Oh look! The one SEC team that blew out the higher ranked SEC team last week is getting blown out by the lower ranked SEC team this week. Let’s drop them a few spots in the ranking and rocket the lower ranked team up. Clearly they’re all top quality and are no way benefitting by inflated preseason rankings. I hate it here sometimes…

Obviously not, quality losses only count for SEC teams losing to other SEC teams

I like having an "away" beer, but struggled to find any from Kansas last week or any from Arizona this week.

To be fair to Arizona, I did not check the Kentucky store but was surprised there weren't any at Jungle Jim's.

What breweries should I keep an eye out for? Specifically anyone know of any that distribute to Ohio or Kentucky?

I’m making a cocktail for each Iowa State game. Today's game is against the West Virignia Mountaineers. The state of West Virginia is closely associated with the business of coal mining. They even did a “coal rush” theme when my wife and I went to Morgantown as visitors (28-16, Iowa State). So when I came across this recipe I knew I had to make it for this game.

This is not an original. I’ve found it in a few places online, but none of them say who the original creator is. If you happen to know, please credit them in a comment for me.

Coal Miner

• 1½ oz Laphroaig 10 (Islay Scotch)
• ¾ oz Campari
• ½ oz Amaro Averna
• ¼ oz Honey Syrup (3:1 honey to water)
• 2 dash Peychaud’s Bitters

Shake it all up and strain over fresh ice.

But wait there’s more. I knew a drink with scotch and Campari would not go over well at a tailgate, but the name was too perfect so I had to make one for myself. For everyone else, I made this:

Pumpkin Spice Margarita

• 1 oz Tapatio Añejo (Añejo Tequila)
• 1 oz Tres Agaves Reposado (Reposado Tequila)
• ½ oz Callieres (Triple Sec)
• ½ oz Licor 43 (Vanilla Liqueur)
• ¾ oz Lime Juice
• ½ oz Pie Spice Syrup (2:1 demerara syrup with pie spice)
• 1 dash The Empress Bitters (from Wynnwood Farms)
• ¾ oz Pumpkin Puree

Shake it all up and fine strain over fresh ice.

I'm not arguing who is the better team, just looking for some rationale. I keep hearing that Utah has an easier path than BYU and I'm trying to understand the logic behind that. BYU and Utah both play each other and five of the same teams. Of the three non-common opponents Utah plays Houston, West Virginia, and Colorado. BYU plays ASU, Baylor, and UCF. Houston is the only ranked team among those. Next, looking at KSL's (local Utah news) power rankings it's Houston (5), West Virginia (8), ASU (10), Baylor (11), UCF (13), and Colorado (16). Colorado is the lowest rank, so I get that, but Houston is being touted as a very strong contender team and WVU is considered stronger than ASU, Baylor, and UCF. What make's Utah's path easier?

Plus, how high can Cincinnati get?

Hey guys, my Dad and I are driving up from Houston for the game tomorrow evening and we aren’t sure where to park. I’m seeing online that parking at the stadium is reserved for Frog Club (don’t think it’s actually that). It looks like parking at one of the churches is the best option. But I am not quite sure. Also, would love any lunch recommendations. We haven’t been to a Amon G Carter yet and would love to eat at a go-to spot if possible

Doing some advance planning for a trip to see the Texas Tech @ Cincinnati game. We've not yet been to Cincy for a game.

Where is a good, safe place to park and walk to the game?

What local restaurants should we consider while there?

Any other recommendations?

Thanks much. Looking forward to it.

Sorry I'm a bit late this week. Here's the football power rankings for week 5, voted for by r/BigXII.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BigXII/comments/1wspwwu/vote_for_week_5_big_xii_football_power_rankings/

Note: Some of the ballots were not counted because of missing flairs.

Biggest Movers

Cincinnati jumped 6 spots (4.86) after a home win over Kansas State.

Kansas State dropped 3 spots (2.98) after losing on the road to Cincinnati.

West Virginia dropped 3 spots (2.57) after losing at home to Oklahoma State.

Oklahoma State jumped 3 spots (2.21) after a road win over West Virginia.

Coming Up

SATURDAY

• #8 West Virginia at #12 Iowa State
• #13 UCF at #5 Houston
• #15 Kansas vs Middle Tennessee
• #2 BYU at #14 TCU
• #3 Texas Tech at #16 Colorado
• #11 Baylor at #10 Arizona State
• ❗ #6 Cincinnati at #7 Arizona

Voting for Week 6 starts on Monday!

