Most important Big 12 matchups to watch with Arizona State on bye

Four Big 12 teams remain undefeated entering Week 6, with a Texas Tech-Houston matchup on Saturday featuring two of them.

The No. 11 Red Raiders will have an opportunity to solidify their standing as the clear favorite in the conference, while Houston is looking to prove its 4-0 start isn’t a fluke.

No. 14 Iowa State entered the week as the Big 12’s only 5-0 team, and the Cyclones are on the road against a 3-1 Cincinnati team coming off a last-minute comeback win over Kansas.

The fourth undefeated squad, No. 23 BYU, already picked up a Week 6 victory over West Virginia on Friday, 38-24.

BYU freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier (394 total yards, two total touchdowns against West Virginia) has continued to play well after winning the impromptu quarterback battle that took place after Jake Retzlaff’s departure from the program.

Here’s a closer look at the weekend’s most impactful games to conference standings:

More about Big 12 matchups featuring undefeated teams

Iowa State (5-0, 2-0) at Cincinnati (3-1, 1-0) — 9 a.m. MST on ESPN2

Since they were blown out by Arizona State in the 2024 Big 12 title game, the Cyclones have trailed for only 28 seconds this season and can become the conference’s first team to claim bowl eligibility with a win.

The Bearcats pose a different type of challenge than Iowa State has seen, however, as the Cincinnati offense has over 600 yards of offense in back-to-back games. Iowa State is yet to allow at least 400 yards in a game.

Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby is coming off a game with 440 total yards accounted for by himself.

To assist with defending Iowa State’s rushing attack (five touchdowns last week against Arizona), the Bearcats will have star defensive lineman Dontay Corleone (9.5 sacks over 2022-24) back in the lineup after he missed the last two games.

Texas Tech (4-0, 1-0) at Houston (4-0, 1-0) — 4 p.m. on ESPN

Texas Tech’s 40.8-point margin of victory leads the nation so far this season, and the Cougars just played in their first close game of the year, an overtime victory at Oregon State after trailing by two touchdowns in the fourth.

The Red Raiders are by far the best team they’ve seen so far, as a 36-20 win over Colorado was the only game they’ve played against a Power Four team.

Houston has already matched its win total from last year, a 4-8 first season under new coach Willie Fritz. An upset win over Texas Tech would not only shake up the conference standings and future playoff projections, it would cement the positive trajectory for the program.

Texas Tech has dealt with some quarterback uncertainty since backup Will Hammond impressed in relief of Behren Morton against Utah, but Morton is healthy (neck, leg) and “full go” for the Houston matchup.

Rest of Big 12 Week 6 schedule

• Kansas State (2-3, 1-1) at Baylor (3-2, 1-1) — 9 a.m. MST on ESPN+
• Oklahoma State (1-3, 0-1) at Arizona (3-1, 0-1) — noon on TNT/truTV
• Colorado (2-3, 0-2) at TCU (3-1, 0-1) — 4:30 p.m. on FOX
• Kansas (3-2, 1-1) at UCF (3-1, 0-1) — 4:30 p.m. on ESPN2

After ASU takes its bye week, it will face Utah (also currently on a bye week) before the aforementioned Texas Tech, Houston and Iowa State in consecutive weeks.

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