Kansas visits ASU for a 5 p.m. MST kickoff on Saturday, Oct. 5, on ESPN2.

The Wildcats welcome the Red Raiders for an 8 p.m. MST start in Tucson. UA-Texas Tech will air on FOX.

The Sun Devils fell to 3-1 on Saturday with a loss to the Red Raiders and head into a bye week before the Jayhawks (1-3) visit. Kansas entered the season ranked No. 22 but has suffered losses to Illinois, UNLV and West Virginia since a season-opening win over Lindenwood.

The Jayhawks visit Tempe coming off a home game against TCU this coming weekend.

Arizona (2-1) is coming off a bye this week and on Saturday faces No. 10 Utah at 7:15 p.m. on ESPN.

Texas Tech hosts Cincinnati this week before a trip to Tucson for the late kickoff.

Big 12 college football schedule for Oct. 4/5 — Kansas at ASU, Texas Tech at Arizona

Friday, Oct. 4

Houston at TCU, 4:30 p.m. MST on ESPN

Saturday, Oct. 5

West Virginia at Oklahoma State, 1 p.m. MST on ESPN 2

Baylor at Iowa State, 4:30 p.m. MST on FOX

UCF at Florida, 4:45 p.m. MST on SEC Network

Kansas at Arizona State, 5 p.m. MST on ESPN 2

Texas Tech at Arizona, 8 p.m. MST on FOX

Follow @AZSports

As Week 4 approaches in the 2024 college football season, the Arizona State Sun Devils’ 3-0 start to the season puts them in a good position to be a part of bowl season for the first time since 2021.

ASU still has a ways to go to reach the six wins required for bowl game eligibility, as it still has matchups against Oklahoma State, Kansas, Utah and Kansas State remaining on its schedule.

Meanwhile, the Arizona Wildcats are off to a 2-1 start, but their college football playoff hopes hit a bump in the road after a loss to Kansas State in Week 3, which knocked them out of the top 25 AP college football rankings after previously being ranked No. 20.

With the College Football Playoff expanding to 12 teams in 2024, one loss still gives Arizona a shot at making the playoffs. With the new 12-team field being composed of the five highest-ranked conference champions as well as the next seven highest-ranked schools, Arizona will likely now have to win the Big 12 in order to get in.

Arizona will face a tough matchup after its bye week against the Utah Utes on Sept. 28.

Which bowl games are ASU projected to play in?

ESPN: Independence Bowl vs. Indiana (Dec. 28), Sun Bowl vs. SMU (Dec. 31)

Action Network: Independence Bowl vs. TCU

CBS Sports: Sun Bowl vs. Louisville

Athlon Sports: Sun Bowl vs. North Carolina

Which bowls games are Arizona projected to play in?

ESPN: Las Vegas Bowl vs. South Carolina (Dec. 27), Holiday Bowl vs. Notre Dame (Dec. 27)

CBS Sports: Las Vegas Bowl vs. Tennessee

247 Sports: Las Vegas Bowl vs. Kentucky

Athlon Sports: Las Vegas Bowl vs. Auburn

Action Network: Sun Bowl vs. UNC

The Arizona Wildcats fell out of The Associated Press Top 25 college football rankings for the first time this season after a loss to then-No. 14 Kansas State.

Meanwhile, rival ASU received three votes for consideration, still fewer than Arizona’s 15 but a sign the national view of the Sun Devils is turning after a 3-0 start thanks to a Thursday victory against Texas State. It’s the first time ASU has received votes in the AP poll since head coach Kenny Dillingham took over at the start of the 2023 season.

Arizona was ranked No. 20 the past two weeks.

Texas is No. 1 in the AP college football rankings for the first time in 16 years, replacing Georgia on Sunday after the Bulldogs struggled to remain unbeaten.

The Longhorns moved up a spot from No. 2 and received 35 first-place votes and 1,540 points. The Bulldogs, who have been No. 1 since the preseason poll, received 23 first-place votes and 1,518 points.

