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Big 12 Notes – Utah Week
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October 14th
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Big 12 Betting Lines: No. 23 Utah a 3.5-point road favorite over No. 15 BYU
From DraftKings.com …
The Big 12 schedule … Saturday, October 18th
- Arizona at Houston … 10:00 a.m., MT, FS1 … Houston is a 1.5-point home favorite …
- Baylor at TCU … 10:00 a.m., MT, ESPN2 … TCU is a 2.5-point home favorite …
- West Virginia at UCF … 11:00 a.m., MT, TNT … UCF is a 7.5-point home favorite …
- No. 7 Texas Tech at Arizona State … 2:00 p.m., MT, Fox … Arizona State is an 11.5-point home underdog …
- No. 24 Cincinnati at Oklahoma State … 6:00 p.m., MT, ESPN2 … Cincinnati is a 22.5-point home underdog …
- No. 23 Utah at No. 15 BYU … 6:00 p.m., MT, Fox … BYU is a 3.5-point home underdog …
- Idle … Colorado … Iowa State … Kansas … Kansas State …
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October 13th
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Three Big 12 teams in preseason AP men’s basketball poll
From ESPN … Purdue is No. 1 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 college basketball poll for the first time.
The Boilermakers earned 35 of 61 first-place votes to top Monday’s poll to begin the 2025-26 season. That put Matt Painter’s squad ahead of the two teams that played in last year’s NCAA title game, with runner-up Houston at No. 2 and reigning champion Florida at No. 3.
“We are obviously excited to get the season going and being ranked No. 1 in the preseason is a great indicator of what we feel this team can accomplish,” Painter said. “But the goal is to be No. 1 at the end of the year. We’re thrilled that people think this highly of our team, but there is a long ways to go and a lot of work to do to reach that goal in April.”
Kansas checked in at No. 19, the lowest preseason rank for Bill Self’s Jayhawks since starting at No. 24 in the 2008-09 season as the reigning national champion. Kansas had been ranked outside the top 10 only once since that year (No. 13 in 2011-12) while starting at No. 1 in 2019-20 as well as each of the last two seasons in that stretch.
The Southeastern Conference, Big Ten and Big 12 each had six ranked teams to make up 72% of the field. The Atlantic Coast Conference and Big East were next with three each, while the West Coast Conference had one with No. 21 Gonzaga. The Big 12 was the only league of that group to have three top-10 teams.
| 1. Purdue (35) | 0-0 | 1485 |
| 2. Houston (16) | 0-0 | 1459 |
| 3. Florida (8) | 0-0 | 1382 |
| 4. UConn (2) | 0-0 | 1299 |
| 5. St, John’s | 0-0 | 1203 |
| 6. Duke | 0-0 | 1123 |
| 7. Michigan | 0-0 | 1084 |
| 8. BYU | 0-0 | 1078 |
| 9. Kentucky | 0-0 | 1056 |
| 10. Texas Tech | 0-0 | 1015 |
| 11. Louisville | 0-0 | 966 |
| 12. UCLA | 0-0 | 741 |
| 13. Arizona | 0-0 | 715 |
| 14. Arkansas | 0-0 | 695 |
| 15. Alabama | 0-0 | 620 |
| 16. Iowa State | 0-0 | 616 |
| 17. Illinois | 0-0 | 567 |
| 18. Tennessee | 0-0 | 462 |
| 19. Kansas | 0-0 | 453 |
| 20. Auburn | 0-0 | 424 |
| 21. Gonzaga | 0-0 | 387 |
| 22. Michigan State | 0-0 | 188 |
| 23. Creighton | 0-0 | 158 |
| 24. Wisconsin | 0-0 | 136 |
| 25. North Carolina | 0-0 | 104 |
Others receiving votes: NC State 101, Oregon 98, San Diego State 74, Texas 35, Ohio State 23, Kansas State 13, Ole Miss 11, USC 10, Missouri 8, Washington 7, Vanderbilt 7, Iowa 6, Boise State 4, Mississippi State 3, VCU 2, Saint Mary’s 2, Virginia 2, Baylor 1, Oklahoma 1, Indiana 1
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October 12th
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Associated Press poll: Texas Tech up to No. 7; Utah and Cincinnati replace Arizona State and Iowa State
From ESPN … Indiana moved up to No. 3 in the Associated Press college football poll Sunday for its highest ranking in program history, while Texas and USC were among five teams entering the Top 25 after eight ranked teams — three of them previously unbeaten — lost over the weekend.
Ohio State and Miami remained the top two teams while the Hoosiers earned a four-spot promotion for their 10-point win at then-No. 3 Oregon. No. 4 Texas A&M and No. 5 Ole Miss traded places after the Aggies’ 17-point home win over Florida and the Rebels’ three-point home win over Washington State.
The Buckeyes strengthened their hold on No. 1 with a solid road win against then-No. 17 Illinois and received 50 first-place votes, 10 more than last week. Miami, which was idle, earned 13 first-place votes, and Indiana got the other three.
Texas A&M has its highest ranking in a regular season since it was No. 3 in September 1995.
No. 20 USC, ranked twice in September, returned to the rankings on the strength of its 18-point home win over Michigan.
