College football, week 9. The season just keeps moving so dang rapidly. The regular season is starting to wind down and things are heating up in some absolutely fascinating ways in the Big 12 championship race.
Texas Tech’s loss to Arizona State last week sucks, but it doesn’t derail the Red Raiders’ season as long as they bounce back and get back to winning. This week, that shouldn’t be too much of an issue. Texas Tech will face the worst team in the conference.
Here’s what the Big 12 football schedule looks like this week:
- Kansas State Wildcats vs. Kansas Jayhawks at 11 a.m. - TNT
- No. 11 BYU Cougars vs. Iowa State Cyclones at 2:30 p.m. - FOX
- Oklahoma State Cowboys vs. No. 14 Texas Tech Red Raiders at 3 p.m. - ESPNU
- Baylor Bears vs. No. 21 Cincinnati Bearcats at 3 p.m. - ESPN2
- TCU Horned Frogs vs. West Virginia Mountaineers at 5 p.m. - ESPN+
- Houston Cougars vs. No. 24 Arizona State Sun Devils at 7 p.m. - ESPN2
- Colorado Buffaloes vs. Utah Utes at 9:15 p.m. - ESPN
3 Big 12 games in Week 9 that could drastically impact Texas Tech’s season
There’s a few games happening outside of Lubbock that I’m certainly intrigued by that could actually have a rather significant impact on the way this season plays out for Texas Tech down the stretch of this season.
BYU’s trip to Iowa State, if the Cyclones can provide a little help and disrupt what BYU is doing this season, would give the Red Raiders a better shot of making the Big 12 championship game. And right now, Iowa State is favored at home over the Cougars.
Baylor’s trip to Cincinnati could also be fun. I have no clue if the Bears’ defense will be enough to slow the Bearcats down, but that offense for Baylor is a ton of fun and could keep them in this game against one of the Big 12’s best teams.
And then there’s Houston’s road trip to Tempe. The Cougars will be meeting up with Arizona State just one week after facing off and surviving a close matchup with the Arizona Wildcats. The Sun Devils might just be the most stressful team in America, but they’ve still got a reasonable shot at the Big 12 championship game (and UH does as well, for what that’s worth). A win here for either team would be huge.