Big 12 Week in Review: Fans spoiled with action-packed weekend

By Jacob Seliga

Lead Writer

What a week in the Big 12 Conference. Twelve of the conference’s 16 teams were in action, and four of the six games that took place came down to the wire. There were fan ejections, questionable officiating, nail biting finishes and rivalries both old and new taking place.

This is the Big 12 week in review.

November Collapse

Through the first nine weeks of the season, Iowa State appeared to be the clear best team in the Big 12 conference.

However, the last two weeks have been far from the picture perfect start the Cyclones started with.

Two weeks ago, Iowa State fell apart in the fourth quarter losing a nail biter to Texas Tech. Last week, the Cyclones traveled to Arrowhead Stadium and looked like a shell of themselves as Kansas rolled over them 45-36 in a game they were down by 25 at one point. 

Once looking like a lock to make the conference championship game, the Cyclones no longer control their own path to Arlington, as they’ve fallen into a three way tie for third place in the conference and are currently behind Arizona State in the tiebreaker. 

For Iowa State to make the conference championship, the Cyclones have to win out, have Colorado drop two games and have Arizona State lose a game to move into second place. 

That is challenging as the Cyclones welcome Cincinnati to Ames before traveling to Utah and hosting No. 19 Kansas State in the final week of the season, a team that also needs help to reach Arlington in what could be a play-in game for the conference championship.  

With one of the easier slates of conference games, missing out on both the conference championship as well as the college football playoff spot that comes with it, would be disappointing for the Cyclones. 

A big reason for that would be because Iowa State will graduate a heavy chunk of their defense before next season. Thus making a “win-now“ year like this year, one they will wish they had back. 

Stealing the show

Let’s set the scene. It’s fourth down and long deep in opposing territory, all you need is one defensive stop and a season of disappointment and heartbreak will be more than made up for. 

Their quarterback drops back, the pressure gets to him and he throws an errant pass that ends up incomplete. The crowd goes wild and as everyone celebrates, an extremely late flag falls to the turf. 

That’s what Utah’s players and fans had to experience Saturday night against BYU.

Whether or not it was the right call, that’s up in the air for others to decide. But what’s disappointing about it, is that it marred what was a fantastic rivalry game between two programs and fan bases that genuinely dislike one another. A back and forth contest that saw each side fight as if it was the national championship. 

BYU would proceed to march down the field following the penalty and kick a game winning field goal to remain undefeated but the penalty will be debated in the state of Utah for years to come. 

Just a couple of weeks ago in Austin, Georgia and Texas met in a top five showdown that had all the drama of a game of that caliber. However, the most notable moment in that game came after an incorrect call from the officials against the Longhorns.

The Longhorn student section proceeded to throw bottles and other things onto the field in protest of the call and forced a lengthy delay. During that delay, the officials reversed the original call on the field into one that favored the Longhorns and chaos ensued. 

On Saturday in Lubbock, the Texas Tech student section attempted to copy their rivals to the East by throwing tortillas and bottles on the field. However unlike Texas, what took place from the Texas Tech fans happened all game long. 

From the first drive of the game where it caused a false start against Colorado to a Buffaloes touchdown to go up 31-20, the Tech student section rained down debris all night in a classless fashion. 

And rightfully so, the Buffaloes taunted right back at the Tech fans once the game was out of reach and while the debris was being tossed. Colorado handled Texas Tech 41-27 all but eliminating the Red Raiders from contention for the conference title but the story of this game was the disrespectful fans. 

Stayin’ Alive

Two teams very much alive in the conference title race are two teams that were overlooked entering the season and still are 11 weeks in. 

After a 1-2 start in non conference play, West Virginia looked to be dead on arrival to start conference play. The Mountaineers had five of the top six projected teams in the conference on their schedule in the first month of Big 12 play. 

West Virginia responded with a 4-2 start in conference play that included a 31-24 victory over former Big East rival Cincinnati on the road on Saturday. This win keeps the Mountaineers alive in the conference championship race albeit with a very slim chance. 

Across the country in Tempe, Arizona, the Arizona State Sun Devils needed all 60 minutes to knock off UCF on Saturday night 35-31 as the offense struggled without do-it-all running back Cam Skattebo. 

The star rusher missed Saturday’s contest with a shoulder sprain and the Sun Devils needed a defensive and special teams score to defeat the Knights.

With the victory, the Sun Devils moved into a tie for third place in the conference but control the tiebreaker over the other three teams tied with them as of today.

With a trip to Manhattan looming this weekend, if Arizona State wins the Sun Devils chances of going to Arlington improve massively. 

Game of the week: Arizona State at No. 19 Kansas State, 5 p.m., ESPN

Another week, another conference championship elimination game. This time, however, the stakes are the largest they have been to this point as Arizona State travels to face Kansas State on Saturday night in primetime.

For the Sun Devils, any path to the conference championship must include a win this week over the Wildcats. In fact, their path out of all of the teams tied for third is the most straightforward. If Arizona State wins out, any loss in the final three games by Colorado would send the Sun Devils to Arlington to play in the conference championship. 

Kansas State’s path, however is fairly similar, it also have to rely on a loss by Colorado and have to win out itself just to gain a tiebreaker over Iowa State, who currently owns it over it. Unlike Arizona State, Kansas State doesn’t technically control its own path since none of the Sun Devils final three opponents are a part of the four way tie for third place.