Week Two Bounce Back

While last week’s West Virginia loss was a major missed opportunity for the Big 12, the stage is set for the league to bounce back in week two. 

Almost everybody is playing Power Four competition, and the Big 12 gets six shots at the Big Ten and SEC. 

• Arkansas at Oklahoma State

• Iowa State at Iowa

• Kansas at Illinois

• Colorado at Nebraska

• Houston at Oklahoma

• Mississippi State at Arizona State

None of these teams are Power Two headliners like Penn State was, but a 4-2 or 5-1 weekend would still be something to celebrate. 

We’ll also see BYU get a crack at humbling SMU in Dallas, and we get our first non-conference game between conference opponents (yes, really), with Baylor and Utah squaring off at Rice-Eccles. 

Bottom line: week two should teach us a lot more than week one did. I’ll dive deeper into the matchups after the headlines.

Headlines

• You can forget about UConn to the Big 12…for now. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark released a statement on Thursday saying that talks with the Huskies have been paused. Multiple reports say the major roadblocks were plenty of internal pushback from league presidents and athletic directors and that UConn is stuck in the Big East until 2027.  

• Utah starting cornerback Kenan Johnson is out for the year after suffering a knee injury during the Utes’ season-opening win over Southern Utah. Head coach Kyle Whittingham says Johnson should be able to get a redshirt year if he wants to use it.

• Iowa State got bad news early this week about starting linebacker Caleb Bacon. Head coach Matt Campbell says Bacon had surgery on Sunday and will be out “for a while”  but not the entire season. Bacon was second on the team in tackles last year with 60 and was expected to be one of the team’s best defenders.

• The vibes weren’t great in Lubbock after narrowly escaping with a 52-51 win over Abilene Christian on Saturday, and this week’s injury report isn’t helping. Linebacker Joseph Adedire has been ruled out for the season, and star running back Tahj Brooks, starting safety C.J. Baskerville, and linebacker Harvey Dyson III are all listed as questionable. 

• In positive news, All-Big 12 defensive tackle Dontay Corleone has been cleared to play by Cincinnati after being treated for blood clots in his lungs in June. Corleone has been a force his entire career, racking up freshman All-American honors in 2022. 

• Pro Football Focus week one grades are in, and three of the top five quarterbacks in the country are from the Big 12, led by Noah Fifita after racking up 422 yards and four touchdowns through the air in a win over New Mexico.

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Week Two Primer

I’ll be previewing games every week based on a scale of one to five Yormarks. Five Yormarks is the most entertaining and enticing game possible, while one Yormark is a snooze-fest. 

Here’s your week two primer!

Five Yormarks

Colorado at Nebraska (-7.5) – 6:30 NBC/Peacock

This is a fascinating game. 

Nebraska seems to have finally found a legitimate quarterback in true freshman Dylan Raiola. He threw for 238 yards and two touchdowns in a season-opening win over UTEP, including throws from jaw-dropping arm angles ala his doppelganger Patrick Mahomes. 

Pair Raiola with a legitimate head coach in Matt Rhule, and even the most ardent Nebraska hater (me) has to admit it looks like the Huskers are finally heading in the right direction. 

But is that enough to turn around a 22-point loss to Colorado last year this quickly?

It’s also hard to know exactly what Colorado is. The offense remains a blast to watch, but the Buffs still had issues running the ball and playing defense in their opener against North Dakota State. 

And was that a vintage NDSU championship team, or merely a good FCS team that lost in Boulder last Thursday?

To be honest, I don’t have a good read on this game at all, but it could be a real springboard for whoever wins it. 

With a daunting Big 12 schedule looming for the Buffaloes, this is a game they really need if they want to take a significant step forward this year. 

Iowa State at #21 Iowa (-2.5) – 2:30 CBS/Paramount+

Death. Taxes. The Cy-Hawk Game will be an ugly rock fight.

These two teams haven’t combined for more than 44 points in the last five meetings, with the Hawkeyes winning all but one of those matchups. 

It’s Iowa, so you know there are questions about the Hawkeyes offense – but they did put up 40 in week one under new offensive coordinator Tim Lester. 

The Cyclones have a much more explosive offense on paper and returned more production than any other FBS team on that side of the ball this year. Should we be concerned that they put up just 21 points in week one against North Dakota? 

History is certainly on the Hawkeyes' side, having won seven of the last eight matchups, but if the Clones win this one, they could realistically be 8-0 in early November. 

4 Yormarks

Arkansas at #16 Oklahoma State (-7.5) – 11:00 ABC/ESPN+

There’s only one Power Four school closer to Oklahoma State than Arkansas, yet this game hasn’t been played since 1980 when the coaching matchup was Lou Holtz vs. Jimmy Johnson. 

The Pokes took care of back-to-back FCS champ South Dakota State in a businesslike fashion last week. Alan Bowman was impressive through the air, but OSU head coach Mike Gundy seemed concerned with a pedestrian running game. Things will get tougher this week with an SEC defensive line to deal with. 

