Andy & Ari On3 - 2026 Big 12 POWER RANKINGS: Have Texas Tech & BYU SEPARATED themselves from the rest of the league?

Episode Date: June 15, 2026

As the fellas went through the SEC, Big Ten, and ACC last week, it's time to dive into the Big 12 power rankings. As On3's Brett McMurphy submitted his power rankings last week, Andy & Ari dive into the Big 12 teams on Brett's list here.   (0:00) On Today's Episode (0:59) Presenting Sponsor (2:30) Intro: Big 12 Conference (5:06) Oklahoma State at 6 (7:43) Full List of Teams (8:23) Arizona State at 10 (12:13) Arizona at 4 (13:39) Baylor at 13 (15:21) Colorado (18:13) Houston in the top 5? (21:44) Texas Tech at 1 (25:15) BYU at 2 (30:17) Utah at 3 (35:15) Kansas State at 6 (37:08) TCU at 7 (39:32) UCF at 12 (42:00) Wrapping up - Thanks for watching!   Our show is also presented by BetMGM!   If you haven’t signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code CFB and you will get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! Here’s how it works:   1. Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code CFB. 2. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game. 3. You will receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your bet loses! Just make sure you use bonus code CFB when you sign up!   Make this college football season one for the history books. Make it legendary.   See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. This promotional offer is not available in DC, Mississippi, New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800-MY-RESET (Available in the US) . 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only (if applicable). Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel   Join On3 today! https://www.on3.com/join   Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtu.be/LY6NWy51KJA Like/Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/On3Sports/   Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari Wasserman Producer: River Bailey   Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today is Andy Naurion 3 presented by BetMGM. It's the Big 12 power rankings. We've done the SEC. We've done the Big 10. We've done the ACC. Now we complete the Power Conference set with the Big 12. You'll never guess who's number one. That's right.

It's the Red Raiders, the defending conference champs. Could be some other stuff going on with them. We're going to talk about them on the field, though. Plus, can BYU stay at the top of the conference? Can they vault to the very top of the conference? And who might be a surprise? Can Arizona State, which won the first championship in a 16-team, Big 12, come back?

What about TCU? What about Houston lurking there after a nine-win season? Going to be a lot of fun in this league. It's not just off-field controversy. They are going to play some game soon. Let's talk Big 12 on today's Andy and Orion 3. This show is brought to you by, bet MGM and no college football going on right now,

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We've talked a lot about the Big 12 last week, but not about any action on the field. And we have hit the SEC, the Big 10, and the ACC power rankings. Brett Mitt Murphy from On 3, our pal put out his Big 12 power rankings on Thursday. We need to break these down because I think this is one of the harder leagues. to predict at least okay with the exception to one team so the thing with brendon soarsby that we have to talk about okay uh so we were joking about this before the show but i also feel like if you would take every big 12 team and then remove texas tech from the hat and then jumble it all up into like uh one of those like magic eight balls whatever one came up to the top could be a

a participant in the big 12 championship game like i don't know Particip in the championship game. I think if you took Texas Tech out of the equation, which, by the way, we are not predicting they're going to do because I don't think they will. I think you'd still have BYU as a pretty heavy favorite of the teams not named Texas Tech to win the league, right? I think so.

I think so. It just never feels like, and I don't know what it is. We have the three and a half point spread coin. for this for a reason. Of all the conferences in college football, that I feel like I have the worst grasp on in terms of who's actually going to be good and who's not, it's always the Big 12. And the other thing, too, you know, you did ACC, I did Big 10.

Chris Lowe did the SEC. I feel like if you were to assign the ACC, and maybe less so on the SEC than the Big Ten and the SEC, to a bunch of random college football analysts and podcasters that, those three to four conferences would basically bear out very similarly. You know, you might have some teams flip-flop here or there, but the tiers and where you find teams on the list, I think would be fairly consistent.

I think if you assigned everybody to do the Big 12, we all would have come up with different lists, don't you think? Right. I agree. I think everybody would have Texas, BYU, and Utah in their top five. I was in Arizona, and I was shocked to see them at four. Yeah. And I actually, like, I think Brett's got his alma mater a little low.