Ohio State received five first-place votes and stayed at No. 3 during an off week. No. 4 Alabama and No. 5 Mississippi held their places and Tennessee moved up a spot to No. 6, flip-flopping with Southeastern Conference rival Missouri.

The last time the Longhorns were No. 1 was the middle of the 2008 season, when they spent three weeks at the top of the polls before losing a memorable game at Texas Tech in early November. The Longhorns are likely to settle into the top spot for at least another week with a home game against Louisiana-Monroe up next, possibly with Arch Manning as the starting quarterback.

Manning, the nephew of Peyton and Eli Manning, stepped in Saturday night against UTSA when Quinn Ewers went out with an abdomen injury that coach Steve Sarkisian said was not serious.

“There’s nothing like being in the game. Playing in front of 105,000 people is not the easiest thing to do. I’m really proud of Arch,” Sarkisian said.

A week after the SEC became the first conference to hold six of the first seven spots, the league repeated the feat.

There was some shuffling at the back of the top 10, with No. 8 Oregon and No. 9 Miami each moving up a spot and Penn State slipping back to No. 10.

In and out

Boston College joined fellow Atlantic Coast Conference member Georgia Tech in the brief-stay-after-a-long-drought club. The Eagles lost at Missouri and fell out of the rankings after moving in last week for the first time since 2018.

Arizona is also out for the first time this season after getting thumped by Kansas State.

Moving in for the first time this season was Illinois at No. 24. Texas A&M jumped back into the rankings at No. 25.

Conference call

The 18-team Big Ten matched a conference record (reached 11 times previously) with seven ranked teams.

SEC — 9 (Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 15, 16, 25).

Big Ten — 7 (Nos. 3, 9, 10, 11, 18, 22, 24).

Big 12 — 4 (Nos. 12, 13, 14, 20).

ACC — 3 (Nos. 8, 19, 21).

MAC — 1 (No. 23).

Independent — 1 (No. 17).

AP college football rankings top 25 – Sept. 15

Others receiving votes: Memphis 77, Boise St. 62, Syracuse 62, UNLV 54, Boston College 47, Washington St. 30, Arizona 15, Iowa 15, Indiana 13, California 11, Liberty 10, Toledo 9, UCF 6, South Carolina 3, North Carolina 3, Arizona St. 3, BYU 2, Pittsburgh 1.

Follow @AZSports

The Cougars defeated Jedd Fisch’s Washington Huskies, 24-19 in the Apple Cup after the Cougars got a defensive stop on fourth down near the goal line.

WASHINGTON STATE GETS THE STOP ON 4TH DOWN!!! 🤩 @WSUCougarFB pic.twitter.com/u9X0TMsaKR

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 14, 2024

The Pac-12 Conference X page celebrated the win over the former Pac-12 team.

😤😤😤 pic.twitter.com/1WpvrTn4XW

— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) September 14, 2024

Seattle Forecast: CRIMSON REIGN #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/Y5uz3KnQyt

— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) September 14, 2024

Arizona Fans on X did not hold back on Fisch, who left Arizona this offseason for the Huskies after leading the Wildcats to a 10-3 season, including a win in the Alamo Bowl in 2023.

as an Arizona fan who watched us get mashed by K-State last night, this was exactly the hangover cure I needed

— dylan (@alltimeworst) September 14, 2024

Arizona fans watching Jedd Fisch and Washington lose after getting blown out by Kansas State. pic.twitter.com/vL7zDBMiGd

— ESPN Tucson (@ESPNTucson) September 14, 2024

Arizona may have been blown out yesterday but seeing Jedd Fisch lose to a zombie Pac-12 team sparks immense joy

— Mikal Bridges Fan (@MikaIBridges25) September 14, 2024

Jedd Fisch shouldn’t have left Arizona

— Drew Nixon (@drewbnix) September 14, 2024

Jedd Fisch looks the most like Brad Garrett when he’s upset after a loss.

