Big 12 power rankings: Where do BYU, Utah come in at the midseason point?

The 2024 college football season is cruising by — we are halfway through the regular season after Week 7.
In the Big 12, the first half of the year provided plenty of surprises, unexpected results and gobs of entertainment.
What will the second half of the season bring?
Here’s our look at how the Big 12 stacks up through the seventh week of the 2024 season, with some minor shuffling after a lighter, but still entertaining, weekend of action:
When the national spotlight came to Provo last weekend, BYU delivered with a victory. The Cougars had their most complete performance of the year and were able to neutralize the Wildcats’ NFL-caliber talents Noah Fifita and Tetairoa McMillan enough to make this one a lopsided win for the home team.
For now, BYU continues to hold onto the top spot in the Big 12 power rankings — by a razor thin margin — due to its two wins over current top 25 teams.
When the season began, the Cougars’ matchup against Oklahoma State looked like it would be one of the toughest on the schedule for BYU. That still may end up being the case, but the Cowboys are limping into Provo on a three-game losing skid. The Cougars, though, need to avoid a letdown to stay tied atop the Big 12 standings — and last year’s double overtime loss to Oklahoma State can provide the motivation.
The Cyclones continue to plug along and dominate their opponents — in the latest victory, Iowa State broke open a close game with two fourth-quarter touchdowns to put away the Mountaineers. Of the Cyclones’ six wins, five of those have been by 12 or more points, with three by 20 or more points.
There’s a lot to like for Iowa State regarding its schedule in the back half of the regular season. The Cyclones play four of their final six games at home, including a critical matchup with No. 17 Kansas State on Nov. 30 in the season finale. That sets up well for Iowa State’s winning streak to continue.
The Wildcats escaped Colorado with an impressive win. Kansas State led 21-7 in the third quarter but fell behind with 3:12 to play after an Avery Johnson interception led to a long return and quick score. Johnson rallied by throwing the game-winning 50-yard touchdown pass to Jayce Brown with 2:14 to play, and the Wildcats defense held strong.
That’s a solid victory for Kansas State, particularly with it coming on the road. The Wildcats have another tough road test this week when they visit West Virginia, but right now, Kansas State looks like it has done well to shake off its earlier loss to BYU.
After a week off, the Red Raiders return to action against a Baylor team that is just 2-4 on the year and winless in Big 12 play. Texas Tech had some serious momentum building before the bye.
The Red Raiders’ next two opponents — they play at TCU in two weeks after facing Baylor — are a combined 1-5 in conference action so far, and it sets up Texas Tech with the chance to go into November with an unblemished league record. If that happens, there’s going to be a lot of hype surrounding its game at Iowa State on Nov. 2.
The Sun Devils are the surprise team of the Big 12 during the first half of the season — Arizona State was picked to finish last in the league, but if the Sun Devils didn’t have your attention before, they do now after knocking off preseason favorite Utah. The win showed just how far Kenny Dillingham’s program has come in a short amount of time.
Can Arizona State keep things going? The Sun Devils will be on the road for four of their final six games — and still have games at Kansas State and home against BYU — but given that ASU has already well exceeded expectations, it’s best not to underestimate what the Sun Devils can do this season.
The Buffaloes were this close to knocking off Kansas State and staying unbeaten in conference play. Even with the loss, though — one where Colorado rallied to take a lead late in the fourth quarter — the Buffaloes are showing they will be a major player in who takes home the Big 12 title.
Next up is an Arizona team that is reeling, with three losses in its past four games. There’s the potential — with a home game against Cincinnati following that — for Colorado to head into November just one game out of the conference lead, or maybe less in a parity-filled league.
Where did this come from? Last year, the Bearcats had only one Big 12 conference win in their first season in the league. Now, Cincinnati finds itself competitive in the league and primed to make an impact in the conference race after going into UCF and pulling out a victory.
Arizona State will be a good test for the Bearcats. The Sun Devils are also exceeding expectations — ASU was picked to finish last in the Big 12, but it is coming off an upset victory over the preseason favorite, Utah. With road games at Colorado, Kansas State and Iowa State later in the season, Saturday’s game is almost a must-win for Cincinnati to make the path to bowl eligibility less stressful.
The hits just kept coming for Utah over the past few days. First, there was the loss to Arizona State, one that made the Utes’ goal for a Big 12 championship even tougher with a second straight loss.