Brett went to Oklahoma State. He's got him at eight. We've had Eric Morris on this show. You and I, I think, are drinking the orange Kool-Aid pretty hard on Oklahoma State. And I realize they were coming off being the worst team in the league. But they ported so much of North Texas. And I think they gave Eric Morris the resources he needed to build a decent roster there. they're not just bringing guys that he'd coached,

but other guys that he hadn't coached yet, I got a feeling they're going to be the most improved team in the country. So it might be a little low for them. Yeah, I mean, but you are projecting out. You're putting a lot of faith into a bunch of North Texas transfers and a coach. Obviously, they've got a quarterback that we feel pretty good about, and Drew Messdemeanor, but, you know, there is still a leap of faith that has to be taken with Oklahoma State, you know.

And I just like also, And I don't know if this is true, but I have a theory in general. I think that because we've seen teams the last few years that have relied on G5 talent become very, very good, that we feel like that's going to happen all the time. And I don't know that that's the case. I think I buy the idea that the six to eight best players on a G5 roster, at least a good G5 roster, a competitive G5 team, would fare quite well on most rosters in the Power 5, Power 4. It's going to take five years from me to stop saying Power 5, by the way.

I still don't know if that's a great blueprint to winning conferences. Like, I don't know. Right. Just because Kurt Signetti can do this doesn't mean everybody can do this. Yeah, it's like we saw North Texas, and North Texas was really fun to watch last year. Very entertaining, explosive offense, really exciting quarterback. Drew Mestemaker was one of the great stories in college football. A guy did not start.

at quarterback on varsity for his high school and then turns into one of the most prolific pastors in the country in his first full years is starting quarterback in college. Right. Does that mean that North Texas would have won the Big 12 last year? Like, I don't know. Well, no, they didn't even win the American. I know. And one of the teams that beat them in the American, all their good players play for Auburn now.

If you think that they're low, I'd be curious to know where you would put. them for them to be appropriate in your head. I'd put them five or six, I think. I really do think they're going to be one of the most improved teams. Hey, for the podcast listeners, let's help out. Yeah. We will read what Brett had everybody ranked so you can follow along. But Texas Tech 1, BYU, 2, Utah 3, Arizona 4, Houston 5, Kansas State 6, TCU 7, Oklahoma

State 8, Kansas 9, Arizona State 10, UCF 11, Cincinnati. 12, Baylor 13, Colorado 14, West Virginia 15, Iowa State, 16. Ari, as I read those off, is there one or two that just jumps out at you? Too high or too low, either one. Arizona State jumped out to me. Okay, at 10. And I think that that seems a little low to me. Like, we're more certain, or Brett's more confident that Oklahoma State.

is going to be good than Arizona State. Like, does that feel right to you? No, no, because Arizona State won the league two years ago. Now, perhaps Brett is just trying to motivate Kenny Dillingham because two years ago, Arizona State was picked to finish last in the Big 12, and they won the whole thing. Last year, they lose Sam Levitt. They still won eight games.

They were the only team in the Big 12 to beat Texas Tech. So this team can play. Kenny Dillingham has earned our benefit of the doubt. I think I am excited to see what he does with Cutter Bowley, who's coming from Kentucky. Cutter Bowley was pretty good at Kentucky last year. I think, you know, if you're a fan of Arizona State or a fan of another Big 12 school listening to the show and you don't follow, you know, the bottom of the SEC that much, Kentucky signed Zach Kalsata for big money. and Cutter Bully beat him out. Like they benched the Big Money QB

because Cutter Bully was just better. And Cutter Bully played well down the stretch. So I'm excited to see what he does with Kenny Dillingham because remember when Sam Levitt was going to Kenny Dillingham, he had so-and-some flashes at Michigan State, but it wasn't like everybody was super excited about him, except maybe our guy Cody Belair, our National Scout arrivals. He loved Sam Levitt going to Arizona State.

But then I also fear that maybe I'm overreacting to because I feel like the, uh, the cutter bully, uh, Omarion Miller combination. Um, Marian Miller thing is, is big too. So Marion Miller was in Colorado. He was their best receiver last year. His, you know, early in his career, he's playing behind Travis Hunter and La Jante Wester and, and Jimmy Horn. So he didn't really have anybody could get in the ball last year.

