No. 24 Cincinnati is the surprise team in Big 12 midseason awards after 5-game winning streak

The swelled 12 has strike the midpoint of its flavor with a couple of 6-0 teams, and in many shipway it is no surprise that No. 7 Texas Tech and No. 15 BYU are in that position.

No. 24 Cincinnati is the only other Big 12 team to win its first three conference games, making the Bearcats an easy choice as the most surprising team by writers who cover the league.

With efficient quarterback Brendan Sorsby and linebacker Jake Golday, the Big 12's leading tackler at 9.3 per game, Cincinnati has a five-game winning streak since opening coach Scott Satterfield's third season with a loss to Nebraska. They have already matched last year’s win total.

Sorsby ranks third in the Big 12 at 295.8 total yards per game, behind only Baylor’s Sawyer Robertson and TCU’s Josh Hoover, who are 1-2 nationally in passing yards and TDs. Sorsby has thrown for 1,448 yards and 14 touchdowns with only one interception, and run for another 327 yards and five scores.

Texas Tech’s Joey McGuire and BYU’s Kalani Sitake tied for the league’s top coach with their 6-0 records.

The Red Raiders' best start since 2013 was somewhat expected with a highly touted transfer class bolstered by big money for NIL deals on top of revenue-sharing distributions. All their wins are by at least 24 points, even with quarterback Behran Morton exiting three games early because of injury.

BYU, the league's most surprising team at the midpoint last season, is 6-0 in consecutive years for the first time in school history even after quarterback Jake Retzlaff's unexpected departure in the summer.

Sawyer Robertson, the only 2,000-yard FBS passer, leads the nation with 343 yards per game and 19 touchdowns for Baylor. He is 158-of-248 passing for 2,058 yards with a streak of 10 multiple-TD games in a row that goes back to last season.

Texas Tech linebacker David Bailey, the FBS leader with 8 1/2 sacks after transferring from Stanford, is the league's top defensive player and top first-year transfer. The 6-foot-3, 250-pound Bailey has also forced two fumbles. He had 14 1/2 sacks in three seasons at Stanford.

Bear Bachmeier, the first true freshman QB to start an opener for BYU, has thrown for 1,220 yards with eight TDs, and run for 295 yards and seven scores. Baylor's Robert Griffin in 2008, three years before his Heisman Trophy, had been the last Big 12 player with at least five passing and five rushing TDs in his first five career games.

BYU junior LJ Martin is the Big 12's leading rusher at 108.7 yards per game. The junior has run for 652 yards, only 66 shy of his 2024 season total. He had career highs of 25 carries and 162 yards in a double-overtime win at Arizona, his fourth 100-yard game this season.

Kansas State goes into this week's open date after a home win over TCU, but the Wildcats have already matched their loss total from each of the past three seasons, a span that began with a 10-4 record and Big 12 championship game win in 2022. Coach Chris Klieman's seventh season began with a 24-21 loss to Iowa State in Ireland, part of a 1-3 start with the only win being 38-35 over FCS team North Dakota. Three of the next four games are on the road, with the one at home against Texas Tech.

The hottest seat in the Big 12 was vacated when Mike Gundy got fired Sept. 23, three games into his 21st season as head coach at Oklahoma State. The Cowboys are 0-3 in Big 12 play under interim coach Doug Meacham, extending their conference losing streak to 12 games.

The seats of Klieman and Arizona's Brent Brennan could warm up the second half of the season. While Brennan's Wildcats have already have as many wins as they did in his debut last season, they just blew a 10-point fourth-quarter lead at home to BYU.

Iowa State lost standout defensive backs Jeremiah Cooper and Jontez Williams to knee injuries before October. Cooper tore his ACL in practice the week before a win over Arizona on Sept. 28, the game in which Williams was hurt. The Cyclones have lost both games since, allowing 62 points and 869 total yards. In a 5-0 start before that, the Cyclones gave up only 14.2 points and 309.6 yards a game.

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