Big 12 Shines on Saturday

Saturday’s Heisman Trophy ceremony was the Big 12’s time to shine. Not only did Colorado star Travis Hunter take home college football’s most prestigious award, the league finished with three of the top eight players in the final voting. The SEC didn’t have a single player in the top ten.

Hunter is the first Big 12 winner since 2018 (Kyler Murray) and the 8th Big 12 player to win it overall. 

You can make a strong case that Arizona State running back Cam Skattebo and Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders deserved to be finalists along with Hunter. 

Given the voting split, it would have made perfect sense to invite the top five and give Skattebo a trip to the Big Apple. Sanders accounted for 82% of Colorado’s offense this year, the third-highest percentage in the last 25 years. 

Either way, it was a night that Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark is sure to relish and leverage. The Heisman doesn’t drive attention the way having more playoff teams or NFL draft picks than other conferences would, but we know the Big 12 isn’t likely to compete with the SEC and Big Ten on that front. 

You have to win in the margins and market yourself differently. The Big 12 isn’t going to win by playing the same game as those two. But having the most exciting college football player in years come from your conference and win the Heisman? That sure helps add to the narrative that this is America’s most entertaining college football league. 

We’ll get one more chance to see Hunter and Sanders in the Alamo Bowl against BYU, which is by far the most entertaining Big 12 bowl matchup. However, Skattebo’s opportunity against either Texas or Clemson in the playoffs is the biggest chance to further this Heisman excitement narrative. 

If he continues to put up monster numbers to get the Sun Devils to the semifinals, the Big 12 will be on fire. 

I can’t wait to see it.

What You Need to Know

• BYU signed AJ Dybansta, the top-ranked high school basketball player in the 2025 class, and he went on Stephen A. Smith’s podcast to deliver some fantastic lines about why he chose the Cougars. It’s definitely worth a listen.

• Texas Tech is red hot in the transfer portal. The Red Raiders already have seven commitments, giving them the number three portal class in the country, according to 247 Sports. 

• Iowa State inked head coach Matt Campbell to an eight year extension. This comes on the heels of North Carolina expressing interest in Campbell before eventually hiring Bill Belichick. 

• Mike Gundy has his new offensive coordinator. TCU inside receivers coach Doug Meacham will run the Cowboys' offense in 2025. This is Meacham's second stint with his alma mater. He was on Gundy’s staff from 2005 to 2012. 

• Cincinnati will open the 2025 season by playing Nebraska at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium on Thursday, August 28th. The game was previously scheduled for Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis in 2023.

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Beware of the Nostalgia Hire

Big 12 schools clearly aren’t listening to Taylor Swift. 

So far, the coaching carousel in the league has been the opposite of “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” 

UCF hired Scott Frost to replace Gus Malzahn seven years after Frost left the Knights to take the Nebraska job, and West Virginia brought back former head coach Rich Rodriguez nearly two decades after he left Morgantown. 

I completely understand the allure of the nostalgia hire. I am a K-State grad, after all. 

The Wildcats famously hired Bill Snyder for a second time in 2009 after the Ron Prince experiment failed. Just three seasons into his second tenure, Snyder came within one game of getting K-State to the national championship game. 

Snyder is a unicorn, though. You can argue he’s responsible for the greatest coaching job in college football history. I’d be leery of trying to replicate his wizardry. 

I was staunchly against that hire in 2009, by the way. If only the K-State Collegian (student newspaper) online archives still existed, I’d have the column to prove it. 

Going the nostalgia route is an easy way to rally the fan base after a period of unrest, and it seems like that’s precisely what has happened in Orlando and Morgantown. 

If it works out, it’s a grand slam. The good ole days are back, baby! Any bad feelings left from how the coach exited the first time will evaporate, which is a win-win for everybody. 

If it doesn’t, now we’re talking about a tarnished legacy. Frost’s unbeaten 2017 season is no longer what first comes to mind for rabid UCF fans. West Virginia fans will have fresher memories of Rich Rod than three straight 11-win seasons. 

But the biggest issue is that nostalgia tends to make people overlook any red flags that should otherwise be visible. 

Frost was a disaster at Nebraska, losing nearly twice as many games as he won in his only Power Four head coaching stint. UCF isn’t in the AAC anymore. Are we supposed to trust that a one-year coaching rehab stint with Sean McVay was enough to wash that all away?

Admittedly, Rodriguez has more substance to his resume. There is less risk here than with Frost. Yes, Rich Rod flamed out quickly at Michigan, but he also won 43 games in six seasons at Arizona–including a ten-win campaign in 2014. 

Combine that with back-to-back bowl appearances with Jacksonville State, and there is reason to believe he may still have something left in the Power Four tank. Plus, high-profile boosters like Pat McAfee will put all their resources behind their guy. 

But why weren’t other suitors lining up for Rodriguez or Frost? It isn’t 2017 anymore, let alone 2007. Are these two ready for how Power Four football has rapidly evolved in the transfer portal and NIL era?

If I were in charge, neither would have been my first, second, or third choice, but I’m not an athletic director. I was wrong about Bill Snyder 2.0, and maybe I’m wrong about Frost 2.0 and Rich Rod 2.0. 

From a content perspective, I’m certainly not complaining and will be fascinated to watch it all play out. 

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