Colorado becomes latest contender to fall victim to Kansas as Big 12 spirals into chaos down the stretch

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,…

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Author : Dennis Dodd

Publish date : 2024-11-24 03:12:00

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