FORT WORTH, TEXAS: Head coach Kalani Sitake of the Brigham Young Cougars and Sonny Dykes of the TCU … [+] Horned Frogs embrace after their game at Amon G. Carter Stadium on October 14, 2023 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images)
Getty ImagesFunny how things work out sometimes. Dana Holgorsen’s first Big 12 win as Houston’s coach was against the program he left to take the job with the Cougars in 2019.
Holgorsen got to know the Big 12 very well in seven of his eight seasons — the first was as a member of the Big East — as the head man at West Virginia, which appeared to have pulled off a victory in the final seconds at Houston last Thursday night. A successful Hail Mary on the game’s final play gave the Cougars the win as the euphoria – and dejection — shifted from one side of the field to the other in the blink of an eye.
That was one of only two conference wins heading into the third week of October for the four new Big 12 members with BYU, Cincinnati and UCF also having joined the conference. The other was a matchup between two of the new teams with BYU (4-2, 1-2) defeating visiting Cincinnati (2-4, 0-3) on September 29. Take that game out of the mix and the quartet is 1-9 against the group it joined.
It is no surprise that the step up in competition has resulted in some difficulty. After all, the schedules are stiffer and, as a result, things that Cincinnati, Houston (3-3, 1-2) and UCF (3-3, 0-3) may have gotten away with in the American and BYU as an independent, such as losing the turnover battle, have a much better chance of biting them in the Big 12.
UCF, which goes up against Oklahoma and former Knights quarterback Dillon Gabriel in Norman on Saturday, played well in coming up short in its first conference game at Kansas State. That was followed by opening the home portion of the conference slate with much pregame pomp and circumstance that yielded a 35-7 lead on Baylor midway through the third quarter. Gus Malzahn’s team has since been outscored 80-22 thanks to its team record-breaking collapse against the Bears before being run over by Kansas (51-22) two weeks ago.
Cleaning up a run defense that has been gashed in conference play – the Jayhawks had 399 yards on the ground – was a priority during a bye last week and leading into OU this week.
“Scheme wise and our approach to certain things should help us tremendously in our run defense,” Malzahn said during Tuesday’s media session, a couple of days after details of his contract extension through the 2027 season were published, including compensation that will top out at $5.5 million the final two years.
Cincinnati opened conference play by holding the Sooners to a season-low 20 points, but could muster only two field goals in the loss. Offense was not a problem in the aforementioned defeat in Provo, where the Bearcats piled up 498 yards. Everything proved to be a problem in a clunker of a loss (30-10) last week to visiting Iowa State in which UC managed only 214 yards.
Scott Satterfield’s team, which goes up against visiting Baylor on Saturday, has turned the ball over twice in each of the last four games, all losses, including the final non-conference game against Miami (Ohio).
“Mistakes are what have been hurting us majority of the past four games,” said Satterfield, during his weekly press conference. “We are not good enough to go out there make these kinds of mistakes and win these games.”
Houston’s wild ending against the Mountaineers prevented a fourth loss in five games. The Cougars’ conference defeats against TCU and Texas Tech were by a combined 44 points, so the bleeding needed to stop especially with Texas coming to town Saturday and a trip to Kansas State next week for UH’s first game outside the Lone Star State.
Saturday’s game against the Longhorns, which lost a thriller against Oklahoma before a bye, will be the first between the programs since 2002.
“Coming off a loss to Oklahoma, I can only imagine what their mindset is,” said Holgorsen, during his weekly press conference. “To have two weeks coming off that game, I am sure they are going to be as motivated as anybody in college football coming to Houston on Saturday afternoon.”
BYU, which lost by nine to Kansas to open conference play, had a bye following its win over Cincinnati. The Cougars were then scorched by TCU (44-11) last week in a game they totaled all of 254 yards. The 33-point loss was the second worst of the Kelani Sitake era behind a 40-6 setback at Wisconsin in 2017.
“We will respond from this and get better,” said Sitake, following the loss. “Sometimes you have to pivot and figure out other ways to do things. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel, but we have to do things differently.”
The first such opportunity his team will be Saturday against visiting Texas Tech. BYU then has two straight on the road with trips to Texas next week and West Virginia to open November.
By the way, West Virginia and Oklahoma State are the only established Big 12 members that play all four new teams. In fact, the Cowboys’ final three games are at UCF, at Houston and versus BYU.