— Aaron Levine (@AaronLevine_) September 14, 2024

The play call on fourth seemed similar to a call Fisch made with Arizona in a 43-41 loss to USC last season. Fisch wasn’t exactly applauded for repeating history on Saturday.

Jedd Fisch loves running sideways when you absolutely have to have a TD with the game on the line pic.twitter.com/PZEBbEIH0Q

— Curtis Rogers (@AKidFromKent) September 14, 2024

Jedd Fisch losing on the 1 with a HB pitch is poetry. History repeats itself… pic.twitter.com/0HruufJbet

— heemathor (@heemathor) September 14, 2024

4th & Goal on the 1 down 5 in a rivalry game…

Jedd Fisch: “let’s run a speed option to the short side of the field”

BRUH😂😭 https://t.co/7sOQ6MqOAx

— Jackson Groff (@JacksonGroff) September 14, 2024

Fisch discussed the play call after the game and took the blame for it.

Jedd Fisch on 4th-and-1 call: “That’s on me” pic.twitter.com/KFn32FiuGa

— Ty Gilstrap (@ty_gilstrap) September 14, 2024

Follow @AZSports

While Arizona was an underdog by a touchdown, it was expected to compete at the top of the Big 12 alongside its opponent, as well as other teams like No. 13 Oklahoma State and No. 12 Utah. This game did not provide much confidence that first-year head coach Brent Brennan has his Wildcats ready to do that.

Arizona’s lack of discipline was a huge problem, committing nine penalties for 74 yards. A 14-7 halftime deficit felt like it could have been a lot worse, and that seven-point advantage getting tripled by Kansas State to 28-7 through three quarters pretty much cemented the game’s fate.

Missed opportunities in the first half defined the offense’s day. Quarterback Noah Fifita on a third down in the early second quarter had star wideout Tetairoa McMillan in the slot running a route with multiple options. But an unexpected misunderstanding for the duo praised for its chemistry led to an incompletion instead of what could have been a long gain McMillan could have turned into a touchdown.

On the next play, a poor punt by filling-in kicker Tyler Loop aided Kansas State’s Dylan Edwards, who ran it back 71 yards for a touchdown. It was very well a two-touchdown swing in just two plays.

The next drive saw Fifita have an open receiver in the slot breaking for the endzone but his slightly late read plus the ball sailing a bit gave Kansas State defensive back Keenan Garber enough time to break on it for an interception.

Stylistically, the matchup was an Arizona squad going primarily through the air against a fearsome Kansas State rushing attack, and it wasn’t close which strength was, erm, stronger. Kansas State was +179 in rushing yards while Arizona was +112 in passing yards, thanks largely to the fourth quarter. Kansas State averaged 5.7 yards per carry.

McMillan was back to being a large factor in the game after a perplexing two-catch outing the previous week. He grabbed 11 passes for 138 yards, the only successful element of Arizona’s offense.

Arizona will take a week off before playing again on the road, this time against the Utah Utes on Sept. 28.

Follow @KellanOlson

But there is only one team of ‘Cats between No. 20 Arizona and No. 14 Kansas State if we’re going by the letters that appear on the two feline-oriented teams’ helmets.

Arizona will debut its “Cats” helmets on Friday in Manhattan, Kansas.

New combo unlocked 🔓

Tucson Threads vs Kansas State pic.twitter.com/lVUeB6AQMg

— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) September 9, 2024

OOTD goes crazy 🥵 pic.twitter.com/TrWvQZb1NV

— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) September 13, 2024

Tucson’s Wildcats are donning the candy paint red tops with a white cursive mascot script on each side. There are blue outlines to the white letters, while white facemasks complement the helmets.

It’s the first red helmet worn by the school’s football team since a game against UCLA in the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign.

It’s also the first game without any representation of the university’s staple “Block A” since the mid-1970s, according to the Arizona Daily Star.

