech	45	$4.1	$15.9
Matt Campbell	Iowa St.	47	$4.0	$15.3
Neal Brown	West Virginia	48	$4.0	$13.3
Scott Satterfield	Cincinnati	53	$3.5	$19.3
Dave Aranda	Baylor	57	$3.0	–
Gus Malzahn	UCF	66	$2.3	$3.6
Kalani Sitake	BYU	–	–	–
Sonny Dykes	TCU	–	–	–

Get more coverage from the College Wires:

Contact/Follow us at the College Wire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of College Sports news, notes, and opinions.

Donovan Smith’s performance allowed him to jump five spots in total QBR standings

Houston’s Donovan Smith jumped up five spots, thanks to his performance against Texas Tech.

With another week of performances in the rearview mirror, College Sports Wire is checking in on the Big 12’s QBR ranking from ESPN.

This week’s QBR update shows no change at the top. The top six quarterbacks all maintained their spots in the weekly update. Dillon Gabriel and Quinn Ewers showed why they are the top two quarterbacks of the conference, who are leading their unbeaten teams into a major head-to-head matchup in Week 6. Plenty is on the line when these two teams kick off from the Cotton Bowl on the Texas State Fairgrounds.

Donovan Smith had a big jump in the rankings going from No. 12 to No. 7 thanks in large part to his performance against Texas Tech. Unfortunately for the Houston Cougars, it was another loss. The team looked good in the first half with 28 points but failed to do much of anything in the second half. Smith posted the second-best QBR of the week (93.0) just behind Oklahoma’s Dillon Gabriel (95.7).

Which quarterbacks are standing tall for their teams and looking to unseat Gabriel from the top spot?

Rank	Quarterback	Team	QBR	Last Week’s QBR (Ranking)
1	Dillon Gabriel	Oklahoma	89.4	86.6 (No. 1)
2	Quinn Ewers	Texas	82.9	82.2 (No. 2)
3	Jalon Daniels	Kansas	82.5	82.0 (No. 3)
4	Chandler Morris	TCU	78.8	77.7 (No. 4)
5	Will Howard	Kansas St	76.3	75.0 (No. 5)
6	Timmy McClain	UCF	69.8	72.9 (No. 6)
7	Donovan Smith	Houston	65.8	50.5 (No. 12)
8	Rocco Becht	Iowa State	64.9	62.0 (No. 8)
9	Garrett Greene	West Virginia	64.7	–
10	Kedon Slovis	BYU	63.3	58.8 (No. 10)
11	Emory Jones	Cincinnati	63.1	62.0 (No. 9)
12	Tyler Shough	Texas Tech	55.2	55.7 (No. 11)
13	Sawyer Robertson	Baylor	40.5	39.9 (No. 13)
14	Alan Bowman	Oklahoma St	33.6	35.2 (No. 14)

Contact/Follow us at the College Wire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of College Sports news, notes, and opinions.

Red River Rivalry highlights Week 6’s slate in the Big 12

The SEC-bound Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns take center stage in Week 6 for the Big 12.

The Texas State Fair has officially opened which means it is time for one of the best rivalries in all of college athletics. The annual Red River Rivalry game between the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns is among the four best games filled with animosity towards each side.

When it comes to rivalry games and deciding which one is best, just pick your favorite flavor of ice cream. The Game between Michigan and Ohio State and the Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn are the other two major rivalry games we are awaiting to see on the gridiron in 2023.

This game could go a long way in determining who will be playing in Arlington for the Big 12 championship coming December. If it all falls right, we could see a rematch of OU-Texas, much like we did in 2018. But for now, the focus is on this weekend with the two teams ranked among the top 15 where they will officially collide.

It isn’t the only matchup in the Big 12 that we will focus on, just the biggest one. With 10 teams set to take the field in Week 6, we rank the games in order of intrigue.

College football’s top performers in the Big 12 during Week 5

Plenty of notable performers in the Big 12 during Week 5.

Week 5 in the Big 12 featured a pair of unbeaten going head-to-head in Austin, Texas. The Texas Longhorns hosted the Kansas Jayhawks, but it was far from a competitive game late in this one as the Horns took down KU 40-14. Jonathon Brooks was hard to stop on the ground with over 200 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Oklahoma also hosted the Iowa State Cyclones. ISU was coming off a win over Oklahoma State and was close against the Sooners early on. Much like the Texas game, OU ran away in the second half of the game.

The Baylor game was the most shocking of the weekend as the Bears were down 35-7 before a fourth-quarter explosion gave them the win. The Houston Cougars found themselves in a precarious position as they lost to Texas Tech 49-28. Dana Holgorsen’s seat is starting to heat up.

In a look back at the week that was, College Sports Wire checks in on the top performers of Week 5 in the Big 12:

The Big 12 is a two-horse race according to the FPI

According to the FPI, it appears that the computers favor the departing members.

We are through the first third of the season with each Big 12 team playing four games on the schedule, only one of these matchups came against a conference opponent. The top three teams in the standings with unblemished records are the Kansas Jayhawks, Oklahoma Sooners, and Texas Longhorns.

Kansas and Texas will face off in Austin on Saturday then next week Oklahoma and Texas collide in the Red River Rivalry. There is a strong chance that next week’s game could be a preview of the Big 12 championship game on Dec. 3 in Arlington, Texas.

As we set to kick off the second third of the season, the picture could become more clear on who is the class of the Big 12. Based on the Football Power Index from ESPN, the two departing members following the season are leading the charge based on the metrics.

Only the defending Big 12 champion, Kansas State Wildcats, and the team they beat last year have a greater than 1% chance to win the conference.

The UCF Knights, Cincinnati Bearcats, and Texas Tech Red Raiders are the next on the list. Tech’s case is interesting considering they still have a better percentage to win the Big 12 despite having one of the worst overall records in the conference. Apparently, the computers have no love for the Kansas Jayhawks who remain undefeated through four weeks.

Here is how ESPN breaks it down:

Team	Projected Record	Win Out%	Win Conf%
Oklahoma (4-0,1-0)	11-1	20.1	49.2
Texas (4-0,1-0)	11-2	12.4	38.7
Kansas St (3-1,1-0)	9-4	1.0	7.4
UCF (3-1,0-1)	8-4	0.7	1.0
TCU (3-1,1-0)	7-5	0.2	2.4
Cincinnati (2-2,0-1)	7-5	1.4	0.6
Kansas (4-0,1-0)	7-6	0.0	0.1
West Virginia (3-1,1-0)	6-6	0.0	0.2
Texas Tech (1-3,0-1)	5-7	0.1	0.3
BYU (3-1,0-1)	5-7	0.0	0.0
Iowa St (2-2,1-0)	5-7	0.0	0.1
Oklahoma St (2-2,0-1)	5-7	0.0	0.0
Houston (2-2,0-1)	4-8	0.0	0.0
Baylor (1-3,0-1)	3-9	0.0	0.0

As the weeks roll on, we will continue to monitor what the analytics have to say about the final Big 12 race before the conference expands to 16 in 2024.