09/16/25 11:45:00
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09/16 11:43 CDT The Big 12's unexpected rise: Houston, Utah, UCF and Arizona
are a combined 11-0. Are they for real?
The Big 12's unexpected rise: Houston, Utah, UCF and Arizona are a combined
11-0. Are they for real?
By DAVE SKRETTA
AP Sports Writer
Willie Fritz began his coaching career more than four decades ago at Pittsburg
State, a Division II school tucked into the corner of Kansas, where he had
played defensive back in the late 1970s and early '80s.
In other words, the current Houston coach has seen just about everything in
college football, whether it be as the head man at the junior college level
(Blinn), the D-2 level (Central Missouri), the FCS level (Sam Houston State),
the lower-tier level of Division I (Georgia Southern), the middle tier of
Division I (Tulane) or now at the Power Four level with the Cougars.
Yes, his team is off to a brilliant 3-0 start. And yes, it is too early to
start selling tickets to the Big 12 title game.
"I tell the team all the time," Fritz said after last weekend's win over
Colorado, "this only counts as one game. Fortunately, I've been doing this for
a long time, and by the time I wake up tomorrow, I'll be on to the next one. I
told the guys to make sure they celebrate for a couple of days and have fun
with their families, but we've got to move on."
Yet it's worth pausing to consider this: Houston, Utah, UCF and Arizona were
all Big 12 bottom-dwellers last season, fodder for the programs that were in a
logjam at the top of the league.
This year? They are a combined 11-0.
Houston hasn't even been tested in wins over Stephen F. Austin, Rice and the
Buffaloes. Utah's drubbing of UCLA helped to get Bruins coach DeShaun Foster
fired. UCF has passed its first two tests in the Scott Frost Era, Part II. And
the Wildcats landed the best win of them all by beating Kansas State, which is
more pretender than Big 12 contender at this point.
As league play gets going in earnest, will the upside-down nature of the Big 12
bear out the rest of the way?
"If you sit around and revel in past successes," Fritz said, "you will never be
as good as you can be. Or when you have a bad outcome, if you sit around and
pout about it, you're not going to get any better. We just try to move on. Even
though (beating Colorado) was a big win for our program, if we want it to be a
really big win, we've got to keep going."
Houston had plenty of bad outcomes last season, going 3-6 in the league and 4-8
overall. But the Cougars already have one Big 12 win heading into this week's
bye, and they can match their win total from last season next week against
Oregon State.
Utah, UCF and Arizona were all 2-7 in the Big 12 last season. All of them have
reason to believe their turnaround is real.
The Utes climbed to No. 16 in the AP Top 25 this week, and they have the
biggest opportunity of the weekend with No. 17 Texas Tech visiting town. The
last time Utah started 4-0 was in 2008, when Kyle Whittingham led the Utes to a
13-0 mark, a win over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl and ultimately a No. 2 finish
in the final AP poll.
"We've got to be up for the occasion," Whittingham said of the showdown with
the Red Raiders, perhaps the most impressive of Big 12 teams so far this
season. "Our fans will be there in full force. It'll be a great environment for
us. ... The degree of difficulty is getting higher, and that's what you would
expect, and we're excited about the challenge."
The Knights wrap up their non-conference schedule against Bill Belichick and
North Carolina, which has already lost in lopsided fashion to Big 12 brethren
TCU. Take care of business Saturday and the Knights will be carrying some
momentum, along with an undefeated record, into their conference opener against
Kansas State the following week.
Those Wildcats, who were pegged as possible College Football Playoff contenders
before the season, are still smarting from the loss to Arizona that dropped
them to 1-3. They also lost their conference opener to Iowa State and fell at
home to Army. They needed some miracles to pull off a 38-35 win over FCS North
Dakota.
As for the other bunch of Wildcats, the win over Kansas State --- oddly enough
--- doesn't count as a conference win for Arizona, because the series was made
before it joined the Big 12. But it nevertheless was a big one for coach Brent
Brennan, who is trying to build on a 4-8 first season in Tucson made even more
humbling by watching Arizona State's quick turnaround last year.
The Sun Devils went from 3-9 in their final year in the Pac-12 to Big 12
champions and CFP participants.
Perhaps the Cougars, Utes, Knights or Arizona can make a similarly stunning
climb to the top of the league this season.
"I feel like there's definitely been a lot of growth this year, as far as
responding. It's showing out there," Arizona running back Ismail Mahdi said.
"The only thing you can do is compare games, whether we responded last year or
not. And we're responding."
___
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