And I will, I will point out. that when Juju Lewis played for Colorado, which they were trying to keep Ju-Ju-Lu-Lu's redshirt intact, so he only played four games. But when Juju-Louis played for Colorado, he was a lot better at getting the ball to our guy O'Mary and Miller than Caden Salter was, and Amarian Miller did some things.

So, like, this is a true wide receiver one. And I'm excited to see what he does. It's just like Kenny Dillingham has a knack for, you know, the Sam Levitt, Jordan Tyson. planned, you know, and it makes me more. Now, Cam Scadaboo is not walking to the door. And he might have been one of the most sensational college players. He and you can't discount how big of a part of that big 12 championship team he was.

Yeah. And I mean, he played his best, most exciting games in those postseason moments too. So, um, you know, obviously that was a major part of Arizona state's run. But no one's saying that Arizona state has to make the playoff in advance in it for them to not be 10th in the big 12. Like that's just low in. in the fourth most talented conference in college football. And I've actually been thinking a lot about all of our rank power rankings and like using them as like the blueprint for creating what we think I think we should do in offseason top 25. We haven't done it yet.

And it's like Arizona State in the actual poll could be a team that conceivably could be receiving votes. And you're telling me that they're the 10th best team. Does that mean that you think they're the 60th best team in the country or the 70th? Like I just don't buy that. I don't either. especially with a coach that has already proven to be pretty good at his job. So which one stood out to you, Andy? That was the one.

I'm interested in like Arizona at 4. I kind of like that one when I think about it. Because I remember we were at Big 12 Media Days last year and we were talking to Brent Brennan. And it's, you know, you felt bad because he was coming on the hot seat and it was taking a ton of criticism for what had happened. the year before. But he was adamant that Noah Fafita was going to get back to the form that he'd had in 2023, that it wasn't going to look like it looked in 2024. And he was absolutely right. Basically, Noah Fafita was banged up a couple years ago. Nobody was blocking for him. And they blocked for him last year. And he was off the charts good. And so, listen, it seems like

Brent Brannon's confident again. And I'm interested to see what they do because they were one of the tougher teams in the league last year. And Fafita is one of the best veteran quarterbacks in the country right now. Yeah, it does kind of make you long for the days of T-MAC there because, you know, it makes you feel like they probably should have won more while he was there. And, you know, they got better. But number four is expectations. The other one that jumped out of me, Andy, if you could put the list back up here, are teams that are just low and maybe appropriately ranked.

One, Baylor at 13th, I mean, that's probably not a big vote of confidence for what's going on there, especially considering the fact that DJ Lagway is the quarterback. I'm ultra fixated on what Baylor is going to be this year because of that. But are you fixated on what he was supposed to be or on what he was? We got, you and I both got tripped up pretty badly by what he was supposed to be. I'm fixing. He was, was a guy who threw way too many interceptions at Florida. And now that we've heard everything that was going on,

that, you know, the way he handled things, the way they handled things, like was kind of separate from his teammates. Now he's trying to do better about that at Baylor. But I feel like he's got to prove it. So I don't necessarily have a problem. I'm fixated on him. Putting these guys here. I'm fixated on him being on what he could be, right?

Not what, if we, if his, if the, if the final product of DJ Lagway was what he was last year, it wouldn't even be a talking point. The new, the new scenery, the home state, Dave Aranda being the coach, maybe lesser competition to a certain extent for a freak athlete like that, I think is all very intriguing to me. And I don't know if you want to play this game right now, maybe not the time or place, but like of all the quarterbacks that are starting in. the big 12 like if you had to take one right now with the potential you get with lagway would he be a top five selection in the big 12 i think it's possible depending on who you ask maybe he wouldn't be in your book you saw it closer than i did and up front and he made us look stupid i agree but um i just find it interesting and i think david rand is a good coach i also infixated on dion sanders and uh colorado because you know when he first was hired andy it felt like this was going to be a major boom or bust

scenario and it kind of feels like it's not I mean it was boomed for a minute there because two years ago they were in the CFP race but like there's no busting people thought it was going to be like a colossal public failure and it just kind of feels like Colorado is like fading back into obscurity in a way that I never thought was even possible with Dion Sanders as their coach like we don't talk about them anymore they're 14th we've got a former five car quarterback who's entering his second year in the program who's starting this year and there's zero buzz Yeah, and Brennan takes over the offense, and

