No. 13 Utah at Kansas
This was a close defensive battle with very few mistakes through three quarters and looked as though it could be anyone’s game all the way up to the start of the fourth quarter. With Kansas leading 14-10 and having worked their way down inside the Utah red zone with a couple of 20+ yard passes and a 14 yard run they were sitting 1st and goal at the Utah 10 yard line. After losing two yards on their first play the Jayhawk’s Senior QB Jalon Daniels moved quickly into a non-huddle shotgun formation and had his pass intercepted in the end zone for a touchback by Utah’s Sophomore Safety Jackson Bennee. Four plays and 80 yards later in just over a minute Utah’s Junior QB Devon Dampier connected with Junior WR Larry Simmons to give the Utes the lead 17-14. Eight plays later Kansas was even deeper in the Utah red zone when Daniels got picked again—this time by Junior Cornerback Elijah Davis who took it 97 yards to the house to give Utah a ten point lead 24-14 with a little under eight minutes left in the game. Third time was the charm for the Jayhawks as they finally got it into the end zone without giving it away on a 21 yard TD pass from Daniels to Senior TE Leyton Cure to get within three points, 24-21. But with Dampier and Simmons connecting again—this time on a 48 yard TD pass to put the Utes up 31-21 with a little over two minutes left, the Kansas TD was too little too late. Three incompletions and a sack would have the Jayhawks hand the ball back over to Utah who would run the clock out and preserve the ten point victory.
For Utah, Junior QB Devon Dampier was 15-of-25 for 253 yards, 3 TD’s and no interceptions while also rushing 11 times for 50 yards. Junior WR Larry Simmons combined with Freshman TE JJ Buchanan to collect a third of those receptions for 162 of those yards and all three TD’s, two for Simmons and one for Buchanan. Sophomore RB Wayshawn Parker led the way on the ground with over half of the team’s 161 rushing yards on 12 carries. For Kansas, Senior QB Jalon Daniels connected on 10-of-27 for 187 yards, 1 TD to Senior TE Leyton Cure, and 3 interceptions while also rushing 8 times for 34 yards and 1 of the Jayhawks two rushing TD’s. On the ground, Senior RB’s Daniel Hishaw Jr. and Leshon Williams carried the load with a combined 211 of the team’s 290 rushing yards on 37 carries as well as a TD by Hishaw Jr to go along with Daniels’.
Kansas led in first downs, 26-to-18, and had 477 total yards of offense compared to 414 for Utah. Both teams converted their third downs about 53% of the time and were 0-for-2 on their fourth down attempts. Kansas dominated the time of possession with almost 14 more minutes but with the two interceptions late in the game the Jayhawks basically grabbed defeat out of the jaws of victory. I definitely think Utah is good enough to be competitive in the college football playoff but they would need to either be ranked in the Top-10 to get an at-large bid or win the Big-12 championship. To get into that game they would need to beat Kansas, which they did. No. 11 BYU needs to beat UCF which shouldn’t be a problem. No. 5 Texas Tech has to lose to West Virginia on the road in Morgantown which is probably not going to happen as the Mountaineers are giving up as many points as they’re putting up on the scoreboard against less talented opponents. Finally Arizona State has to win the Duel in the Desert against Arizona. If all that happens the Red Raiders would drop out in a three team tie-breaker due to their record against common opponents and Utah would win the tie-breaker over Arizona State as a result of their head-to-head win.
Arizona at No. 25 Arizona State
Loosing RB Cam Skattebo to the NFL who rushed for 1,711 yards and 21 TD’s for Big-12 Champion Arizona State last year was a major blow. But at least they had their uber talented QB Sam Leavitt who threw for 2800+ yards and 24 TD’s to only 6 interceptions while also rushing for over 400 yards and five more TD’s along with his favorite target Jordyn Tyson back, until they didn’t. In addition to Tyson missing most of November as well as the second half of this game, after Week-8 it was announced that Leavitt would be having a season ending surgery in his foot. Although they won their next three games it wasn’t against opponents like the Wildcats who have been averaging 32+ points a game while allowing less than 20. And so it wasn’t a big surprise that they lost the Duel in the Desert to their in-state rivals. But if the fans had any doubt as to how valuable Leavitt was to the team his backup’s three interceptions and two fumbles lost removed all of it and made for a disappointing day and ugly loss.
Against an improved Wildcat defense from last year that is second only to Texas Tech in the Big-12 in total yards of offense allowed per game as well as holding teams to less than 19 points, it took a while for the Sun Devils to get going at all in this game. In spite of being held to back-to-back three-and-outs in the first quarter and then throwing an interception to start the second, Arizona was still the first to score at the end of an 8 play 90 yard drive and a 27 yard TD run by their Senior QB Jeff Simms to go up 7-0 with over ten minutes left in the half. The Wildcats didn’t have trouble moving the ball but fumbled and lost the ball 13 plays into their first drive down inside the Arizona State red zone. Nine plays into their second drive and sitting 4th and 18 just outside the Sun Devil red zone they brought in their Sophomore Place Kicker Michael Salgado-Medina who miss a 45 yard field goal attempt. After Simms TD run there would be back-to-back-to-back field goals attempted with Salgado-Medina having his second attempt of the game blocked with Arizona State’s 49 yard attempt missed by their Senior Place Kicker Jesus Gomez. Finally Salgado-Medina would get one through the uprights on his third try—this one from 47 yards out to close the gap to 7-3 with time running out in the half.