On Friday, Arizona will match the helmets with a white jersey and red pants for the road test against a fellow Big 12 squad. The game won’t count as a conference matchup in the record books because it was previously scheduled before UA’s move to the Big 12.

Arizona revealed the plans for a new helmet design with the shortened nickname this summer, initially teasing a white helmet complete with red script. There was red, white and blue striping down the middle of those helmets and red facemasks.

The red and white are inverted for the Friday matchup, and there is no striping down the middle.

CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz reports Croskey-Merritt is facing eligibility issues that date back to a redshirt season in 2019 that is now in question.

It’s his sixth season in college, though he would be eligible for a fifth year because of the COVID-19 eligibility extension and a sixth via a traditional redshirt.

Croskey-Merritt played in eight games for Alabama State in 2019, according to statistics showing on ESPN. But Zenitz reports that Alabama State claims he played in only four “then switched numbers with another running back and that it was that other running back playing in Croskey-Merritt’s number in those other four games.”

Zenitz reports new information came about after Croskey-Merritt rushed for 106 yards in the season-opener against New Mexico, leading the NCAA to investigate further.

The running back didn’t appear against Northern Arizona last Saturday.

Quali Conley, a San Jose State transfer, rushed for 17 carries and 112 yards as the No. 1 back against NAU and sits at 202 yards on 27 carries (7.5 yards per carry) through two games.

Freshman Kedrick Reescano had six carries for 71 yards (11.8 yards per carry) as the backup against the Lumberjacks. He accounted for most of that with a 56-yard touchdown run.

Jacory Croskey-Merritt’s Alabama State stats are different each place you look

There are more statistical inconsistencies spanning Croskey-Merritt’s time at Alabama State that show up between ESPN’s statistics and Croskey-Merritt’s player biography pages for New Mexico’s and Arizona’s official websites.

While all three say he rushed for 1,190 yards at New Mexico, they each have different figures for how many rushing yards Croskey-Merritt produced at Alabama State in total.

ESPN’s stats say he rushed for 2,443 yards before playing for the Wildcats, 1,253 of which were at Alabama State.

Only 186 yards were accounted for in the 2019 season in question. That adds up in the game log section of eight games played.

New Mexico’s official roster biography page says he rushed for 1,164 yards at Alabama State, making his total before playing for Arizona 2,354.

And Arizona’s official website says he rushed for 2,609 yards between NMU and Alabama State, making the latter portion 1,445.

The discrepancies make sense if Alabama State’s practices of recording statistics were inaccurate beyond the small sample size of the 2019 season.

If the record-keeping presented that murky picture, the NCAA is likely trying to piece together game film or finding other evidence of how much Croskey-Merritt played to reach a verdict.

Might be out there already. Down the Jacory Croskey-Merritt rabbit hole: Bad/different info from Alabama State probably the cause:

Arizona player bio math = 1,445 total rush yards at Alabama State

NMU's bio page says 1,253 rush yards

ESPN's stats has 1,164 yards (8 games tho) pic.twitter.com/OgYArkJFQV

— Kevin Zimmerman (@KZimmermanAZ) September 13, 2024

Follow @kzimmermanaz

They are now out of time, traveling to face No. 14 Kansas State on Friday in a ranked matchup for No. 20 Arizona in the start of a two-game slate that will determine how the Wildcats’ season goes.

The Tucson squad will have a week off after the trip before challenging No. 12 Utah in Salt Lake City. If Arizona loses both games, the trendy College Football Playoff pick almost certainly is out of it already.

Split ’em and it’s still a possibility. Win ’em and it has defeated its two toughest on-paper conference foes this season with a clear path toward winning the Big 12.

It’s all on the line for Arizona vs. Kansas State

It is a strange coincidence of a meeting, as this was a nonconference series scheduled before Arizona’s move to the Big 12 and both schools had to settle on keeping the matchup after being unable to find suitable replacement games.

