Big 12 Week 1 REACTIONS: Surprises, Upsets & Early Standouts

0:00$30 million in guaranteed prices. Cash in this football season in Las Vegas with three circus sports content. Entry starting at $1,000, all with no rate. Circa Million, 18 weeks of points bread action. Circa Survivor, pick one winner each week, no points bread. And the big daddy, Circa Grandissimo, with a $100,000 entry fee. Enter in Nevada, play for anywhere. $30 million guaranteed, visit CircusPorts.com for details. We're going behind enemy lines, taking a look at what went down in the big 12 this week, week one college footballs back. I'm Anthony Tote, PhD next Sunday, a show of course, adjoined by the one the only Damon dog himself from the. You're so kind. Easy wild cats, podcasts, Damon, let's not waste any time. Headed straight to Utah. Take a look at what the youths did to the Idaho vandals and boy was it nasty. Yeah, Utah looked good.

1:00You know, if you're reading a little bit into Kyle Wittingham, leaving and going to Michigan. And what that game looked like for the Wolverine tonight versus Western Michigan, and how Utah handled Idaho. I think that you would say that, you know, week one goes to the youths. Yeah, 100%. They won 66 to 14. Devon Dampeer did anything he won at 13 of 18, a buck 76. Three touchdowns in the youths, continue the trend of what Kyle Wittingham solidified in Utah. And that is running the football 364 total yards on the ground. Idaho didn't stand a chance. No, not even a little bit, Damon. No, definitely not. Utah looking like the team that deserves to be in the top 25, like they were, you know, put into the preseason top 25 AP top 25 rankings. Devon Dampeer, efficient, 176, three touchdowns, zero picks. I mean, Utah is one of the teams to be at the top of the big 12 conference, for sure.

2:02Yeah, not the only slaughter in the big 12 UCF earlier in the week. Absolutely kicked Bethune Cupman's teeth in 73 to 6. And it should have been 73 to nothing. But the Wildcats with two seconds left in the game found a way into the end zone. They, I mean, sure, a go team, a pat on the back. If you want to call it that similar to Utah, UCF did exactly anything they wanted in a Lonzo Barnett, the third. I mean, all eyes were on him, new quarterback, new starting quarterback, I should say, for UCF buck 58 through the air, one TD, one INT. So not a perfect performance from UCF's quarterbacks, but overall they found a way to just bludge in the Wildcats. I think UCF is going to be one of those teams that can have a big turn around from what we saw from them last season to what we see from them in 2026. Scott Frost, year two, you know, you're inheriting a program that was on the downturn.

3:06Obviously, they had a lot of really good years in a row. Yeah. And, you know, their national champions. Yeah, of course. You could forget. But at the same time, you know, it, you know, it's, it was a rebuilding process. And I do think that UCF this year with the additions they've made in the portal, like at quarterback, I do think that, you know, they could be like a six win, seven win type of football team that is not an easy out at all in this conference. No, I agree. I think UCF is a sneaky team in this conference to, to definitely ruin some other big 12 seasons as the year carries on. They let me ask you a question. Okay. Is Colorado a sneaky team in this conference? Sneaky in which way? I mean, they beat Georgia Tech for it. They did. They did. It was during a thinny to absolute barn burner. We both didn't see it coming. Can I say something? Please do. This is safe space. Let's click. Come on. They scored. They mustered. They fought with the hairs on their chinny chin chin to 14 points.

4:10And it was so astounding that their offensive coordinator was shirtless, dancing and singing in the locker room. It's just like when they beat TCU two seasons ago in the opening game of their season. And they basically won the national championship. Like golden black confetti is raining down from the ceiling. I was hearing all off season that this was the best wide receiver room better than Arizona states wide receiver room, by the way, in the big 12. And do you want to know what those amazing workhorses of wide receivers got the pleasure of doing on Thursday evening? Well, if you're wondering, let me tell you, Danny Skeduro, four catches a whopping 12 yards. They may not know if you know this. I could walk to that door and have more yards than Danny Skeduro did through four quarters. Four catches, 12 yards is hard to do. Abysmal. DeAndre Moore, Jr. The second coming of, I don't know, Jerry Rice. If you ask Colorado fans, four catches for 37 yards. It wasn't an offensive firework show by any means for either of the teams, but at the

