THIS WEEK IN THE BIG 12
Saturday, September 21 Time
Kansas at West Virginia (ESPN2) 12 p.m. ET/11 a.m. CT
Houston at Cincinnati (FS1) 12 p.m. ET/11 a.m. CT
Arkansas State at No. 20/21 Iowa State (ESPN+) 1 p.m. CT
Arizona State at Texas Tech (FS1) 2:30 p.m. CT/12:30 p.m. MST
No. 12/10 Utah at No. 14/15 Oklahoma State (FOX) 3 p.m. CT/2 p.m. MDT
TCU at SMU (The CW) 4 p.m. CT
Baylor at Colorado (FOX) 7 p.m. CT/6 p.m. MDT
No. 13/14 Kansas State at BYU (ESPN) 9:30 p.m. CT/8:30 p.m. MDT
BIG 12 CONFERENCE NEWS & NOTES
• The Big 12’s 8-1 non-conference performance on Saturday was the highest winning percentage of Power 4 conferences at 88.9%.
• Big 12 programs are 12-2 this season when ranked in the Top 25.
• The Big 12 is 13-2 versus Group of Five opponents entering week four.
• Seven of the top 20 passers in FBS football are from Big 12 schools; Josh Hoover (TCU), Shedeur Sanders (CU), Behren Morton (TTU), Alan Bowman (OSU), Brendan Sorsby (UC), Noah Fifita (ARIZ) and Jake Retzlaff (BYU). Hoover, Sanders, Morton and Bowman rank third, fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.
• The Conference was home to the top two passers in Power 4 football in week three with TCU’s Josh Hoover (402 yards) and OSU’s Alan Bowman (396 yards).
• Of the 13 FBS quarterbacks to throw four or more touchdowns in week three, four were Big 12 quarterbacks.
• Oklahoma State Head Coach Mike Gundy and Utah Head Coach Kyle Whittingham will face one another on Saturday in a meeting of the second-longest active tenured coaches in the nation. Both are in their 20th season at their respective institutions and trail only Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz who is in his 25th season with the Hawkeyes.
• The Big 12 led all FBS conferences with nine 100+ yard receiving performances in week three, including TCU’s Jack Bech and OSU’s De’Zhaun Stribling who led all Power 4 receivers with 200 yards and 174 yards respectively.
• UCF continues to be the nation’s rushing leader at 375.7 yards per game. The Knights are led by RJ Harvey who ranks third in the nation in total rushing yards (448) and rushing touchdowns (8) through the first three games alongside four other UCF players who are averaging 40 or more rushing yards per game.
• Four teams were ranked in the AP Top 25 in Sunday’s poll with all four voted in the top 20. • For the first two weeks of the season, the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week was also the AP National Player of the Week. Arizona wideout Tetairoa McMillan achieved the feat in week one with 10 catches, 304 receiving yards and four touchdowns in a win over New Mexico before Arizona State running back Cam Skattebo amassed 297 yards of offense (262 rushing yards) in his team’s victory over Mississippi State in week two.
• The Big 12 Conference has announced the return of its Big 12 Homecoming for a second year, bringing a Conference-wide celebration of the Big 12 brand to four of its campuses this fall.The three-day events will center around entertainment, campus engagement and community service for football three more weekends. After visiting Utah in week two, the remaining stops are Colorado (Sept. 21), Arizona State (Oct. 5) and TCU (Oct. 26). The Big 12 will team up with brand partners at each homecoming stop, including Allstate, the College Football Playoff Foundation, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit and WWE.
• The 2024 season will be the Big 12 Conference’s first as a 16-team league. The Big 12 footprint now spans 10 states, four time zones and 90 million people as it begins its 29th football season.
• The Conference partnered with TuneIn, the world’s leader in live audio, to launch Big 12 Radio prior to week one. The new 24/7 Conference-branded audio station, is now streaming to fans across the United States. The station includes Big 12 weekday sports talk, extensive Saturday game-day coverage, Big 12 school content and music programming. Additionally, listeners can access a ‘Game of The Week’ featuring gameday coverage from their Big 12 school’s local play-by-play broadcast team.
• The national preseason award watchlists recognized dozens of student-athletes from the Big 12’s 16 schools as the league were among the leaders in a number of prestigious awards. Eight Big 12 quarterbacks were named to the Davey O’Brien Award Watch List, which tied for the most of any conference.