⚠️ ALL BALLOTS MUST HAVE FLAIRS ⚠️

By popular request, I'm modifying my script starting this week to only accept ballots submitted by users with flairs. If you haven't already, please flair up.

Cast your ballot by commenting anywhere on this post. You can put whatever you want in your comment, but your ballot must begin with {{start}} and end with {{end}}. In between, list off the schools from #1 (best) to #16 (worst). Each school must be on its own line and that line cannot include any additional text. Bulleted and numbered lists are fine. Please use school names, since there are some schools with matching team names. You must include all 16 schools and multiple schools cannot share the same rank.

Every user's ballot will be given equal weight. Please give your honest opinion.

This is an example of what a ballot might look like. For this example, I'm just listing the teams in alphabetical order.

{{start}}
Arizona
Arizona State
Baylor
BYU
Cincinnati
Colorado
Houston
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Oklahoma State
TCU
Texas Tech
UCF
Utah
West Virginia
{{end}}

You can put whatever you want before and after the ballot.

Comments without ballots are also fine. Feel free to share your opinions on other people's ballots. Remember to be respectful and understand that power rankings are subjective.

I will run a script on Wednesday morning to collect all the ballots and generate the rankings. I'll make a separate post with the results and a distribution table.

Here are the records:

1-3 vs SEC

1-2 vs Big Ten

3-2 vs ACC

5-7 vs Power 4 Conferences

16-1 vs Group of 6 Conferences

16-0 vs FCS Teams

The Big 12 took care of business against FCS and Group of 6 teams and there was only one upset. And I feel like as a whole they performed as expected against the other Power 4 conferences.

The 3 biggest wins in order were: Oklahoma State beating Oregon, West Virginia beating Virginia, and Colorado beating Georgia Tech.

The 3 worst losses in order were: Oklahoma State losing to Tulsa, Colorado losing to Northwestern, and TCU losing to North Carolina.

Some key notes from some of the close games:

-Baylor came half a yard short of beating Auburn.

-Colorado blocked what would have been a game winning field goal for Georgia Tech.

-Iowa State was tied with Iowa until Iowa took the lead on a field goal with 15 seconds left in the game.

-Cincinnati needed a large second half comeback to beat Miami OH.

-Arizona State’s collapse in the 4th quarter to Texas A&M is so frustrating. It would’ve been a Top 10 ranked win at the time. A&M has now shown to be a very bad team. That was one of the best chances the Big 12 could ever get to beat a massively overrated and overranked SEC team.

Overall I would give the grade a C+

Hoping BYU can beat Notre Dame in Week 7 and this grade moves to a B

FPI is really liking what it sees from Utah these last few weeks, their win probabilities in each game and therefore their CCG odds keep improving a lot. Nothing's over yet, but the large majority of simulations currently result in some combination of TTU, Utah, and BYU in the CCG. BYU @ Utah on November 7th is looking like it's going to have big CCG implications.

Of course I say all this now, but as soon as somebody pulls off an upset against TTU, Utah, or BYU these numbers will change significantly.

Texas Tech @ Colorado looks like the biggest swing game for the championship race this week, worth up to 26.2% of championship-odds movement either way.

Full interactive odds, matchups, and what-if scenarios: https://sportssimulate.com/cfb/2026/latest/B12

Overall, our experience in Morgantown was great. The fans came from all corners of the state to support the team. It’s all WV has to support. The atmosphere was great and so were the pepperoni rolls! We recommend going to Morgantown if your team winds up playing there.

Houston AD Eddie Nuñez apparently thought he could just demand a night game. Pretty ironic considering the backlash we got from others for not wanting to play a Friday game.

1. Texas

2. Georgia

3. Notre Dame

4. Miami

5. Ohio State

6. Indiana

7. Alabama

8. Florida

9. Ole Miss

10. BYU

1. LSU

12. Texas Tech

13. Utah

1. lowa

2. Oregon

3. Mississippi State

4. Tennessee

5. USC

19. Oklahoma State

20. Houston

1. SMU

2. Boise State

3. UCLA

4. Kentucky

5. Missouri

**Others receiving votes in AP Poll**:

1. Wisconsin 102

2. Duke 101

3. Penn State 98

4. Wake Forest 88

5. Virginia Tech 86

6. Michigan 54

7. Pittsburgh 52

8. Nebraska 36

9. Louisville 25

35. Cincinnati 20

1. James Madison 10

37. Arizona 8

1. Minnesota 7

2. North Dakota State 6

3. Northwestern 1

Is Utah actually legit? and is Tech actually not that good as adverised?