5:16end of the day, Colorado did what they needed to do and they found a way to win. Yeah, they certainly did. It's a good win. It is a good win. It is a good win. You're playing a team that was ranked last season. I don't care if they lose their quarterback over the course of the year. And there's a lot of turnover just in terms of who's in that starting lineup right now. But Colorado, I mean, that's just simply a good win. I didn't think they added him and maybe, maybe some of the Colorado fans chirping me this off season were right in saying that they weren't getting the respect that maybe they deserve going into this season. Now that's not to say that they're going to go out of their minds. I don't know if you've seen their schedule. It's not looking. No, it's not great. It's not. They played five straight weeks against teams that are on the upper echelon of the big 12 conference at a certain point this season. You would think. I say that and one of them is Oklahoma state who now certainly looks a lot more win over the pants. They go. Texas Tech Utah Oklahoma state Kansas state, ASU Houston, all in a row.

6:18Yeah. It's a tough stretch. When you read that out loud, you start to feel worse about what Colorado can do over the course of this season, but it's a great win. Start it off. No, I mean, you start wanting to know Colorado well on their way to surpass their season over under win total of what? They're whopping four and a half. The lowest of any big 12 team, another team in the conference that has a relatively low win total that started off one another Kansas J. Hocks out dueling the Long Island University Sharks 5126 Isaiah Marshall getting the job done 14 of 19 to 46 through the air to touchdowns definitely in command of that Kansas offense against Long Island. Definitely another blowout for one of these big 12 teams and a big 12 team that going into this season kind of weird expectations for the J. Hocks. Not many know if they're going to be a middle of the pack team, maybe a surprise team or one of those teams that we're talking about in the same vein as like an Iowa state by

7:20the end of the year. Yeah. I think Kansas, you know, it's hard to have too many takeaways from my perspective when you beat Long Island. Yeah. Long Island heated rival of the Arizona Wildcats as we know from March Madness first round matchup this past season against the Sharks. But yeah, Long Island. I mean, didn't even know they had a football program. Didn't either. Didn't know they were the sharks until Thursday. Yeah. So hard for me to have a takeaway about a game when I don't know that you have a football program and my counterpart here doesn't know that your mascot is the sharks, which is pretty unique. Yeah. Honestly. I love the color scheme of Long Island here. It's a good win nonetheless. Yes. I mean, you want to see a blow out when you play a team like that and you get one 51 6. 100%. Let's talk about the team that, I mean, at this point, it's already been crowned big 12 champions. The Texas Tech Red Raiders, they started off their season at home, taken on Abling Christian. Not the game that you would necessarily expect from the Red Raiders, a team top 15 in the

8:23country going into the 2026 college football season. They let Will Hammond really air it out 33 attempts today. And I and T one touchdown. They only beat Abling Christian though 33 to 10. I'd expect a little bit more of a blow out from a team like Texas Tech. Yeah. I mean, Texas Tech, you know, after all the chirping this off season, that's got to be a little bit of a stinker in week one, right? Like if you're a Texas Tech fan, if you're maybe a big money oil guy, you put millions and millions into the program and you're only beaten Abling Christian, a school in your own state by 23 points. People forget Abling Christian took Texas Tech to the wire a couple of years ago. And you know what? That was supposed to be the old Texas Tech. It was supposed to be. This was supposed to be the new Texas Tech, the kings of the big 12. I'm not saying it's over. I am saying though that if me and you were to do another rendition of power rankings,

9:25I might put BYU in that number one spot. All of a sudden in bump Texas Tech down to that two spot because it's not impressive. You're right. I mean, the stats end up looking okay. You're in control of the game. You're never really going to lose, but you just want to see some style points in week one. Dominance. And you didn't get that at all from a team that again. You know, as we've said, it's kind of in crowned. Yeah. The cream of the crop of this conference already because of what they had last season and the big money moves that they've made. But Abling Christian lost to Lamar last week. Abling Christian lost by seven to Lamar last week. They're not a good team. Not Lamar Jackson. No. Lamar University. Lamar University. We can even call it a university. That's just camp. That's that's a performance that you can't be happy with if you're Texas Tech fan. Absolutely not. But you said you may move BYU up a spot. They took care of business.

10:25They beat Utah Tech 63 to seven. Bear Bachmeyer only had four in completions to three touchdowns. LJ Martin only needed to tote the rock seven times average 7.7 yards per carry. It was all cubes at home taken on Utah Tech. Yeah. BYU. They win. They're all dressed all of their starters in the second half of this game. And now they prepare for one of the biggest games to start this season. Yeah. And I'll call it Tripall BYU Arizona Improvow. Big game. Next Saturday where you know, they're certainly the favorite seven and a half points already on draft Kings right now. But if Arizona was to win, that would definitely make some waves in the big 12. So BYU probably picture perfect for them in game one in terms of how they would like this one to play out, getting to rest those guys and then getting healthy going into a really pivotal match up next week. Yeah. BYU the team atop my big 12 power rankings going into week one.