Brennan has been trying to get a power for offensive coordinator job for a while. He's been successful at pretty much every other level with his offense, whether he was a coordinator. He's also the head coach of Sacramento State last year. I am interested to see it because the go-go offense is what he calls it. It is designed to be effective

even if you don't have a dominant offensive line, which that's probably where Colorado's at. You know, they lost Jordan Seton. Even when they had Jordan Seton, they didn't protect the quarterback the best. But this offense, which uses a lot of triple option principles and really stresses defenses in different ways, I do think that's going to help Judea Lewis. But we just talked about Amarian Miller at Arizona State. Like that, that's a problem when you lose guys like that.

Now that they have some transfers coming in who should be able to help. but I don't know. That's going to be a fun one to watch, I think, because, again, I've been following Brendan Marion's career a long time, and he did it in the FCS. He becomes receivers coach at Pitt, and Jordan Addison wins the bullet in a cough. Like, he was the OC at UNLV when they were really good under Barry Odom.

I am fascinated to see what they look like offensively. I just am so surprised by how there's no, buzz at all like it's just kind of like they bounced up and had some pretty exciting players and chidwar sanders and Travis hunter they had a cool two-year run where they floated with CFP contention and now it's just kind of like fading away into the into the abyss and like I always thought that if Colorado was successful would be the biggest thing in sports and I always thought that if it was a disaster would be a huge thing too and it's just like Dionne Sanders is just like quiet is even like I haven't heard.

He's talked a little bit, but it's, look, it's prove it. It's prove it time. You know, can you do it without Travis Hunter and Chador? And they didn't last year. So now they've got to do better. Yeah. Let's go to another team. Brett has these guys fifth, and I think this is in the top five is right.

You know, you can argue about where you want to put them in the top five. But it's Houston. Houston won 10 games last year. Connor Wegman, remember the former Texas A&M quarterback, was very good for them. Willie Fritz, their coach, has really won at every single level he's been at. He's won in Division 2. He's one in the FCS. He's won, like, he went to Georgia Southern and ran the triple option and won that way.

He went to Tulane and made them really good. The guy is just a good football coach who wins everywhere he goes. They were 10 and three last year. They bring in some transfers where, and like what a guy you talked about a lot last off season as a transfer, Mackay Hughes, remember he blew up at Tulane in 2024, transfers to Oregon, complete non-factor at Oregon, enters the portal, you know, basically red shirts, just does nothing up there. Now, it's interesting because Willie Fritz recruited him to Tulane.

What that was not the coach when McKay Hughes blew up at Tulane. That was John Summerall because Fritz had already gone on to Houston. But like this is a guy who ran for 1,400 yards two years ago. Yeah, I'm still kind of confused by his season last year, just in general, of like, I mean, he was as good as the Oregon running backs. Yeah. And I just like, I thought that, you know, last year's lists, I would have had him as a top 10 most impactful transfer overall, you know,

and then he didn't even play. So, you know, that makes me work. a little bit, but we've already seen him excel at the highest of high levels. And he was, he was not recruited. Yeah, he was recruited by Willie Fritz. So Willie Fritz understands, you know, how, what, what his skill set is and what works with him. So I think that that's very interesting. So, yeah, I just, like, I trust Willie Fritz a lot.

And we look at this schedule. We've taught, it's interesting because Houston's the team we've talked about the second most probably in the last week because they are playing at Texas Tech in the game that Brendan Soresby can come back for. But if we look at their schedule, you know, they're at Texas Tech, at Kansas State, at Utah, at Colorado, at West Virginia. So their road schedule is not particularly easy, but they don't have to play BYU. You know, this is a team that will compete for the Big 12 title game. This is one of those I have a feeling.

We'll get into November and we're going to be doing the magic number. We're going to be doing who, you know, who needs to win and who needs to lose. They're going to be in the scenarios. Yeah, no question. And I just, I wonder, too, Andy, if just coaching consistency in terms of getting the most out of your roster in this conference should be, you know, more heavily weighted than in other conferences, too, because the talent discrepancy may be outside of number one. And, you know, BYU is pretty talented. Number two. like, is there a huge talent discrepancy between Utah and Baylor?