Arizona was favored by five touchdowns against both New Mexico and Northern Arizona before sleepwalking through both affairs. New Mexico was within three points at halftime before things got out of hand to a 61-39 final score. NAU actually led 10-6 at halftime in a 22-10 Arizona win it has its defense to thank for.

Outside of the generally sluggish execution, the biggest concern heading into facing Kansas State was receiver Tetairoa McMillan following up 10 catches for 304 yards and four touchdowns in the opener with two catches for 15 yards.

McMillan is the best wideout in the country and could very well go as far as proving himself as the best offensive player too, so any single-game performance like that is perplexing already — let alone after what he did to begin the year.

This would make sense if McMillan was new to the team or Arizona had a new quarterback. But as Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman put it, McMillan’s chemistry with Noah Fifita is as good as any QB-WR combination he’s ever seen.

Kansas State hasn’t been on point, either

Klieman’s team also had recent issues defending the pass, making this even more of an ultimate get-right game for McMillan.

Tulane mustered 342 yards through the air on just 19 completions against Kansas State in a game that went down to the wire last week. Kansas State outscored Tulane 24-7 in the second half to pull off a 34-27 victory.

The positive for Arizona’s offense last week was running back Quali Conley, who rushed for 17 carries and 112 yards versus NAU. The San Jose State transfer has been in a bit of a position battle with Jacory Croskey-Merritt, and Croskey-Merritt after 13 carries for 106 yards against New Mexico didn’t play due to eligibility concerns, concerns that still have his status as an unknown heading into Friday.

That puts an emphasis on the ground game. On the other side of the football, that’s where it lies for Kansas State. Running back DJ Giddens has 32 carries for 238 yards in two games, a yards per carry average of 7.4. His backup, Dylan Edwards, is at 10.8 on his nine carries for 97 yards.

As a whole, Kansas State’s 498 rushing yards far surpass its 347 passing at this point in the season.

Arizona junior linebacker Jacob Manu will have to be a focal point. He racked up a career-high 14 tackles against the Lumberjacks and takes on a good amount of the responsibility in meeting that duo in the gaps on Friday.

On the other side of the ball, KSU allowed Tulane’s top back, Makhi Hughes, to rush 21 times for 128 yards and a score last week.

Follow @KellanOlson

Was it poor form for Deion Sanders to post pictures of himself on social media the next day?

And did “Coach Prime” really instruct the CU band to hold off playing the fight song after quarterback son Shedeur scores a touchdown so the song Shedeur recorded, “Perfect Timing,” can be played over the Folsom Field loudspeakers? The university issued a statement to say that wasn’t true; Sanders called the notion “idiotic.”

With the Buffs coming off their ninth loss in 11 games, and the Sanders brand the identity of the program, those were the subjects debated this week by their frustrated fans and the haters.

The bottom line is that CU (1-1) looks pretty much the same as last season’s four-win team and fans’ patience could be wearing thin. Now comes the Rocky Mountain Showdown against Colorado State (1-1), a rivalry game with a nasty history that will be played in Fort Collins on Saturday for the first time since 1996.

CSU led last year’s game in Boulder 28-17 with eight minutes left in regulation and ended up losing 43-35 in overtime. Things got ugly when Rams safety Henry Blackburn, who is still on the team, received death threats for a late hit that sent Travis Hunter to the hospital with a lacerated liver. Blackburn and Hunter went bowling together a couple weeks later to show there were no hard feelings.

Last week’s game at Nebraska was billed as a referendum on the jobs second-year coaches Deion Sanders and Matt Rhule are doing, and the way they are going about them. Advantage Rhule. The 28-10 loss raises the stakes for the Buffs’ short trip to Fort Collins. CU is a 7 1/2-point favorite, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.

There are three other important in-state rivalry games.