11:28The other cougs in the conference Houston also a top 25 team in the country number 23. The pack is back or at least it was almost back. Oregon State took Houston to the wire. The cougs ended up winning out on 33 to 20 score. A little bit misleading. Oregon State was up pretty late in that game before Connor Wigman and company figured out a way to starve off the Oregon State beavers. But nonetheless, one in those one and a it is, but again, not the most impressive one and a you've ever seen for a team that was also expected to be kind of in the upper ashelon of teams in this in this big 12 conference. Big time favorites in this game too. If I'm not mistaken, closed at 21 point favorites. And you end up winning by 13, but again, lot closer than that. If you're truly watching the game, not the best performance from Houston today. I do think that a lot of people expected better. Oregon State, maybe they're pretty good. Packed back.

12:29Maybe the pack is back. People are talking about it. Boise State, really good performance. Really good performance. Almost takes down number two on the road. Arizona's done that once or twice. Pretty tough to do. But you know, this is a situation where I just think Houston probably could have looked better. I do, it makes things interesting for like the Arizona fan and me. What's Washington's taking a look like when we played them in week four of this season? Because I would assume that Washington State, Oregon State fairly comparable in terms of caliber of team. But that's a few weeks away. Just an interesting part of college football right now. Whether or not the packed wall is truly back or is this just a hot start early flash in the pan? Yeah. We'll see. Look, let's go ahead and talk about the mountain people West Virginia out dueling. I don't even know if I can say out dueling outlasting coastal Carolina 31 to 24.

13:29The talk is definitely that Swiss cheese defense that West Virginia has in the secondary juice Bailey of coastal Carolina carved them up for 373 yards through the air three touchdowns. They couldn't really establish the run. Definitely not in the way that Cam Cook did four West Virginia 30 toads for a buck 42 to touchdowns with along 72 yards. West Virginia, some things you like on offense, some things you definitely don't like on defense. Yeah, I mean, I turned on this game when West Virginia was up 24 and nothing at half time. And what unfolded after I turned it on Anthony Toe tree was just absolute a circus, if you will. I mean, coastal Carolina started pretty much driving at will. The weather got pretty ridiculous at times. It was very adverse conditions and it did kind of get in the way. I think at the end of coastal's complete comeback there. Not the best performance from West Virginia today.

14:31I think you would have liked to have seen a bit more if you were someone that was a believer in rich rod here in year two, taking over that program all over again. But yeah, only a seven point W against a coastal Carolina team that I don't believe is supposed to be all that good. So not the best performance. No, not at all. One team that did, I think exceed expectations a little bit Iowa state over Southeast Missouri state, they won 38 to 10. Southeast Missouri state's not even a real. I mean, what a what a program. I mean, they are just over there. We're just putting directions in front of a state and calling it a university. I was like that Kevin. Do you know where that's at? Kevin our resident. He uses the room. Yeah, from from St. Louis from Missouri. Seymour Wow. Seymour. Man, he's got no clue. Edwardsville. Edwardsville. Also not a real place. But I think it's in it might be an Edwardsville Illinois. I could be wrong. It's in it says it's in Cape.

15:31I really don't know Gerardo. Oh, good for Cape Gerardo. Yeah. Well, not today. They lost 38 to 10 to Jimmy Rogers in the Iowa state cyclones. Maybe the I and T of the day though from Iowa state, a ridiculous snag from Beninoy. I definitely messed that up, but that's what we're rolling with. So I apologize, Beninoy. I and T of the day, Iowa State gets a big 28 point win in Jimmy Rogers debut. Yeah, for sure. Iowa State handles business 28 point win against a school that could may or may not allegedly be created by chat GPT. Yeah, no, that's absolutely fair. What's not fair is what Dave Miranda and DJ Lagoa did at the end of their one point loss to the Auburn Tigers. They lost 17 to 16. DJ Lagoa, I mean, just what can you say except this kid's got potential, right? That's all we hear about DJ Lagoa.