Boise State transfer QB Taylen Green dazzled for the Razorbacks in a 70-0 win over Arkansas Pine Bluff, but I’ll need to see a lot more to be convinced Arkansas is taking a step forward from last year’s 4-8 campaign. 

BYU at SMU (-11.5) – 6:00 Friday ESPN2

There’s nothing Big 12 Twitter would love more than for BYU to humble the mouthy Mustangs in their own building. 

The Mustangs fancy themselves an ACC contender, but they did stumble out of the blocks in week zero, barely finding a way to pull one out of the fire at Nevada.

There’s renewed optimism in Provo after BYU fans watched quarterback Jake Retzlaff throw for 348 yards and three touchdowns last week in a blowout win over Southern Illinois. 

But the question in this game will be the Cougars' defense. It will have to at least slow down a high-powered SMU offensive attack with plenty of skill position talent.

Texas Tech at Washington State (-2.5) – 9:00 Fox 

We’ve got ourselves a good old-fashioned Mike Leach Bowl in week two. 

Surely, Leach could have appreciated the Red Raiders' offense scoring 52 points in a week one win over Abilene Christian. Tech was the only team in the country last week to have a 300-yard passer, a 150-yard rusher, and a 150-yard receiver. 

The defense? That’s another story. 

Tech is fighting a bevy of injuries on the defensive side of the ball, and they’ll see a Wazzu offense that hit 70 for the first time since 1997 in its opener. 

Tech star running back Tahj Brooks is also questionable for this game, which could have a major impact. 

3 Yormarks

#19 Kansas (-5.5) at Illinois – 6:00 FS1

Need some perspective on just how insane Lance Leipold’s turnaround job at Kansas has been? The Jayhawks pack enough punch these days that they’re drawing a sellout crowd in Champaign – the first for Illinois at Memorial Stadium since 2016. 

The line on this game puzzles me. Frankly, I think Kansas should roll the Illini. 

The Jayhawks rolled up 539 yards of total offense on Illinois with a healthy Jalon Daniels last year in Lawrence, and I don’t see enough offense from Bret Bielema’s squad to keep up with that kind of output this year.

#17 K-State (-10) at Tulane – 11:00 ESPN

I don’t expect this to be a game K-State is looking past, mainly because revenge will be on the minds of many veteran players. Two years ago, Willie Fritz and Tulane handcuffed K-State’s Adrian Martinez-led offense and won in Manhattan to jumpstart their run to the Cotton Bowl. 

Fritz is out, but new Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall has plenty of talented transfers to work with, even if he felt the team was sloppy in week one. 

K-State’s defense was dominant last week, and they’ll likely need to control the game and get after freshman QB Darian Mensah, who beat out talented Oregon transfer Ty Thompson for the starting quarterback job in fall camp.

Pittsburgh at Cincinnati (-1.5) – 11:00 ESPN2

Brendan Soresby already looks like a significant upgrade over Emory Jones at quarterback for the Bearcats. 

The same can be said for Eli Holstein at Pitt, who helped the Panthers showcase a new up-tempo offense in a 55-24 win over Kent State last week. Holstein spread the ball around to four targets who had 5+ catches. 

Cincy has won three straight in the series, and if they pull this off, a 4-0 start is very much in play. 

Baylor at #11 Utah (-15) – 2:30 Fox

This is the first of a couple of non-conference games between Big 12 teams. It was scheduled before Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark brought Utah and the four corner schools to the league. 

Baylor gave its fans reason for optimism with a crisp 45-3 shellacking of Tarleton State that featured the debut of Toledo transfer quarterback Dequan Finn, but this will be an entirely different kind of test.

Cam Rising, Kyle Whittingham, and a stout defense await the Bears in Salt Lake City. Rising showed no signs of rust while making his long-anticipated comeback last week when he threw five first-half touchdown passes. 

Utah has only lost two home games in the last five years and is 22-0 in home non-conference games since 2011. 

Mississippi State at Arizona State (-6) – 9:30 ESPN

How real was the Sun Devils' 48-7 shellacking of Wyoming? We’ll learn a lot more this week when the SEC comes to town. 

No matter how you slice it, ASU's dominance in week one represents a step forward for the program in year two under Kenny Dillingham. 

Mississippi State brings a couple of familiar faces to town for Big 12 fans. Head coach Jeff Lebby was Brent Venables’ offensive coordinator the last two seasons, and Bulldogs quarterback Blake Shapen spent three years at Baylor. 

2 Yormarks

Houston at #15 Oklahoma (-29) – 6:45 SEC Network

Unfortunately for Houston, this isn’t 2016, and Greg Ward Jr. isn’t walking through that door. 

Tom Herman’s Cougars beat #3 Oklahoma to open the 2016 campaign, but after UNLV dominated Willie Fritz’s squad last week, it doesn’t seem likely that another upset is in the cards. 

1 Yormark

Albany at West Virginia – 5:00 ESPN+

Sam Houston at UCF (-23) – 5:30 ESPN+

Long Island at TCU – 7:00 ESPN+

Northern Arizona at #20 Arizona – 9:00 ESPN+

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