Big 12 Update: Baylor Dominates Arizona State, West Virginia’s Defense Stinks

The Cowboys were able to sit back and watch the Big 12 go at it this weekend, and it looks like the league could return to its mosh-pit ways.

There were some unexpected results and some of the league’s top dogs looked mortal in wins. Here’s a recap of the Big 12’s Week 5.

Bears Dominate in Tempe

If you got to bed a little early on the open Saturday, you might’ve missed the fact that Baylor went to Tempe and beat the heck out of the Sun Devils.

Baylor won 55-19.

It was 21-3 early in the second quarter, with the Bears scoring three touchdowns on their opening four possessions.

It was a ceiling game from Bear quarterback DJ Lagway, who threw for 306 yards, four touchdowns and no picks.

His go-to target was again Oklahoma State transfer Gavin Freeman, who caught seven balls for 115 yards. Freeman hurdled two players at once late in the first half. Probably would’ve been better to get out of bounds in this specific situation, but the highlight was sick regardless.

*whispers*

He did it again. 🤫

#SicEm | @TheGavinFreeman https://t.co/icM2EnnXHd

— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) October 4, 2026

Baylor finished with a season-high 564 yards of total offense while holding Arizona State to a combined 4-for-17 on third and fourth down.

Cyclones Beat West Virginia in a Shootout

West Virginia’s defense is officially suspect.

After getting ran off their homefield by the Cowboys last weekend, the Mountaineers went to Ames and lost in a 45-42 shootout.

It was the Aiden Flora show, as Iowa State’s running back carried 22 times for 212 yards and three touchdowns. He also threw two passes, both were touchdowns.

Surprise delivery 📦

Running back Aiden Flora finds Cody Jackson for a 46-yard TD after a lateral to put @CycloneFB ahead.

📺 TNT https://t.co/DFNLoBJ4fX

— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) October 3, 2026

West Virginia took a 42-38 lead with 5:04 to play, but that was enough time for the Cyclones to put together a six-play, 74-yard game-winning drive that Flora capped with a 2-yard touchdown run.

The Mountaineers were making some headway on their return drive but fumbled.

It’s back to the drawing board for the Mountaineers, while the Cyclones are a much scrappier team than many (myself included) anticipated coming into the year.

Tech Beats Colorado, But It Wasn’t Super Clean

The Red Raiders remain undefeated, but after running roughshod over the league last season, it still just doesn’t look as if that’ll be the case this year.

In the end, Tech beat Colorado 29-7. That came with Colorado throwing four picks, one of which was a 0-yard pick-six.

John Curry* didn’t have to take that one back too far 🔥

📺 FOX https://t.co/OytCcQaoDC

— Texas Tech Football (@TexasTechFB) October 4, 2026

If you want to talk about an offense that stinks, look no further than the Buffs’, but it still hasn’t felt like the Red Raiders have clicked on that side of the ball yet.

Colorado actually led 7-3 at halftime before burying itself by throwing all four of those INTs in the final two quarters. Tech’s first lead in the game came with three minutes left in the third quarter.

Will Hammond finished 17-for-26 with 134 yards and a touchdown while the Red Raiders ran for another 181 and a score.

Going on the road and winning a Big 12 game by 22 points should always be commended, but there’s just been something missing with Tech this year.

Houston Wins Space Race

OSU’s next two opponents met in Houston on Saturday in a battle of two space-enthused cities, and Houston came out the winner. But it wasn’t super straightforward.

UCF was up 17-0 midway through the third quarter before Houston sat up like the Undertaker and rattled off 27 straight points.

Cougar quarterback Conner Weigman ran for all of Houston’s touchdowns, finishing with 239 passing yards, 50 rushing yards and the three scores.

A lot of the online discourse about this game had to do with the crowd (or lack thereof). It went from “Space Game” to “Look at all the Space Game.”

It’s ‘Space City’ 🆚 ‘Space U’ in H-Town‼️

🏟️ TDECU Stadium
🏠 #20 Houston
🆚 UCF

#GoCoogs https://t.co/0Y2ykKCH0v

— College Football Campus Tour (@cfbcampustour) October 3, 2026

OSU hosts UCF next week, but then the Pokes will be down in Houston. There’s a decent OSU alumni base in that area that showed up the last time OSU was there (2023). We’ll see if the Cougs can get more fans in the stands before then.

Full Week 4 Results

Texas Tech 29, Colorado 7
Iowa State 45, West Virginia 42
Houston 27, UCF 17
Baylor 55, Arizona State 19
BYU 17, TCU 10
Arizona 34, Cincinnati 7
Kansas 55, Middle Tennessee 0

Next Weekend’s Schedule

Big 12 Standings