Big 12 race an entertaining quandary

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BYU’s strange November of Big 12 play will conclude with a late-night game in LaVell Edwards Stadium against Houston — and on the line is a potential trip to Arlington for a championship game for the Cougars.
After going 1-2 following a top-10 ranking and 9-0 record, head coach Kalani Sitake and his staff are examining the reasons the team has struggled this past month. On Saturday he hopes to get things back on track with a 10th win.
One thing is certain, the Big 12 has become an entertaining, competitive, cut-throat league — and a lot of fun. As BYU lost to Kansas and ASU, other league leaders Colorado and Iowa State were also knocked off their perches in November. Preseason favorite Utah is looking at an eight-game losing streak if the Utes don’t win at UCF this Saturday.
There are nine Big 12 teams in contention for a berth in the Big 12 title game. There are four teams tied atop the league standings at 6-2 conference records, including BYU, ASU, Iowa State and Colorado.
Jeff Sagarin has the Big 12 rated as the No. 2 conference in America, yet the CFP committee is elevating SEC and Big Ten teams who have one or two losses. Here is a look by Jackson Payne at how analytics look for BYU’s chances to appear in Arlington.
Question of the week: BYU has had three games starting slow in the first half against Utah, Kansas and ASU and went 2-1. Do you believe this trend will continue in the home finale with Houston? Why or why not?
Jay Drew: No question, BYU’s poor performances in the first halves of the last three games have led to the Cougars going 1-2 and losing their late-season momentum. They were able to overcome a 21-10 halftime deficit to beat Utah 22-21, but couldn’t find that same magic to upend Kansas and Arizona State.
It will be interesting to see if coach Kalani Sitake and his staff have got it figured out before Houston visits on Saturday. My hunch is that they have. Jake Retzlaff was asked Monday what the problem is, and he blamed it on poor execution, and everybody not doing their 1/11th. That’s a pretty simple explanation. It feels like there is more to it, such as the Cougars being too tense, too nervous, in the first parts of games.
Something happened after they took a 31-10 lead on UCF last month. This just hasn’t been the same offense, for whatever reason. But perhaps they rediscovered themselves in the second half against ASU, because that looked like the BYU offense of the first eight or so games.
Prediction: BYU 34, Houston 17
Dick Harmon: I went against the grain last week and predicted BYU would go to Tempe and beat ASU. What I didn’t count on was the passion and emotion ASU brought in that first half that was met with a lack thereof by the Cougars.
Kalani Sitake is pretty good at getting his team up for big games like we saw in UFC’s first half as well as wins other seasons over Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee and Michigan State on the road. So, this smacks of something internal with the players, or some injuries to linemen that kept them from performing at an optimum level because ASU kicked butt in the trenches for the first half.
Now the Cougars have to rely on Kansas State and Arizona to help them get to the Big 12 title game. I think BYU will defeat Houston on Senior Night and will make plays on both sides of the line to close out the regular season with a remarkable 10 wins.
Look for Jake Retzlaff to have a big game and the defense getting back to gaining turnovers and making stops.
Prediction: BYU 34, Houston 14
In a remarkable feat on the national stage, BYU’s women’s and men’s cross-country teams swept the NCAA championships in Wisconsin last Saturday. Here is Doug Robinson’s roundup of the title chase. Here’s a piece on how faith played a part in the championship. Kelsey Dallas found an angle to the women’s victory in a butterfly necklace in this story.
In basketball, the Cougars defeated Mississippi Valley State in a warmup to the team’s first major road trip and in this story by Jay Drew he explains how Dallin Hall made his first appearance in the lineup.
The Big 12 is looking into how a tape of BYU’s halftime locker room communications was leaked on the Internet.
Comments from Deseret News readers:
Please just relax a bit. There is a lot of parity in college football. Ask Alabama, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, even Penn State barely beat Minnesota, and Oregon barely beat Wisconsin. The KU loss is not looking as bad, as KU has beaten ISU, BYU and Colorado the last three weeks. Take away two fluke special teams bounces and we are undefeated. We are four yards shy the last two games of being undefeated.
K-State can beat ISU, and the ASU and U of A game is at Arizona, and ASU defense will have a hard time stopping the Wildcats’ passing attack. It is highly likely that BYU plays in the Big12 championship, just don’t toy around with Houston.
Turnover battle no matter who you play will bite you if you are reckless with the ball.
— Big12Cougs
I always get slammed for saying this but several of BYU’s wins were more about the ball bouncing the right way than about BYU being the better team. BYU has struggled all season to stop running teams, especially mobile quarterbacks. They have survived off of turnovers. The offense has not had a lot of long drives. Yes, they have had some, but a lot of their success has been based on short fields. Luck is great but this is why BYU has not faired well in the polls compared to some other teams with one loss while they had none. They have never looked like a dominant team. They have looked like a team that could turn good fortune into success. Now a significant portion of that luck has ran out.
BYU has had a great season. It has been a fun season and should still be considered memorable. Hopefully they will finish successfully where ever they end up, but they still have much work to do, upgrades to happen, before they can be a true contending team.
— DH48