As it turned out 7-3 would not only be Arizona State’s only lead of the game but they wouldn’t score another point the rest of the way, getting shut out in the third and fourth quarter while the Wildcats scored ten points in each to win it 23-7. Arizona got plenty of help from the Sun Devils as their first three possessions after the half consisted of a fumble, a three-and-out, and an interception—a pattern that continued into the fourth quarter with another fumble and interception. It’s kind of tough when the opponent has the ball in their hands twenty more minutes than you do, and then when you do get it you have five turnovers, 2 fumbles lost and three interceptions.
For Arizona, their Junior QB Noah Fafita was 28-of-45 for 286 yards, 1 TD to Senior TE Cam Barmore, and no interceptions while also rushing 10 times for another 18 yards. On the ground, Senior RB Ismail Mahdi and Junior RB Kedrick Reescano combined for 77 of the team’s 88 yard total on 25 carries with Reescano picking up their only rushing TD. For Arizona State, Senior QB Jeff Sims was just 11-of-25 for three interceptions while also rushing 10 times for 43 yards and a TD. Junior RB Raleek Brown added 63 more yards on 13 carries and when combined with Sims basically accounted for all of their yards on the ground. Arizona had 24 first downs compared to 12 for the Sun Devils. They were twice as successful on their third down conversion attempts, led in total yards of offense, 374-to-214, had the ball for forty minutes compared to 20 minutes for Arizona State and had four less turnovers. With a record of 9-3, Arizona more than cleared the eligibility bar to play in a post season bowl as did Arizona State with a record of 8-4.
Colorado at Kansas State
Kansas State won the Big-12 just three years ago, have had back-to-back 9-3 seasons since, and came into 2025 with the expectation and projection by some as a favorite to win the conference and make it to the CFP. But after giving up over 550 yards of total offense and 51 points to Utah the prior week and still needing one more win to just become bowl eligible, they came in to this game no where near the team they expected to be at the end of this year’s regular season. Primarily due to three injuries on the offensive line which have kept those players off the field a lot of the time, they have gone from one of the best run blocking offensive lines in the country to just seventh-best in the Big-12 according to Pro Football Focus. With the team’s best pass rusher injured in early October and out for the season, the Wildcats who were ranked second in sacks last year are now the league’s 10th best. In spite of all that, they ended up winning this one 24-14 by excelling at what had been their weaknesses over the course of the season.
They pass rushed well recording three sacks, forced an interception, and kept the Colorado Senior QB Kaidon Salter out of the end zone. They controlled the offensive line of scrimmage and blocked well for their Sophomore RB Joe Jackson who carried the ball 26 times for 142 yards. Unable to do much offensively the first half and sitting on a 7-7 tie half-way through the third quarter, they scored on their next three possessions to win it going away. For Kansas State, Junior QB Avery Johnson was 10-of-17 for 115 yards without a TD or a pick while also rushing 7 times for 36 yards. On the ground, they collectively rushed for 206 yards on 43 carries with Jackson picking up 70% of it and 3 TD’s. Colorado’s departing Senior QB Kaidon Salter connected on 14-of-25 for no TD’s and 1 interception while also rushing 15 times for 63 yards. Salter along with Junior RB Dallan Hayden and Sophomore Micah Welch combined for 149 yards on 40 carries with Welch picking up two rushing TD’s.
As far as what’s ahead for Coach Prime and Colorado, it starts Wednesday December 3rd which is the early signing period for high school recruits. It’s a 72 hour window which will close the day before the conference championship games are played. During this time top recruits will announce what school they have committed too. As many as 75% of recruits will make the announcement of who they plan to play for during this period even though they are not required to sign the one year financial aid agreement between the NCAA and the athlete until National Signing Day which begins on the first Wednesday of February.
Coach Prime has one huge advantage that many other schools don’t have—a five star sure fire winning QB that has strongly committed to Colorado and their program. He’s such a valuable player that Sanders benched him prior to the Kansas State game to make sure he would not exceed the four game red-shirt requirement and is looking forward to having Freshman QB Julian “Ju Ju” Lewis as his signal caller for the next three or four years. Five star Offensive Tackle Felix Oho has also made a connection with the Colorado program even though he is being hotly pursued by SEC schools. Four star WR Jose Matthews who had a 1,100 yard, 17 TD, season in Mississippi has also been spending some time with Coach Sanders and WR coach Jason Phillips. Ju Ju has also been recruiting via the Buffs Podcast and has brought recruits—like five star edge rusher Jake Kruel together with IMG Academy recruit Breck Kolojay, a MaxPreps All-American, and Deacon Schmitt, a 6’ 5” offensive lineman—to his place to talk about playing for Colorado and what they collectively could do together.
In addition to targeting top prospects and leveraging the transfer portal to bring in experienced players, Sanders is committed to implementing the changes needed to strengthen their weaknesses to improve performance and team dynamic as well as shifting the program’s culture to one that fosters a much more competitive and motivated environment. They were three games shy of becoming bowl eligible and as Coach Prime pointed out to his team there were three games that they lost by just a single possession, including a three point loss to BYU who will be meeting Texas Tech in the Big-12 Conference Championship game this coming Saturday. He’ll be looking for players who dream big and who possess not only talent, but have the toughness and attitude required to not let winnable games slip away. Time will tell, but for those who think Deion Sanders is going to tuck tail and leave and not fix what is broken don’t know him very well. You don’t get great by giving up and as Deion has said in the past; “If you’re dream ain’t bigger than you, there’s a problem with your dream.’