Like in terms of pound for pound, I mean, I'm sure there's a little one. Yeah, well, yeah, Utah, see, I think Texas Tech, BYU and Utah from a talent standpoint. Yeah. Probably are the three most talented teams in the league. There's probably why Brett has them one, two, three. And so let's let's talk about the top of the rankings. Texas Tech, easy number one. You can take all the Sorsby stuff out of it.

Like, he's probably going to play. because the judge ruled in his favor. Even if he hadn't, we would have still had Texas Tech number one, I think, if Will Hammond was going to be the starting quarterback for most of the year. I think this is a case where we look at Texas Tech's roster

and we think they are that much better than everybody else from a roster standpoint. Now look, they had to go back into the portal, like that defensive line that they had, had last year was outstanding. You know, you've got to replace David Bailey and Romello Hyde and Lee Hunter, but they go get guys that look like they can make an impact pretty quick. Adam Trick, the edge rusher from Miami of Ohio.

Like, that guy seems like the real deal. He was very productive at Miami, Ohio, and apparently in the spring, he was just unblockable. So, like, they know how to find these guys. Yeah. And the emphasis of where they put them to. You know, the reason why they look. lost all that talent along their defensive front or their front seven on defense is because that's what they emphasized in their portal class the previous year. So, you know, I trust, you know,

just from a finances aspect that, like, Texas Tech isn't going to screw up how much money they ended up spending. But I think that we should take at least a few minutes here to discuss BYU. Well, before we do that, one other name I want to point out with Texas Tech. So at running back, you bring back you bring back Cam Dickie who averaged 5.4 yards of carry but also Quentin Joyner who got hurt

before he could play it all last season this was going to be USC's number one running back and then he ends up going into the portal and Ohio State wanted him Texas Tech got him but he got hurt in preseason camp he had an injury in preseason camp got hurt

didn't play at all. So this is a guy that I think probably we're not even thinking about right now, or at least haven't thought about for a while, who could be very productive for them. And they expected to be very productive for them last year. And there's another name just because of, in the honorary DJ Lagway Award of not being able to let go of five-star prospects, Micah Hudson, the receiver, I believe, was in their starting rotation.

He was a five-star player that Texas Tech got in the, what class was? It was the 20-24 class. Four. And, you know, there were some issues there and he almost left and then he came back. And, you know, from a measurable standpoint, if he's starting now, I just, I'm fascinated by, you know, what, because he's a sensational high school talent. So, you know, I think that if you add up all the pieces that Texas Tech has, they're probably in a pretty good position to waltz into this thing. And, you know, Andy, if they weren't, I'm not sure that all the distractions of what's going on with Brendan Sorsby and, you know, all the things that we've, talked about for the past, you know, seven, 10 days would even be, you know, happening.

Like, they have a team they know can score in the playoff and they don't want to mess it up. There's a reason for this. So, you know, we'll see how it goes, but there's nobody on earth that would do this list and not have Texas Tech number one. Now, what they do for the rest of it, which might be a nice segue, Andy, to BYU. Yes, let's talk very consistent team that, frankly speaking, you know, of all the teams that have a gripe with how the CFP committee treated them the last few years, I think I'm probably most willing to listen to the BYU fan plight on this one, because they've been a consistent winner. And there's a reason why Kalani Sataki was a candidate for the Penn State job. And here's the other thing to remember.

Kalani Sataki staying at BYU came with a price tag. Not necessarily for Kalani Sataki, though he did probably did get a raise. He wanted more for his staff and more for his roster, which means he's going to be able to get a better roster. And I think if we look at what happened last year, like, the way they played last year, the fact that they were that good last year is actually shocking when you think about it. Like, Bear Bachmire was a true freshman quarterback who did not go through spring practice with them. He went through spring practice at Stanford, showed up in the summer. They thought Jake Retzliff was going to start for them.

and then they had to suspend him and then he left. So the fact that they were that good last year, how good are they going to be now that Bear Bokmire's had a year to figure out what the speed of this level is like and he's got a full year as the leader of this offense? I am very excited for what he can be because he just got dropped in there. Like, that's as high pressure of situations you get dropped into as a true freshman. And he performed incredibly well.

