Tag: BYU Cougars Football

Updated look at the ESPN Matchup Predictor after the Sooners win over Texas

How did the win probabilities change for the Oklahoma Sooners after their win over the Texas Longhorns in week 6?

The Oklahoma Sooners are in the midst of a dramatic turnaround. From 6-7 a year ago to 6-0 to start the 2023 season, OU is on track to be one of the best stories in college football.

There’s a great deal of work still to be done by the Sooners heading into their bye week, but with the Texas Longhorns out of the way, Oklahoma has a shot to get back to the Big 12 title game and maybe more.

After the 34-30 win over Texas, here’s a look at how the Sooners’ win probabilities changed for each of their matchups for the rest of the season according to the ESPN Matchup Predictor.

Big 12 Power Rankings: Sooners take top spot, upsets shuffle rankings after Week 6

Several upsets marked week 6 in the Big 12 and there’s a new No. 1 in this week’s Big 12 Power Rankings.

It was a wild week in the Big 12. The Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns played an instant classic in the Cotton Bowl with the Sooners coming out on top.

Elsewhere, several games upset the apple cart in the conference. The two teams that represented the Big 12 in the title game a year ago, TCU and Kansas State suffered losses.

The Horned Frogs took their second loss in conference play and look to be sliding back to the pack after their loss to Iowa State. The Wildcats took a stunning loss to Oklahoma State on Friday night.

Here’s a look at how the league stacks up in this week’s Big 12 Power Rankings after Week 6.

Big 12 Power Rankings: Red River Rivals stay undefeated, setting up Cotton Bowl Clash

Big 12 Power Rankings. The Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns stayed unbeaten after week 5 setting up an undefeated showdown in Dallas.

The result that everyone hoped for came to pass. The Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns will meet in the Cotton Bowl undefeated next Saturday.

Their big wins over the weekend provided the precursor for the Sooners and Longhorns to have another highly-anticipated and epic showdown in Dallas.

The game will play host to ESPN’s College GameDay.

Though it’s early in the Big 12 season, OU and Texas have separated themselves as the class of the Big 12 at this point. Though there’s a long way to go and both programs still have a lot to prove, next Saturday’s Red River Showdown will provide a strong measuring stick for both teams.

Elsewhere, the West Virginia Mountaineers have been the surprise of the Big 12 this season and improved to 4-1 and 2-0 in conference play after beating the TCU Horned Frogs in Fort Worth. The Mountaineers were voted to finish last in the conference. Neal Brown and West Virginia seem to have taken that personally.

Let’s take a look at this week’s Big 12 Power Rankings.

Big 12 picks for Week 5: Jayhawks, Mountaineers looking for upsets in the Lone Star State

One week into Big 12 play, there’s already a pretty good indication of who the contenders and pretenders are in the Big 12. Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Kansas State, BYU, UCF, and TCU have all looked good through the first four weeks of the season. …

One week into Big 12 play, there’s already a pretty good indication of who the contenders and pretenders are in the Big 12.

Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Kansas State, BYU, UCF, and TCU have all looked good through the first four weeks of the season. West Virginia provided the first surprise with their upset of Texas Tech last week.

Kansas State and Oklahoma State are off this week, but there are six conference games in week 5.

But how will week two of conference play go? Here are this week’s Big 12 predictions.

Week 4: 5-3

2023 Overall: 34-15

Where does the Big 12 rank in the lastest 1-133 rankings from USA TODAY Sports?

After week four, where does the Big 12 land in USA TODAY Sports lates re-rank of each team in the Football Bowl Subdivision?

After our first full weekend of Big 12 play, several of our preconceived notions about the conference have gone by the wayside.

In particular, Texas Tech isn’t turning out to be the team that many thought they’d be heading into 2023. Also, who would have thought that Oklahoma State and Baylor would be two of the worst teams in the conference. And yet, that’s where we stand four weeks into the season and one week into Big 12 play.

Each week, Erick Smith of USA TODAY Sports re-ranks each of the 133 Football Bowl Subdivision teams.

After week four, Texas Tech experienced the biggest move of the week, falling hard after losing to West Virginia. Oklahoma State also experienced a steep drop in the rankings. On the flipside, West Virginia and Kansas earned double-digit increases compared to a week ago.

