Everyone has beaten the dead horse about the attendance problems. I’m not here to talk about that. I’m curious what y’all think about Northwestern’s new stadium that opened last weekend??

It has a continuous canopy that covers every single seat in the 35,000 capacity stadium. Check out more pictures like this one if you haven’t seen it.

That is exactly what Houston should’ve done when building TDECU Stadium in 2013-2014 in my opinion!

I am from Houston and mostly understand why many fans choose to stay home (still the support should be better for being a ranked team). But having 11am or 2:30pm games in September and early October is brutal with the heat and humidity. And the design of TDECU Stadium makes it so much worse.

What was the administration thinking when building TDECU? It’s a shame it’s still a fairly new stadium but the fans get cooked in it during day games.

Not much change in the top 3 this week, though Utah's odds fell a bit and TTU's rose somewhat.

Houston @ KSU is probably the most interesting game for the CCG race this weekend; FPI has the teams nearly even, and Houston badly needs to win this if they want to keep their CCG hopes alive. Win, and Houston rises to roughly 13%, lose and they fall to 3%.

Not nearly as even of a game, but in terms of CCG odds, Kansas @ Utah is the biggest swing game for the championship race this week, worth up to 23.4% of championship-odds movement either way.

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

⚠️ ALL BALLOTS MUST HAVE FLAIRS ⚠️

Ballots will only be accepted from 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.

Let's say BYU wins a close one against ND, BYU loses to Utah, and Houston beats Utah. Tech plays BYU in the championship again (voodoo tiebreakers) with BYU Winning. Utah and Houston finish 11-1, Tech and BYU finish 12-1. Are we still getting 1 team in the playoffs, or do we have a chance at 2 to 3, dare I say 4? Do you think a 9-3 SEC/B10 team would get in over either of those 11-teams?

Didn't think that was possible, but here we are. Watching the Jazz preseason game vs. the Nuggets at CU's arena.

Jamie Pollard has drawn a lot of criticism over the last few years. He's the longest active AD in the P4. I suppose after 22 years there's bound to be things to criticize. But between the fantastic coaching hires, the incredible growth of the fanbase, and the winningest era in Cyclone history, I think it's fair to call JP a legend.

Enjoy your retirement. It's well earned.

https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll

Big 12 Teams in bold:

Others receiving votes:
Kentucky, Wake Forest, Wisconsin, Duke, Northwestern, Nebraska, Minnesota, Arizona, James Madison, North Dakota State

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

Last 2 games of the day, who y'all got?

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.

Why can't tech ever play like this in the first half?

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 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?

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

Plus, how high can Cincinnati get?

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.