I mean, it feels like I'm really excited about what he can be. You remember how big of a deal the Retslaff news was because you thought this is it for them. And then they come out and they only lost two games last year and it was the same team that made the playoff. And obviously we're penalized if you want to look at it that way by playing that same team again, Texas Tech in the Big 12 championship game and ultimately losing. Now, obviously, if you're BYU, you. you want to play that game a little bit closer and give yourself a chance. But in terms of double digit wins, hard fought wins, and the thing that I've been most, you know, impressed with Kalani Sataki's teams is that they know how to win close games.

Like, you always finds a way to come out on top in games where a flip of a coin in the fourth quarter could design the outcome. They're very disciplined. They're very hard hitting, just a very passionate football team. And like, that's what makes me so obsessed with Kalani Sataki as a coach. because their entire temperament as a school and a program is just so hard-nosed and never give up. And I feel like you can feel it when they play. So, and that's not also to, you know, the thing is it's not just why. I mean, they got good players.

They went out and got Cal's best linebacker. Like, they got guys in the portal who can help them. They have LJ. Martin coming back at running back. And running back in the big 12, maybe 13005 yards and 12 touchdowns last. last year, five and a half yards of carry for him. Throw that schedule back up, producer river. Here's the thing about BYU that's different from most of the other schools in the league.

Non-con. Different from Texas Tech. You can thank USC for this one. BYU gets Notre Dame in Provo on October 17th. If they can win that game, they probably just need to make the Big 12 championship game to make the playoff.

They probably don't have to win. in the league. I mean, that's the thing that was missing from every big 12 team last year, was a non-conference opponent to legitimize the league. I think that, you know, I'm not going to drag us into the pits of hell of a scheduling discussion again, but like it really makes a difference. And you know what, Andy, if they lose to Notre Dame by seven points at home and Notre Dame finishes the season undefeated, I still think that's a legitimizing loss. I think intellectually speaking, if you see a team go toe to toe with a team that's ranked number one or two in the CFP rank, at the end of the year, then they end up losing the Big 12 championship game, it almost feels like

half of a win to me. I think that people, that's not the way you're supposed to do it, but, you know, your eyes or your eyes. But we talked about this on the show the last few weeks. Like, if there had been a BYU Notre Dame game last year, like if you'd replaced a nondescript game in the non-conference for BYU and on Notre Dame schedule with Notre Dame BYU, the winner of the game would have made the playoff if everything else had gone the same in the season yeah yeah keep those non-conference game scheduled ladies and gentlemen and i'm happy that b yu is the beneficiary of this and like you know good on notre dame for going out and getting a tough opponent but i think that you could make the case that b yu had more to gain by it from this than even

notary dame who was trying to fill a hole in their schedule yeah yeah and and it's in provo let's let's stay in state let's stay in state because utah is a fascinating team as well. So Utah was really good last year. Ten win team. They lost to Texas Tech and they lost to BYU. They were really good against everybody else. But that coaching situation was, let's not sugarcoat it.

That was weird what happened. They chase off Kyle Whittingham so that they can bring Morgan Scally up to the head coach's chair, which was the plan all along that he was the coach in waiting. And when Wittingham was done, Scali would be the head coach. They basically got tired of waiting on Winningham and they booted him and you can say they did

you can say all he left of his own accord. No, no, they were paying him to leave. Like, they essentially paid him to take the mission. And they had a really good year last year, ma'am. Yeah. I know last year at this time, like everybody was having Devin Dampeer, Mania and you thought Utah was a dark horse to play for the Big 12 championship and man, they

were a three point loss away from doing that. You know, like they yeah, they lost to BYU on the road by three points. And, you know, I think did a pretty good job with the rest of their schedule. Now, obviously, they lost 34 to 10 to Texas Tech, which I think is another illustration of that talent gap that we keep alluding to. But, you know, it's not like they had a bad year.

It was a little bit. Well, Hammond, by the way. Yeah, they won 11 games last year before taking this risk. And obviously, there's a tremendous amount of intrigue to see how good Morgan Scali is at taking over because those actions imply to me that Utah felt like they were better off without Whittingham, who's now the head coach at Michigan. So I think from a fascination standpoint, Utah is probably one of the more interesting teams in the country this year. Yeah, and so Devin Dampere did stay, though.

