KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The best team in the Big 12, at least at the moment, may not go to a bowl game.
Such is part of the glorious mess that is currently the Big 12 Conference. Kansas dropped a wrench into the tiebreaker machinery by beating No. 16 Colorado so badly on Saturday they’re feeling it back in the Rocky Mountain foothills.
The scoreboard read 37-21 in favor of the Jayhawks, marking the first time in program history Kansas has beaten three ranked opponents consecutively. Adding to the mess? All three of those victims are still alive for the Big 12 Championship Game and potential College Football Playoff berth with a week to play: Iowa State, BYU and Colorado.
Kansas (5-6), of course, will be watching all of it on a screen somewhere because it started 2-6, only recently waking up to make this logjam possible.
“It was truly a start-to-finish performance,” Kansas coach Lance Leipold said.
One worthy of the best team in the wacky Big 12 (at the moment)?
“You guys [media] can decide that,” Leipold said. “Right now, I don’t know that. I don’t know how everyone else is playing. We walked off the field quite a few times dejected.”
Colorado (8-3) came into the game in control of its conference and CFP fate because of an impressive four-game winning streak that had been proof of concept for Deion Sanders.
As things stood heading into Saturday night, Colorado needed help. In any three- or four-way tie scenario at the end of the season, Colorado would be left out. Its best chance to play for the Big 12 championship in Sander’s second season would depend on help from other teams.
“We controlled our own destiny,” Sanders said. “And we fumbled it.”
Following one of the worst defensive performances of the Coach Prime era, Colorado’s path to the Big 12 title game is fairly simple, though more difficult.
In a three-way tie, CU would need to win and then have either Arizona State or BYU to lose their final game.
In a four-way tie, CU would need to win and then get two losses from some combination of Iowa State, BYU and Arizona State.
It just didn’t feel that simple Saturday night.
The most visible team in the Big 12 — glitzy Colorado — got dominated. The most physical team in the Big 12 — Kansas, at the moment — ran for 331 yards.
What was once one of the most disappointing teams in the country righted itself with an upset that will surely resonate beyond Arrowhead Stadium.
“We started smelling ourselves a little bit … We got intoxicated with success,” Sanders said. “We got intoxicated with the multitude of articles and the assumption that we’re this and the assumption that we’re that.”
It wasn’t like Colorado was totally a willing participant. Shedeur Sanders (23-of-29 passing, 266 yards) had completion streaks of 11 and nine. He threw one incompletion through three quarters. Heisman Trophy favorite Travis Hunter — who saw his odds to win the coveted award rise despite the loss — caught eight passes for 125 yards, scored two touchdowns, made seven tackles and broke up a pass.
But a Colorado defense that led the Big 12 in sacks, tackles for loss and fumble recoveries didn’t show up. Whenever Pro Football Focus gets around to it, Colorado will likely break the modern record for missed tackles based on Saturday — or just disinterested tackles.
The Jayhawks scored on their first seven straight possessions until it basically didn’t matter anymore, running out the final 6:22. Forget about punting; Kansas punter Damon Greaves didn’t have to suit up.
How impressive is that? When Georgia beat TCU a couple of years ago 65-7 in the College Football Playoff National Championship, it scored on six straight possessions.
Kansas running back Devin Neal ran for 207 yards and accounted for four touchdowns. Neal, the Jayhawks’ career leading rusher, remains No. 2 on the list of active players in touchdowns from scrimmage (running, receiving). No. 1 is Boise State Heisman contender Ashton Jeanty.
“We could not stop the run,” Deion Sanders said. “We tried, consistently.”
Heisman dreams? Still alive. Shedeur Sanders and Hunter won’t take much of a hit, but a win would have bolstered their chances.
Big 12 dreams? Arizona State is the clear winner from Saturday in the Big 12. It wins a three- or four-way tiebreaker to get into the conference championship game.
But exactly no one wants to play this rolling ball of butcher knives that Kansas has become. CU’s defense got rag-dolled, running only 42 plays. KU held the ball for 40 minutes and averaged 69.5 yards on its seven scoring drives.
This Week in Coach Prime History might be the best edition yet during his time as Colorado coach. Sanders landed highly touted 2025 QB prospect Julian Lewis, flipping him from USC and signaling that the coach is here for the long term.
Sanders himself this week made his most definitive statement about being in it for the long haul at Colorado.
“I’m happy where I am,” he said. “I’m good. I’ve got a kickstand down. You know what a kickstand is? … That means I’m resting. I’m good. I’m happy. I’m excited. I’m enthusiastic about where I am. I love it here. I truly do.”
There have been plenty of coaches who have said something similar. Nick Saban flat out told a falsehood in 2007 as Miami Dolphins coach shortly before he took the Alabama job.
But what Sanders said this week had to be said. He came to Colorado with his two talented sons — plus Hunter — in tow. It looked like two (years) and bar-b-que, which is basically as much eligibility those players had left.
At a time when the sports world was ready to throw (more) roses at Deion Sanders, however, his defense betrayed him. Actually, CU came close to betraying any defense that has ever taken the field.
“Physically, it didn’t faze me,” Shedeur Sanders joked. “I got sacked 52 times last year. Nothing really physically can do anything to me. Just play harder, I guess.”
Now, one of the few certainties in the Big 12 is that Kansas closed out its home season playing in the home of the Super Bowl champions with a college championship at stake — just not for the Jayhawks.
“The people that have all those tiebreakers right now, there are probably 14 more pages added to the rules,” Leipold said.
Nationally, it is believed South Carolina is the only other team to beat three consecutive ranked opponents this season. That streak ended Saturday with an FCS win over Wofford.
KU’s streak will end next week at Baylor, but that’s a minor detail. That game will be most important for what was determined — at least for the moment — Saturday night.
The best team in the Big 12 will be playing for bowl eligibility.
