Only three Big 12 teams made the cut in this week’s AP Top 25, and they all feel like the ones that have carried the league through the fall.
Texas Tech landed at No. 7, which honestly feels a little low. The Red Raiders have handled their business and done it in a way that moves the needle nationally in a massive way. They’ve got explosive playmakers, the best defense in the country, and they’re playing with confidence. No. 7 might sound lofty, but they’ve earned that number. If anything, it feels like they’ve still got room to climb.
BYU sits at No. 11, and the Cougars are doing exactly what they need to do. They’re beating the teams in front of them, finding different ways to win, and keeping themselves right on the edge of that top-10 conversation. The jump to the Big 12 came with plenty of questions, but BYU has truly become a heavyweight in the league already. That ranking feels like a solid reflection of where they’re at right now, dangerous, but not quite elite just yet.
Utah checks in at No. 14, and while they’re a few spots behind the other two, there’s a reason they’re still firmly ranked. The Utes are just tough every week. Even when the offense sputters, they can win ugly. And in this league, that matters. Utah’s ceiling probably isn’t as high as Texas Tech’s right now, but they’ve got the kind of consistency that keeps them hanging around.
The bigger takeaway here isn’t that the Big 12 only has three teams ranked; it’s that the three ranked squads are all eyeing a spot in the College Football Playoff. Tech is flashy, BYU is steady, and Utah is gritty. That’s a pretty good spread of styles at the top.
Still, you’d expect to see a few more teams knocking on the door. Arizona State, Arizona, and potentially Cincinnati could be ranked, but if they want to join the party, they’ll need to string some wins together and make voters take notice.
For now, it’s the Red Raiders, Cougars, and Utes repping the Big 12 and doing it well.
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