16:33That's really putting it nice. Yeah, I mean, 333 yards to touchdowns and I and T that looks great until you see that he threw the ball 54 times and then peed down his leg on a two 16 points. Yeah, yeah, 100%. And I really, really had a chance to win the game at the end and he short armed it. I want to say it would tight end right at the goal line and it was such a poor pass that the tight end couldn't extend over the line in the end zone. And he got tackled by an Auburn linebacker and that was the game right there, but certainly a chance to win that game. They had the perfect call dialed up the perfect play and Lagoa just couldn't get it there. Yeah, certainly a college footballs it if man. Yeah. That's what I was saying. And that's also Dave Miranda hot seat gets hotter. It does. I was just going to say losers lose. No, yeah, that's Dave Miranda. Like he's getting his like loser feel all over everything. Is he the biggest loser in the big 12? It feels like it right now.

17:34Feels like his seat is really hot. It's been hot for three years now. Yeah, yeah. I had a hot take at the start of like the 2023 season. But he upholds Baylor's values. Sure. That's a university. That's that's something that you can't put a price on. On a sign. Unfortunately, we like about the student athletes. Sure. All their potential and all of the things they may be able to accomplish if they weren't at Baylor. Yeah, that's what we're talking about with the Baylor Bears. Let's talk about the Cincinnati Bearcats who got the job done against the Boston College Eagles 34 to 15. What do you like from Cincinnati? And I know the answer is not their passing game. $30 million in guaranteed prices. Cassian this football season in Las Vegas with three circus sports content. Entry starting at $1,000 all with no rate. Circa Million, 18 weeks of points bread action. Circus survivor. Pick one winner each week. No points bread. And the big daddy, Circa Grandissimo with a $100,000 entry fee. Enter in Nevada, play for anywhere. 30 million guaranteed.

18:35Visit CircusPortes.com for details. You know, I didn't see much of this game to be honest with you, but I know that this was supposed to be a little bit closer of a ballgame here in Cincinnati. Gets the W. Gets a big time W over another power for opponent. I'll be it, you know, probably the worst team in power for in Boston College. Still, I think if you're a Cincinnati fan, that's what you want to see. You want to see an easy win against a team that does have power for athletes going against you. Well, I may have spoke too soon when I said that David Randa was the biggest loser. I completely forgot Oklahoma State exists. And they lost to Tulsa 24 to 10 just an ungodly way to start a new tenure. Um, core of the mystery is here. It's dead. It's dead. And it's dead. Yeah, it's dead. I saw somebody tweet on Saturday that they, they need to fire my gun.

19:36Andy, this is getting ridiculous. Um, and here we are. They are 14 point losers after being I want to say 13 and a half point favorites. Um, over Tulsa, I was one of the, the misguided, the gestures who believed that Oklahoma State's offense was going to carry firepower. Here I am. I'm Anthony Toetry. I would like to say I have a problem. I believed in the Oklahoma State cowboys. Um, is it because Drew Mestemaker looks a little bit like Justin Herbert? No, he looks nothing like Justin Herbert. You take that. In a football uniform, maybe that I don't want Drew Mestemaker anywhere near my football team at this point in time. Just check down Charlie. Oklahoma State's offense looked putridog. It looked horrible. He throws before the sticks every single third down. It wasn't good. Every single third down. And it's funny because you sit there and you go is he just not cut out for it at this level. And then you realize Tulsa's in the American conference.

20:37That's where Drew Mestemaker was playing ball last season and balling out. Yeah. So why did he look so bad against a team from that same conference? It beats me, man. I mean, he just, he, he wasn't it today. I want apologies, handwritten apologies to all who anointed him. Yeah. The best quarterback in this conference. Yeah. He was the guy who was the reigning first team all big 12 quarterback. Yeah. And who's making it back this season? No, you're 100% right. You will get my apology first thing on Monday. It was awesome. It was bad. It was really bad. That was Tulsa's Super Bowl and they won it. I mean, two years in a row. The champagne bottles were popped. They own Oklahoma. They do. They absolutely do. Oklahoma State, a really rough start to their season. The other state team, one of the other state teams in the conference Kansas state, just absolutely dominating. They won 71 to three against the kernels and my goodness, Avery Johnson.

