Big 12 Expansion Scoreboard: How the candidates fared in week 1

With six, or eight, or 11 teams still trying to win the Big 12’s love, I thought it would be a good idea to keep track of how those schools performed throughout the season. SO, let’s take a look.

Cincinnati (def. Tennessee Martin 28-7)

The Bearcats won last Thursday, but it was a lackluster effort against an FCS foe. Not to mention, it was pretty poorly attended.

Yes, the Bengals were also playing a preseason game that night, so perhaps that had an impact on the Bearcats. However, it wasn’t the great start to the season Cincy was hoping for as they try to move up in the world.

UConn (def. Maine 24-21)

When it comes to attractiveness as a candidate, UConn has far more appealing entities than its football team. Barely scraping by Maine in front of a pretty small crowd isn’t going to do them any favors, though.

Husky fans are wanting basketball season to hurry up and get here.

BYU (def. Arizona 18-16)

It was a solid win against a Pac-12 team. Their defense looked good against an Arizona offense that has some potential, and while their offense struggled, Taysom Hill managed to move them down the field for the game-winning field goal when it mattered most.

No. 15 Houston (def. No. 3 Oklahoma 33-23)

This was an absolute whipping. The final score doesn’t reflect the amount of difficulty Oklahoma had on both sides of the ball, as the Cougars were swarming on defense and lethal on offense.

This was a great showing for Houston.

SMU (def. North Texas 34-21)

SMU looked fine against a North Texas team that has been insanely underwhelming for a long time.

Colorado State (lost to Colorado 44-7)

The Rams were absolutely hoping for a better showing against the Buffs, but all signs are that CSU is trending down.

Central Florida (def. South Carolina State 38-0)

Pitching a shutout is hard to do, no matter the competition. This was a nice win for Central Florida.

South Florida (def. Towson 56-20)

What is a Towson?

Tulane (lost to Wake Forest 7-3)

If you’re looking for a moral victory, Tulane may have found one. They traveled to North Carolina and held the Demon Deacons to just one touchdown and 175 yards of total offense.

Unfortunately, their completely inept offense wasted what was a very good defensive performance against an ACC opponent.

Temple (lost to Army 28-13)

Looks like they won’t be a playoff darkhorse in 2016.

Air Force (def. Abilene Christian 37-21)

I’m really not sure why Air Force is still being considered, but hey, here they are.