Big 12 Week Ten Winners: Clarity For Conference Championship?

No matter how good the picks look before the game, sometimes they just fall flat. The week nine picks were not pretty. The only winning selection was a 4-3 moneyline showing. But 3-4 against the spread, a dreadful 2-5 on the totals, and locks splitting 1-1 translated into a very down day. As we shift the focus to the Big 12 week ten winners, will these results provide clear title game participants? Or is this the Saturday where BYU is thankful for a bye week, as everything gets thrown into flux? All lines are courtesy of FanDuel.

Willie Fritz’s Houston team just keeps getting better. West Virginia is a team that lacks a clear identity as well as players competing at a high level. This Coogs team is on pace to march on to an 11-1 season. It would be nice if their fans would start showing up in big numbers for this team. There are far too many empty seats at TDECU Stadium. That said, Houston is going to roll all over this West Virginia team. Lock up Houston to cover two touchdowns against Rich Rodriguez’s sputtering team.

This Big 12 correspondent was very high on Baylor coming into this season. Even mid-way through the season, Last Word was holding onto its Bears’ stock in part because Sawyer Robertson was still putting up big numbers. They were just going 2010s their way to a nine-win season. We are officially out on the Bears. This team has been going in the wrong direction. Dave Aranda’s defense is one of the worst in the conference, and the team doesn’t appear to be playing inspired football. Meanwhile, UCF, while lacking a ton of playmaking talent, has been plucky. The Knights are roughly five total plays over the last three games from being on a three-game winning streak. The team with the better season vibes wins this one in a slight upset.

Unofficially, this is the Infirmary Bowl on the Big 12 week ten winners’ slate. All teams are dealing with injuries in November. However, both teams are two that are struggling the most with injuries at key positions. Kenny Dillingham’s team will travel without the services of their starting quarterback, Sam Leavitt, and likely will also be without Jordyn Tyson for a second consecutive week. Iowa State has shown the ability to jump on teams early in games, so Iowa State’s first-half spread of -5.5 looks very appealing. Even with the clunky second-half performances Iowa State has had all season, this Sun Devils team is too beat up to cover the spread.

According to head coach Joey McGuire, quarterback Behren Morton could have played last week. He even said that if the Arizona State game was at the end of the year with stakes on the line, Morton would have been considered for action. He has shown up as probable in the availability report for this week. However, all signs point to him being 100% committed to this one. He is embarking on the most critical two-week stretch in his Texas Tech career. If Morton is able to start and finish this one, he should be able to put up big numbers against a very “meh” Kansas State defense. Combined with another great performance by a ferocious defense, it will set up the regular season game of the year with BYU next week in Lubbock.

Kansas appears to have been broken by Texas Tech. Additionally, Oklahoma State has shown improvements over the last month. The Pokes are still a terrible football team. But what was once a smoldering dumpster fire is now just a dumpster. Lance Leipold has proven his teams won’t punt in any season. But the absolute beating they took at the hands of Kansas State is going to linger in this one. Kansas won’t ever be in real danger of losing this game, but the Pokes can and will cover the big number.

Speaking of broken teams, there might not be a more broken team playing on the Big 12 week ten winners slate than Colorado. The whipping they got handed by Utah is one of the most one-sided games the Big 12 has seen in recent memory. Arizona has shown big improvement this year under Brent Brennan. No one would confuse this game with being mistaken for “must-see TV.” But someone must win, and Arizona should be able to handle a drowning Buffs squad.

The best quarterback in the Big 12 this season has been Brendan Sorsby. Cincinnati’s offensive line has only allowed two sacks all season. Yes, the Bearcats’ schedule has not been filled with the most challenging of competition. But Utah has lost its only two challenges on its schedule this season. They also don’t have a 100% healthy quarterback coming into this game, as Devon Dampier did not play last week. The physicality of Utah will ultimately win out in the end of this late-night affair. If Cincy were the home team, we would be willing to pick them on the moneyline. But the MUSS will be rocking and carry the home team to a three-point victory.

Main Photo: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images