BYU and Texas Tech can punch their ticket to the Big 12 championship game. All they have to do is win.
BYU welcomes Central Florida to Provo Utah. BYU’s only blemish on the season was a loss to Texas Tech. As is the case for Texas Tech, take care of business against a lower ranked team and you’re in. If BYU wins this week, it will mark the first conference championship game since they were in the WAC and lost to Air Force in 1998.
Texas Tech, however, travels to West Virginia to take on the Mountaineers. West Virginia is at the bottom of the Big 12 standings but are coming off two wins in three weeks. It will be a difficult task for West Virginia as Texas Tech ranks nationally in several offensive categories and has one of the more dominant defenses in college football. The Red Raiders rank 4th is points per game, 7th in yards per game, 8th in 3rd down conversion percentage, and 11th in explosive play rate.
The Big 12 conference title game should be straight forward, again, provided both BYU and Texas Tech play as expected. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark called the Big 12 the deepest conference in the Power 4.
Except for the bottom four (Oklahoma State, Colorado, West Virginia and UCF), every other Big 12 team has done some damage in conference. With 10 of the 16 teams in the conference posting a.500 record in conference or better. Interesting side note, but games this week include opponents in that bottom four, West Virginia and UCF.
At present, the Big 12 has nine teams that have all reached the needed six wins for bowl eligibility. While the conference boasts three teams in the AP top 25, only No. 5 Texas Tech and No. 11 BYU have a strong case to make the college football playoff.
Texas Tech faces West Virginia at Noon ET and will broadcast on ESPN. BYU will face UCF at 1:00pm ET and will air on ESPN2.
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