I Tell Ya' Herbie:
The surprising rise of BYU to the top of the Big 12 after being listed as one of the bottom-dwellers in the pre-season predictions has been one of the better stories in college football this season.
However, the holding call against Utah on a fourth down, which would have ended the game with BYU out of timeouts and Utah up three, was controversial.
A BYU loss would have completely scrambled the Big 12 title picture and made roughly a thousand tiebreaking scenarios for the conference title game very plausible.
I Tell Ya' Herbie:
When you watch the BYU-Utah game (every year, not this year in particular) and see just how heated this rivalry is, you wonder why this game isn't mentioned as highly as others are when you discuss the best rivalries in the game.
I would think it hasn't gotten the publicity for two reasons.
First, the two programs were in the WAC/Mountain West for so many years that the "power conference" elite didn't care just how great of a rivalry this was and the other reason?
The schools in the Western time zone often receive the short end of the stick on topics such as this as other great rivalries such as Oregon-Oregon State, Washington-Washington State, and Arizona-Arizona State have only in recent years started to receive credit as elite-level rivalries.
I Tell Ya' Herbie:
Another Western rivalry might be the most vicious of them all, even though both schools are more often than not at the lower end of the standings every year.
The Rio Grande Rivalry between New Mexico and New Mexico State has heat on the field but even more off the field, where the Lobos of New Mexico have used their pull inside the defunct WAC and its spinoff, the Mountain West, to keep the rival Aggies out of their league at every turn.
The Lobos have always been in the bigger league and in the state's bigger media market (Albuquerque to State's Las Cruces), so they have been the bigger name of the two and the Aggies have struggled to find a long-term fit in a conference due to their size and location.
New Mexico State's programs have had their share of problems away from the field and court (the two teams canceled their home and home hoops series last season) and that is a factor in their problems finding a home.
Still, the two teams play each season in football (New Mexico won this year's game 50-40) and home and home in basketball, so they do play each other without conference ramifications at stake.
I Tell Ya' Herbie:
The SEC race could be cleared up a little bit on Saturday with Tennessee's visit to Georgia.
The Volunteers, Texas A&M, and Texas are the only schools with one loss in SEC play but there are five teams with two losses (Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, and Missouri) and Texas plays Texas A&M, so there is a guarantee of six teams with two conference losses and there is a scenario (although highly unlikely) of eight teams finishing with two losses.
A Tennessee win over Georgia would clarify things a little but a Georgia win would really throw things into chaos.
I Tell Ya' Herbie:
I write a lot in my boxing coverage about some fights being "crossroads fights", which means the winner moves onto bigger things and the loser takes a major step in their career.
I think one game this week could be a crossroads game in the Big 12 as 5-4 Baylor visits 5-4 West Virginia in Morgantown.
This year was looked to be a pivotal year by Neal Brown with West Virginia, who disappointed for most of the season before two road wins over Arizona and Cincinnati pushed them above .500 and perhaps put the Mountaineers into position to salvage their season.
Baylor's Dave Aranda looked to be moving on the hot seat with his Bears at 2-4 before they ripped off three wins in a row over Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, and TCU to move them over .500.
The winner will be bowl-eligible and has a chance to finish strong enough to relieve the pressure on their coach for 2025, while the loser will need to perhaps win both of their remaining games to save their season.
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