Big 12 power rankings: Where BYU, Utah and every league team stands heading into November

The month of November is nearly here, and with it is coming some more clarity in the Big 12 conference football race.
There are four clear front-runners — unbeaten BYU and Iowa State, as well as Kansas State and Colorado, who both have just one loss in conference play.
What did we learn from Week 9? The Cougars, Wildcats and Buffaloes all won, while the Cyclones were on a bye.
Other programs — like Cincinnati and Texas Tech — lost ground in the Big 12 standings with losses, while others — like TCU and Baylor — had impressive wins.
There’s still plenty of football left to play — what’s the league’s outlook with five weeks left in the regular season?
Here’s our look at how the Big 12 stacks up through the ninth week of the 2024 season:
BYU made one of its better impressions of the season last week, going into Florida and handling a UCF team that was on a four-game losing streak heading into their matchup, though the Knights were viewed by oddsmakers as the favorite over the unbeaten Cougars.
The Cougars are getting a well-timed bye this week, although one could argue that maybe it would be best to keep the momentum going — BYU has scored 34 or more points in six straight contests.
Next up is an absolutely critical game on the road at Utah. Yes, the Utes have had a disappointing season — they are losers of four straight — but as anyone who’s followed the rivalry can attest, records and past results rarely matter in one of the nation’s most competitive rivalries. If BYU manages to win, clamoring for the Cougars to qualify for the Big 12 championship game will likely hit a fever pitch.
The Cyclones dropped two spots in the Associated Press rankings this week, but that’s not an indictment against Iowa State — the Cyclones were on a bye and there were a couple teams not far behind them in the polls that had impressive wins.
Iowa State will play five games in November, starting with a home matchup against a Texas Tech squad that has looked vulnerable the past two weeks. There’s some potential for difficult matchups at Kansas and Utah after that, with a home matchup against Cincinnati in between, before the Cyclones host No. 17 Kansas State in an absolutely huge matchup in the season finale.
Kansas State has been taken to the wire in a couple of their wins in Big 12 play, but give the Wildcats credit — they have found ways to win close games against Colorado and Kansas in recent weeks. Against the Jayhawks, Kansas State rallied and kicked a game-winning 51-yard field goal with just under two minutes remaining before stopping Kansas on a fourth down to wrap up the win.
Following a road game at Houston this week where they’ll be favored, the Wildcats will have a bye before taking on three teams in the top half of the Big 12 standings, facing Arizona State and Cincinnati at home before traveling to take on No. 11 Iowa State on the road in the regular-season finale. It’s a tough stretch, but the Wildcats have shown they’re more than up for the challenge.
Colorado is arguably playing as hot as anyone else in the Big 12 right now, and that included beating a Cincinnati team that had just one conference loss going into their matchup last week. Shedeur Sanders was incredibly efficient in that matchup, completing 25 of 30 passes for 323 yards and two touchdowns, as the Buffaloes stayed within a game of league leaders BYU and Iowa State.
The rest of the season is setting up favorably for Colorado, with the road game at Texas Tech following a bye week as perhaps the toughest game remaining. After that, the Buffaloes host Utah and Oklahoma State, sandwiching a road game at Kansas — those three schools currently have a combined two conference wins.
The Bearcats ran into a hot Colorado team in Boulder last week and couldn’t keep up with a Buffaloes team that climbed into the Associated Press rankings after the game. Cincinnati trailed by as many as 17 before pulling within eight with four minutes to play, but Colorado put the game away with a late field goal.
While the Bearcats have exceeded expectations through the first two months of the season, they’ll continue to be challenged in November — all four of their remaining opponents currently have winning records in Big 12 play (West Virginia is 4-4 overall) and they play back-to-back games at No. 11 Iowa State and No. 17 Kansas State.
It’s weird to think, but the Horned Frogs are one unexpected, embarrassing loss to Houston away from a four-game winning streak. TCU rallied from 17 points in the third quarter to beat Texas Tech, and combined with wins over Utah and Kansas sandwiched around that loss to the Cougars, the Horned Frogs still have a chance to be a disruptor in the Big 12 race despite their flaws.
Can TCU become bowl eligible with a win at Baylor? If so, that would be the Horned Frogs’ fourth win in five games and would set them up well before hosting two struggling programs, Oklahoma State and Arizona, in their next two games.
Coach Kenny Dillingham told reporters on Monday that quarterback Sam Leavitt, who missed the team’s most recent game against Cincinnati with a rib injury, is cleared to play for this weekend’s game against Oklahoma State, according to the Arizona Republic. The Sun Devils lost to the Bearcats with replacement Jeff Sims quarterbacking the Arizona State offense.
The Sun Devils are still in a good position to impact the Big 12 race as they head into November, when they’ll play five straight weeks to end the year. There are games against two ranked teams still on the schedule — at No. 17 Kansas State, versus No. 9 BYU — but Arizona State has the odds in its favor to become bowl eligible, and perhaps even more.
