Big 12 CFP hopes scrambled by Cincinnati, UCF upsets — SkimNews
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- Cincinnati upset No. 8 Texas Tech, snapping the Red Raiders' nine-game Big 12 winning streak with a 21-point second-quarter surge and capitalizing on three Texas Tech turnovers.
- UCF stunned No. 2 BYU in double overtime, handing the Cougars a shocking loss a week after they had beaten Notre Dame to rise in the AP poll.
- The Big 12 now sees its path to placing multiple teams in the CFP threatened, as the losses by Texas Tech and BYU significantly hurt the conference's shot at getting three teams in the final bracket.
- Utah and Houston, ranked No. 10 and No. 14 respectively, face off in a primetime game that will give the winner a leg up in the conference title race alongside BYU.
- Texas Tech must now likely win out, including a game against Arizona, to have a chance at repeating as Big 12 champions and securing an automatic CFP berth.
- The CFP selection committee will weigh the Big 12's strength of schedule next weekend, as only one of the league's five ranked teams has a schedule ranked inside the top-35 nationally.
Why it matters: The upsets directly damage the Big 12's goal of sending multiple teams to the playoff, a key revenue and prestige driver. For teams like Texas Tech and BYU, the losses mean their margin for error is now zero, turning every remaining conference game into a must-win for CFP contention.
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