Now, I think this is probably a case because the O.C. left to go with Kyle Whittingham. John Henry Daly, their best pass rusher, left to go with Kyle Whittingham. But Dampier stayed. Now, probably I would imagine he would have had the option to go to, Michigan of Bryce Underwood was a person who didn't exist, but he does. And so, but Dan Peer, because he was so good last year, I think had some options and chose to stay. Yeah. She's just a sensational player.

And I don't know if it's fair to either coach, but Utah and Michigan are going to be compared head-to-head, even though they don't play every single week. And I think that that's going to be a fascinating thing to see because like I do understand also and I don't know how legendary coaches you know work because what Whittingham is unequivocally the greatest coach in Utah history right so so I mean Urban Meyer but he wasn't there for long enough yeah it just goes to show you that no matter how successful you are even in your because he didn't let it slip it's not like they told him to kick rocks after a 4 and 18 but had slipped yeah he got it back last year and it was like oh oh what do we do now yeah

but there is such thing as, you know, maybe fresh starts and new faces and big changes are like essential everywhere. You know, I don't know if long-tenured coaches are going to be very normal in the new world. But it is, it feels like Michigan kind of got lucky here. So we'll see what happens. But Utah is obviously a fascinating team, especially when you have your running back. And Utah, I would think if Scali applies the same principles that have been used to run the program. for the last 21 years, which I'm guessing he will since he played for Kyle Whittingham and worked for Kyle Whittingham. I think they've got a pretty good formula figured out.

So I don't see them slipping that much. I think it's really more they're good. Can they compete for the Big 12 title? And yes, we will all still be comparing them to Michigan. But at the end of the day, that does really matter. Yeah. I mean, maybe you could say that Utah has a better chance of winning the Big 12 this year. the Michigan does it winning the Big Ten.

I would agree with that. You know, it's interesting because the best teams are not meeting as much as, well, the teams we think right now are the best are not meeting as much as they did last year. But that's the same thing. We didn't really know that BYU would be as good as it was. If Arizona is the second best team in the country, then Utah playing on the road in Tucson in mid-November is a big game. You know, like you don't know yet.

Right after they play BYU at home. Right. So, you know, I think that's the stretch that's going to determine for Utah what they are. It's it's they get Houston at home. They go to Cincinnati. They get BYU at home. Then they're on the road at Arizona and TCU. Like that's that's going to determine whether they're playing in Jerry World or not. Yeah. And another interesting interconference matchup because Utah plays Arkansas very early in the season. So SEC versus big 12. Yeah, big deal. So one more. Can I talk one more? I want to throw one more.

Can I guess which one? Is it Kansas State? It's not. It's not. Although Colin Klein returning to Manhattan to coach Avery Johnson, who he was the OC for Avery Johnson's freshman year, I do think that's very exciting. Brett has them sixth. I think Colin, well, let's talk Kansas State.

We need to talk Kansas State anyway. Colin Klein played for Bill Snyder, understands what works at Kansas State, worked with Chris Climin. He was the OC for Chris Climing. So he like all of the guys that have won at Kansas State in the past 30 years, Colin Klein has learned from. Yeah. Big challenge because I think that everybody views this as some sort of, you know,

riddle where it's like if you can get the most out of Avery Johnson, who people thought was Johnny Mansell before he played his first snaps, and then all of a sudden you're competing for a Big 12 championship. And I think it might be a little bit more interesting than that. As far as I remember, Andy, I believe that, you know, Avery Johnson and maybe one offensive lineman are the only ones back in this offense. Is that sound right? They bring back their leading rusher and their leading receiver from last season, too.