21:43Just three touchdowns. Nothing crazy. You know, pretty sure he bounced by half time for a head and shoulders commercial and he was ready to rock, man. 71 to three. Just don't try the Avery Johnson lemonade. Yeah. I'm told by the big 12 burner verse, I have no thoughts on a 71 to three victory over Nichols who did, by the way, skunk Mississippi Valley State in their opening game. I'm looking at it. I'm like, they're one and one. I wonder who they beat. Mississippi Valley State. If you're looking for a team to fade at any point this season on the books, I mean, one in 11 last season and you're getting beat by 34 by a team that then goes and gets beat by 68 the next week. Look, that's a bad football team. The real winner, the Johnson family. Yeah. No, no squabbles. Yeah. And, you know, hands are clean after that. No, no parking lot squabbles. Yeah. You're going to do. Yeah, you're, I mean, listen, it's all love when you win by 68 points.

22:45Yeah, 100%. And the Arizona Wildcats didn't win by that much, but they won. They took care of business over NAU 35 to seven. Another guy, no, Fafita back in action for the first time here in 2026. Would you make of him in the Wildcats performance? First half, unbelievable, untouchable in the first half on offense, defense, maybe leaving a little bit to be desired, but pitching a shutout. And then the second half rolls along and you start to see maybe a little bit of complacency. Fafita doesn't play the fourth quarter or most of it. The defense does complete the shutout. That's complete the goose egg. Back up quarterback comes in throws a pick six. Brutal. So that's where the points come from. All in all, slightly underwhelming performance, I think from Arizona, but not bad enough to sound any sort of alarms. What's on a wall mistake? You saw what you needed to see. No, absolutely not. And you saw what you needed to see from no Fafita, especially in that first half. His stat line ends up looking a lot like his stat lines did from last season, which was

23:47a fantastic season for him and led to nine wins for the cats. 22 of 29, 262 yards, two touchdowns, zero turnovers. Arizona does turn the ball over three times tonight, though. So that's going to be something to look forward to against BYU next week. 100% at the end of the day, though, 1 and 0 was 1 and 0. And the Arizona State Sun Devils are also 1 and 0 getting the best of mortals. State 70 to 7. I've heard the Hollywood Devils. I've seen that score before, Damon. I've seen the 70 to 7 before. It does put it into perspective a little bit. I guess if I'm sitting here and I'm thinking about how bad Morgan State looked tonight, because I kept just looking out there and going, that's just not a college football team. Yeah. And to be fair, the team that lost 70 to 7 to ASU, the U of A team that is, was not a college football. No. It was a team that was ravaged by COVID and Pac-12 undecided whether it was going to play and all the players transferring to other teams. Kevin Sommlin. Kevin Sommlin and they were 0 and 5. It was just a total and complete disaster.

24:48So I guess that's the equivalent of playing Morgan State in your first game of the season. Yeah, perspective for sure. ASU looked damn good tonight, though. I mean, very, very efficient and that offense was humming. Yeah, 100%. So I didn't necessarily expect to see at this level. My prediction was 45 to nothing. I didn't give the ASU offense and cut her bully enough credit. Cutter had only six in completions. As many in completions as he did touchdowns tonight, 432 total yards through the air over 600 yards of offense for the sun, Devils, the third time that a Kenny Dillingham offense has done that in tempi. Obviously, the sun, Devils with a big matchup on the road at Texas A&M next week. Two biggest games in the country right here. That's kind of where I wanted to to leave it, Damon is, I mean, best matchups going into week two. It's got to be Arizona State against Texas A&M and then you look at Arizona taken on BYU. I mean, the biggest matchups in the conference are Valley sports teams.

25:52Yeah, certainly. And to the biggest matchups in all of college football, I mean, I would say that Ohio State Texas probably has to take the cake. Oklahoma, Michigan is going to get the hype because of the programs and the labels next week. It shouldn't though. BYU Arizona and ASU Texas A&M are, you know, every bit kind of on that same level. Yeah. Underneath Texas and in Ohio State, of course, at the top. So it's going to be a crazy week next week and we're in week two and we're already getting into some games. They're going to have some massive domino effects in terms of what the big 12 looks like later in the season. Absolutely. Well, guys, let us know what was the biggest surprise for you this week kicking off the year. I'm going to give you a 2026 college football season. Make sure you hit that like button. You hit the subscribe button. And wherever you get your podcasts, drop a five star review for all your news and notes as it relates to the Arizona Wildcats. Be sure to check out the AZ Wildcats podcast and for the Arizona State Sun Divels, make sure you follow the pH and next Sunday will show.

27:0530 million. 18 weeks of points bread action. Circus survival. Pick one winner each week. No points bread. And the big daddy. Circa Grandissimo with a $100,000 entry fee entering Nevada, play from anywhere. 30 million guarantee. Visit CircusPorts.com for details.