The Mountaineers shook off back-to-back losses against ranked opponents by going on the road and beating the Wildcats. West Virginia was up 17 midway through the third quarter and on its way to a double-digit win before Arizona made it interesting in the back half of the fourth quarter, though the Mountaineers held on.
The season’s final month looks easier than October did for West Virginia. They’ll likely be slight underdogs on the road at Cincinnati and Texas Tech and favorites at home against Baylor and UCF — with two or three wins, the Mountaineers could play themselves into one of the Big 12′s better bowl tie-ins this postseason.
Baylor has had some good things going in the past two weeks, as the Bears have beaten Texas Tech (handily on the road) and Oklahoma State. That has Baylor back at .500 on the year, with momentum building going into the final month of the season to counterbalance a three-game losing streak earlier in the year.
This is a big week for the Bears, with TCU coming to town. The Horned Frogs are 3-2 in league play after beating Utah and Texas Tech most recently and will provide a solid challenge for Baylor. If the Bears win, though, the chances are good they can reach bowl eligibility, with only one team on their remaining schedule, West Virginia, who has a winning league record right now.
Things have fallen apart over the past two weeks for the Red Raiders. First, there was the head-scratching 59-35 loss to Baylor, then this past week, Texas Tech allowed TCU to rally from a 17-point second-half deficit before losing by a point. Now, the Red Raiders have gone from tied for first in the Big 12 standings to being in the middle of the pack.
It could get worse before it gets better — the Red Raiders’ next two games are at No. 11 Iowa State this week, then a home game against surging No. 23 Colorado the week after. Their last two games — at Oklahoma State and at home against West Virginia — look much more winnable, but Texas Tech could be well out of the conference race by then.
Houston, the worst-scoring team in the country, picked up a nice statement win by beating preseason Big 12 favorite Utah. It wasn’t a pretty game, but the Cougars hung tough against the Utes and outscored the visitors 10-0 in the fourth quarter, including the 43-yard game-winning field goal from Jack Martin as time expired.
There might not be another win for Houston on the remaining schedule — the Cougars’ best odds for a win are 32.7% at Arizona on Nov. 15, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index — but Houston has a better Big 12 record at this point than expected thanks to wins over TCU and Utah.
The wheels have fallen off for the Knights — they’re up to five straight losses now — and on Monday, the program let go of defensive coordinator Ted Roof. UCF was a slight favorite over BYU, but the Cougars came in and built a 17-0 lead before putting away any hopes of a Knights comeback.
To become bowl eligible, UCF must win three of its final four games — like many other Big 12 teams at this point. The Knights will have home games against Arizona and Utah in November, along with back-to-back road games at Arizona State and West Virginia.
Arizona has been one of the most disappointing Big 12 teams this season, and the struggles continued last weekend when the Wildcats lost their fourth straight. Three of those losses have come at home, including the 5-point loss to West Virginia where the Wildcats trailed by 18 early in the fourth quarter before scoring two touchdowns to make it interesting in the final few minutes.
There might be a couple more winnable games on the remaining part of the schedule, but even a couple of these matchups — like the game at TCU and the season finale against Arizona State — look tougher than initially anticipated. Can Brent Brennan inspire some hope in the month’s final season?
It’s painful to watch the Utes right now, and the loss against an offensively challenged Houston team just compounds the disappointment that the 2024 season has been.
Bowl eligibility is now in question for Utah with its fourth straight loss, and there’s more uncertainty at quarterback after Brandon Rose replaced Isaac Wilson in the third quarter against the Cougars to try and provide a spark. Both players lead one touchdown drive each, but the Utes again struggled to string together a competent, consistent offense.
Now Utah will face a difficult November schedule after a bye week. The Utes play three straight ranked teams in No. 9 BYU, No. 23 Colorado and No. 11 Iowa State before finishing the regular season at UCF. If Utah loses to all three ranked opponents, bowl eligibility won’t even be on the table against the Knights.
The Jayhawks have been unfortunate recipients of losing close games this season — five of their losses have come by six points or less and three of their Big 12 losses have come by four points or less, including the setback against rival Kansas State. Kansas led going into the fourth quarter, but were outscored 6-0 in the fourth.
Will losing games while still being competitive catch up to Kansas at some point and lead to apathy — like if the Jayhawks lose again and are guaranteed a losing season — or can they be competitive down the stretch? Three straight games after the bye against top 25 teams — No. 11 Iowa State, No. 9 BYU and No. 23 Colorado — won’t make it easy.
It’s been an unmitigated disaster for Oklahoma State since conference play started. One week after nearly knocking off league leader BYU on the road, the Cowboys were in a close game at Baylor before the Bears broke off a long touchdown run with three minutes left and won by 10, keeping Oklahoma State winless in Big 12 action.
The Cowboys’ next chance to get their first win since mid-September comes in a home game against a resurgent Arizona State team that is coming off a bye. Are there any wins left on the schedule for Oklahoma State? After the Sun Devils, the Cowboys play at TCU and No. 23 Colorado, sandwiched around a home game against Texas Tech.