The defense only has one starter coming back. And Jordan Peterson, who was with Klein at Texas A&M, comes to take over the defense. And so we'll see that what that. Because that's one of those things where their defense was bad last year. So I'm not necessarily concerned that it's not a lot of guys coming back because I'm not sure you wanted that defense back. Right. But Avery Johnson's fascinating. And, you know, the Colin Klein love story is kind of cool because he had a really awesome year,

let a team to a playoff last year, and is back home. That's what's more interesting in college football than that. So who was the last team you wanted to talk about? Well, before that, there's another, I realized there's another one we need to talk about, TCU, which last year they were kind of hot and cold. And look, Sonny Dites has said, like he threw Josh Hoover pretty squarely under the bus that our QB turned ball over too much. And Josh Hoover is now the quarterback in Indiana. So we're going to see how that works out. Jaden Craig, who we had on the show a few weeks ago, comes from Harvard.

Harvard to take over that quarterback spot. They've got good players around Jaden Craig. The defense has to replace a lot here at TCU. So we're going to have to see what they do. Like No More Bud Clark, some guys that have been really good for a long time. But I am excited to see what this looks like. Like, I don't know, that last game where they beat. USC with Ken Seals starting.

I'm just like, you know what? Maybe these guys have something to them. Yeah. And I think it's another case too of coaches becoming the hottest commodity in the sport and then being forgotten. It's like Sunny Dykes literally led this TCU team to the national championship game three years ago. So, you know, it's not like that's ancient, ancient history. TCU, I think is one of the teams that has some pretty good resources. and I trust that if Craig hits, and this is a guy that, you know,

could have been in the NFL right now. You put yourself in a position, especially if they have that good pass rush back that they had a year ago from being in a good spot to compete for a lot of big 12 wins. Now, we are going to get to see them very early. Week zero, they're going to be in Dublin against North Carolina. Obviously, we were all watching on Labor Day night last year

when CCU beat the crap out of Bill Belichick in North Carolina and Bill Belichick's college coaching debut. This one, I don't think. is going to be as easy. I think Bill Belichick, we've talked in the ACC preview about we're not sure they upgraded their roster that much, but I know they know what they're doing more in terms of coaching these guys. That was that was the first one out of the gate and they've hired Bobby Petrina to call the offense. So we're going to learn a lot about TCU week zero in Dublin, but that's that's one where they should be favored in that game. They should win that game.

It should be a nice little launching pad for them. One more, UCF. Scott Frost is in round two at UCF the first year didn't go great. Brings in a quarterback who I find very interesting. And we talked about Devin Dampeer not going to Michigan because Bryce Underwood is a person who exists. I think Alonza Barnett didn't follow Bob Chesney from James Madison to UCLA because obviously, Nico Iamalia is entrenched as the starter at UCLA. Hey, Alonza Barnett, if you watched James Madison play last year, that skill set fits what Scott Frost's offense looked like when it worked really well back in the day. We're talking about when McKinsey Milton was running it at UCF, Alonza Barnett has a similar skill set.

I'm just saying, I know Brett's got them, I think at 11. I'm just saying, watch Orlando, watch the 4.0.000. Yeah, I have, I feel like a sleeping giant stuff always comes up with UCF. And, you know, they had some of the best G5 teams, you know, that we can remember in recent past. And I'm just kind of been waiting for the light to turn on, Andy. Is there any hype in Florida at all around that team? Not a lot. The hype is, is interesting.

It's a round of transfer from Monmouth, a receiver transfer from Monmouth, which is an FCS school in New Jersey, named Josh Derry. They call him Scary Derry. I'm just saying, just put that name in your back pocket. Yeah, I mean, if you're getting a nickname before you've played a single game, that's probably a pretty good idea that things are looking good for you. Yeah. Now, it's a Stephen King reference, but yeah, I'm just saying, put the name in your back pocket.

That's going to be one to watch. I'm fascinated. And you float two. Did I get the movie right? Scott Frost had an under. undefeated season with UCF. Yes, all the Nebraska stuff happened. We know.

But I don't know. Maybe it was watching him go undefeated at UCF. You think, okay, if he just gets the right quarterback, the magic can happen again. I don't know. I don't know if that's true. But Alonza Barnett has a very intriguing skill set for what Scott Frost tends to won on offense.

So we'll find out. We will find out. 11 might be a little low. Maybe. But this league is going to surprise us. That's the beauty of the Big 12 is we're pretty sure who's number one because they are probably more talented than everybody else at Texas Tech. But beneath that, there's a lot of teams that are pretty close,

which is going to make for some really fun games. All right. We're going back on vacation. We'll see you next week. You know,