No. 23 Utah is back after a three-week absence following a 32-point win over Arizona State.
No. 24 Cincinnati beat Central Florida at home for its fifth straight win and is ranked for the first time since 2022.
No. 25 Nebraska came from behind to beat Maryland on the road and has its first ranking of the season. It is the first time since the 2013 and 2014 seasons that the Cornhuskers have been ranked in consecutive seasons.
| 1. Ohio State (50) | 6-0 | 1 |
| 2. Miami (13) | 5-0 | 2 |
| 3. Indiana (3) | 6-0 | 7 |
| 4. Texas A&M | 6-0 | 5 |
| 5. Ole Miss | 6-0 | 4 |
| 6. Alabama | 5-1 | 8 |
| 7. Texas Tech | 6-0 | 9 |
| 8. Oregon | 5-1 | 3 |
| 9. Georgia | 5-1 | 10 |
| 10. LSU | 5-1 | 11 |
| 11. Tennessee | 5-1 | 12 |
| 12. Georgia Tech | 6-0 | 13 |
| 13. Notre Dame | 4-2 | 16 |
| 14. Oklahoma | 5-1 | 6 |
| 15. BYU | 6-0 | 18 |
| 16. Missouri | 5-1 | 14 |
| 17. Vanderbilt | 5-1 | 20 |
| 18. Virginia | 5-1 | 19 |
| 19. South Florida | 5-1 | 24 |
| 20. USC | 5-1 | NR |
| 21. Texas | 4-2 | NR |
| 22. Memphis | 6-0 | 23 |
| 23. Utah | 5-1 | NR |
| 24. Cincinnati | 5-1 | NR |
| 25. Nebraska | 5-1 | NR |
Others receiving votes: Illinois 113, Michigan 73, Washington 36, UNLV 30, Navy 11, Mississippi State 8, Tulane 2, San Diego State 2
Dropped from rankings: Michigan 15, Illinois 17, Arizona State 21, Iowa State 22, Florida State 25
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Penn State fires James Franklin after three-game losing streak
From CBS Sports … Penn State has fired coach James Franklin six games into his 12th season with the Nittany Lions, the university announced Sunday amid a disastrous three-game slide.
The No. 2 team in the preseason AP Top 25 just two months ago, the Nittany Lions slipped to 0-3 in Big Ten play following a stunning 22-21 home loss to Northwestern in Week 7 — a game in which they were a three-touchdown favorite. The massive upset was Penn State’s second in a row after falling at previously winless UCLA on Oct. 4, making it the first FBS team since 1978 to lose back-to-back games as favorites of at least 20 points.
Associate head coach and cornerbacks coach Terry Smith will serve as interim for the remainder of the 2025 season.
“Penn State owes an enormous amount of gratitude to Coach Franklin who rebuilt our football program into a national power,” Penn State athletic director Patrick Kraft said in a statement. “He won a Big Ten Championship, led us to seven New Year’s Six bowl games and a College Football Playoff appearance last year. However, we hold our athletics programs to the highest of standards, and we believe this is the right moment for new leadership at the helm of our football program to advance us toward Big Ten and national championships.”
… Continue reading story here …
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Oregon State fires head coach Trent Bray after 0-7 start (and one win in last 14 games)
From CBS Sports … Oregon State has fired coach Trent Bray seven games into his winless second season leading the program, CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz confirms. The Beavers dropped to 0-7 with Saturday’s Week 7 39-14 loss to Wake Forest, which marked their fourth double-digit defeat of the year.
“I’m frustrated. I’m disappointed,” Bray said following the loss. “I look at myself, and I’ve got to fix it. It’s unacceptable to me where we’re at. That’s just how I look at it. What can I do? I’ve got to look at it. What can I do different to get these guys going?”
Bray departs Corvallis with a 5-14 overall record. That includes a 1-13 mark in his last 14 games.
He was initially promoted to full-time coach in the wake of former boss Jonathan Smith’s departure to Michigan State ahead of the 2024 season.
Bray’s first year in his new post got off to a decent start. The Beavers went 4-1 through the first half of the 2024 regular season, with their only loss coming against No. 9 Oregon, the eventual Big Ten champion. But Oregon State spiraled to 1-6 down the stretch, causing it to miss a bowl game.
The Beavers have not won a game since Nov. 23, 2024. Prior to his promotion, Bray, a former linebacker at Oregon State, served as linebackers coach and then defensive coordinator on Smith’s Oregon State staff from 2018-2023.
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2 Replies to “Big 12 Notes – Utah Week”
Feel bad for the beavers. They really got screwed by the USC-led implosion of the PAC 12. I’m not sure how any coach could be successful there right now.
But Jonathan Smith might be available in a few weeks given his recent games so there’s that
CU had their first good win against a quality ranked team. Both GT & BYU are ranked and undefeated, and those were close losses.
Has CU figured it out? Are we seeing the team Prime has been telling us he has?
ESPN has the Buffs winning 3 of their next five games with Utah being their toughest game coming up and the Utes, even with their winning record, have similar stats as the Buffs. The Buffs have a bye week and the Utes play BYU this week, so there’s that.
Let’s hope that the team has figured it out, beat Utah!