Let’s take a look at where the Big 12 ranks in the latest 1-133 re-rank.

How does the ESPN matchup predictor view the remainder of Oklahoma’s 2023 schedule?

How did the win projections move in the ESPN Matchup Predictor after the Oklahoma Sooners win over Cincinnati and other week four action?

It may not have been a dominating win for the Oklahoma Sooners, but it was a comfortable win. The Sooners beat a tough Cincinnati Bearcats team by two touchdowns, covering the 13.5-point spread on the road.

It rarely felt as if the Sooners were in danger of losing. That’s a great sign of what’s to come for Oklahoma.

They may not be a finished product, but they’re playing good football in all three phases and look like a much-improved team.

The proof will be in the pudding though. The Sooners will get Iowa State’s best shot this week before the Red River Rivalry on Oct. 7, but anything’s possible for the Oklahoma Sooners in 2023.

The ESPN matchup predictor loves the Sooners going forward. Here’s a look at how the win probabilities changed after Week 4 for each of OU’s remaining games.

Big 12 Power Rankings: Kansas gets big win, Baylor falls flat

The Kansas Jayhawks earned a big win over BYU and saw a bump in this week’s Big 12 Power Rankings.

In week four, six of the eight games featuring Big 12 teams were conference matchups. The weekend that was provided a fuller picture of the Big 12 landscape as 2023 progresses.

Several teams provided significant answers to their first conference test of the season, while others walked away with more questions.

It’s becoming clear that teams like Baylor, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech won’t factor into the Big 12 title race. There are too many issues for those teams to overcome, in particular at quarterback.

But over the next few weeks, we’ll get a clearer idea of who the contenders in the Big 12 are.

Take a look at this week’s Big 12 Power Rankings.

Big 12 Predictions: New additions open conference play with big tests

New Big 12 additions face stiff challenges in a full week of conference action. Here are this week’s Big 12 predictions.

It was a rough go for the Big 12 last week. Iowa State lost to Ohio, Kansas State lost to Missouri, Cincinnati lost to Miami (OH.), and Oklahoma State lost to South Alabama.

The conference did pick up big wins, with BYU beating Arkansas and West Virginia taking down Pitt in the Backyard Brawl.

TCU got the first conference win of the season when they beat Houston. This week, three of the new Big 12 squads face significant tests, with Cincinnati hosting Oklahoma, BYU traveling to face Kansas, and UCF in Manhattan to take on Kansas State.

We’ll find out a lot more about the Big 12 and how each team stacks up after this weekend.

Here are this week’s Big 12 predictions.

Week 3: 8-5

2023 Overall: 29-12

Updated ESPN Football Power Index loves the Oklahoma Sooners after win over Tulsa

After their win over Tulsa, the Oklahoma Sooners got a big bump in the ESPN Football Power Index.

There’s a long way to go yet in the 2023 season, but it couldn’t have started any better for the Oklahoma Sooners in nonconference play. They’ve outscored their opponents 118 to 25 through three games and are one of the best teams in the nation on both sides of the football.

That’s why they keep moving up in the polls, and the computers are looking at the Sooners favorably. It’s just about who they’ve beaten but how they’ve done it.

Here’s a look at how ESPN’s Football Power Index ranks the Big 12 and their odds to win the conference and contend for the College Football Playoff.

ESPN’s matchup predictor likes the Sooners a lot after Week 3 win over Tulsa

After the Sooners big win over Tulsa, what does the ESPN Matchup Predictor say about the rest of the Sooners schedule?

The Oklahoma Sooners put together a dominant performance against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane to close nonconference play. The Sooners were fantastic yet again in all three phases to move to 3-0.

They have outscored opponents, 167-28, through three games and have allowed three touchdowns on the season.

It’s a strong start for a team with much to prove, and they still have a great deal to prove.

Oklahoma will begin Big 12 play on the road next week when it travels to Cincinnati to face the Bearcats. It will be a really good atmosphere with Fox “Big Noon Kickoff” in attendance. Bearcats fans will create a raucous environment for the Sooners’ first true test of the season.

If they can pass that test and return to Norman with a win, there’s a good chance Oklahoma will make the trip to Dallas to face Texas as an undefeated team.

Here’s a look at how the ESPN matchup predictor thinks the remainder of the schedule will go for Oklahoma in 2023.