Then on Monday, the program confirmed that Cam Rising, who was hurt again after finally returning to the field in the game against Arizona State, is lost for the season with a leg injury. That means the Utah offense is turned over to true freshman QB Isaac Wilson, who has already gone 2-1 as a starter and shown promise amid the growing pains.
Wilson and the Utes are looking to fix their issues in the back half of the year, and that begins with the home matchup against TCU. Utah will be favored against the the Horned Frogs and Houston the next week, with the chance to head into their second bye of the season with some momentum built up before facing rival BYU.
The Mountaineers had a chance to make a statement if they could have taken down Iowa State last Saturday. A victory would have kept West Virginia unbeaten in league play, with a critical win over a contender, but the Cyclones pulled away in the fourth quarter to squash thoughts of an upset.
If West Virginia wants to stay in the Big 12 title race, the Mountaineers will need to pull off a victory over visiting Kansas State this week. A second straight loss would put them in a precarious position, especially with three of their final five games on the road.
The Wildcats, try as they might, just don’t look right, particularly star quarterback Noah Fifita. He threw three interceptions in the loss to BYU, including a pick-six to end the game. While there are pieces in place to be more competitive, Arizona heads into the back half of the season still looking for consistency.
At least the Wildcats will be at home for three of their next four games, beginning this week against an upstart Colorado team. The Buffaloes have looked improved in their second year under Deion Sanders — a loss Saturday would all but crush Arizona’s hopes of staying in Big 12 contention (though these last two losses have already gone a long way in spoiling those dreams).
Back on Sept. 14, the Knights were flying high. They had rallied from 21 down to beat TCU and were unbeaten, with a 1-0 start to Big 12 play. Things have gone south since then, first in a blowout home loss to Colorado, then a double-digit defeat at Florida, before Cincinnati came into Orlando last weekend and extended UCF’s losing streak.
The streak doesn’t look like it will end this week, with the Knights heading back on the road to face unbeaten Iowa State. Maybe UCF can recapture some of the magic it used last season to spring a 45-3 upset over then-top 20 Oklahoma State last year, but that game was at home — this weekend’s game is on the road. And if UCF loses again, it will take a four-game losing streak into its home matchup with No. 13 BYU.
There was a positive result to take into the bye week, after the Cougars picked up their first Big 12 win under new starting quarterback, Zeon Chriss. His 238 total yards were more than enough to lift Houston past TCU.
Can Houston do something similar on the road at Kansas? If so, the Cougars could build some momentum as they start the back half of the schedule. Even then, this is expected to be an uphill battle this season for Willie Fritz in his first year as head coach.
TCU has not been good defensively in losing three of its last four games — the Horned Frogs gave up an average of 39.5 points per game during that stretch. That included giving up 30 points to a Houston team that was coming off back-to-back shutouts and had made a switch at quarterback.
Utah has its offensive issues, but the Horned Frogs can’t afford to have that kind of defensive effort in Salt Lake City this weekend. Otherwise, expect another loss and TCU moving closer to must-win territory if it wants to make the postseason.
All the good vibes going into the season are gone for the Cowboys — they’re on a three-game losing streak, out of the top 25 rankings and have a quarterback controversy on their hands.
Mike Gundy and his team have a big test coming up next, as they head on the road to face top 15 BYU. At least Oklahoma State is coming off a bye and had some extra time to focus on the Cougars and try to fix their issues. While the Cowboys are all but out of Big 12 contention, a victory in Provo would help turn their fortunes around.
In two of their losses this season, the Bears looked competitive, falling to BYU and Colorado by a total of 13 points — even if they lost in devastating fashion to the Buffaloes. In Baylor’s final game before its bye, though, the Bears were no match for Iowa State, who’s now a top 10 team.
There’s still some time left for Baylor to finally start putting things together, but that time is fading fast. So, too, could be Dave Aranda’s time as Bears coach if the program can’t get out of its tailspin that’s been going on for three seasons now.
Can Lance Leipold’s squad turn things around after a bye? The Jayhawks were a bit of media darlings heading into the 2024 season, but a five-game losing streak has them at the bottom of the Big 12 standings — if there’s a silver lining, only one of those five losses came by more than one score.
This week looks like the most winnable game for Kansas in the near future. After hosting Houston, the Jayhawks will play the league’s three ranked teams — Kansas State, Iowa State and BYU — in successive contests, before hosting Colorado in their home finale.