No. 9 Oregon (2-0) visits Oregon State (2-0) and Washington (2-0) visits Washington State (2-0) for their first meetings since the disintegration of the Pac-12. If it seems early for the Apple Cup and the formerly named Civil War, you’re right, and both Oregon State and Washington State would love nothing better than grabbing bragging rights this particular season.

The Ducks are coming off close calls against Idaho and Boise State and have lost the last two times they visited Corvallis. The Huskies have won their first two games under new coach Jedd Fisch, but the emergence of Cougars quarterback John Mateer makes the trip to Pullman tricky.

No. 12 Utah (2-0) has allowed a combined 12 points in two games heading into its game at Utah State (1-1), which lost 48-0 at No. 11 Southern California last week and will be playing back-to-back Top 25 opponents for the first time since 2013.

Best game in college football this week: No. 20 Arizona at No. 14 Kansas State

Friday, 8 p.m. ET (Fox)

Yes, Arizona is in the Big 12 now, but this meeting and next year’s in Tucson will be nonconference games. The home-and-home series was put on the schedule eight years ago, and neither school could find replacement nonconference games after Arizona was invited to join the Big 12 in August 2023.

This is the first big test for first-year Arizona coach Brent Brennan. QB Noah Fifita and star WR Tetairoa McMillan will be a handful for a K-State pass defense that allowed 342 yards against Tulane last week, but the duo was particularly off in a 22-10 win for Arizona against NAU.

Heisman watch

Alabama QB Jalen Milroe, who led his team to four straight fourth-quarter touchdowns to break open a close game with South Florida, can become a serious contender with a strong performance at Wisconsin.

Milroe, sixth in 2023 Heisman Trophy voting, has accounted for nine touchdowns for the fourth-ranked Crimson Tide. His four rushing TDs are most by any FBS quarterback, and his five through the air rank fourth.

Numbers to know

9 — Teams averaging at least 50 points per game through Week 2, including four from the SEC.

47 — Oklahoma’s consecutive wins against unranked nonconference opponents entering its home game against Tulane.

106 — Previous meetings between Pittsburgh and West Virginia, with the Panthers leading the Backyard Brawl rivalry 62-41-3.

1968 — The last time Indiana, which visits UCLA, played in the Rose Bowl stadium.

1992 — The last time Florida (1-1), which hosts Texas A&M, lost two of three games to open a season.

Under the radar

The fact Florida State coach Mike Norvell is facing Memphis, the school he left in 2020, makes for an interesting matchup. The fact the Seminoles are in desperate need of a win adds to the intrigue.

The Tigers head to FSU as 6 1/2-point underdogs and 2-2 in their last four games against power-conference opponents.

Memphis fourth-year starting quarterback Seth Henigan won’t be intimidated at Doak Walker Stadium. The question is whether FSU’s struggling DJ Uiagalelei will feel comfortable in front of the antsy home fans.

Hot seat

It was only three years ago Baylor won the Big 12 championship and was in the top 10 after going 12-2 under Dave Aranda. The next two years saw the Bears collapse the second half of the season, and they go into Saturday’s home game against Air Force with losses in 10 of their last 14 games.

Air Force traditionally causes problems because of its rarely seen triple-option offense. The good news for Aranda is that this does not appear to be a vintage Falcons ground game. Air Force had only two plays from scrimmage go for more than 8 yards in a loss to San Jose State.

Follow @AZSports

The additions rob the Mountain West of four of its more prominent schools and successful football programs, most notably Boise State, and still leave the Pac-12 two schools short of the eight it needs to have in place in two years to be recognized as a conference by NCAA rule.

The Pac-12 and the departing schools will likely be on the hook for about $110 million in exit fees and penalties to the Mountain West.

Still, it is a remarkable comeback for a conference left for dead a year ago when 10 members scattered to competitors across the country after it was unable to secure a media rights deal that schools believed would not keep them competitive with other leagues.

“For over a century, the Pac-12 Conference has been recognized as a leading brand in intercollegiate athletics,” Commissioner Teresa Gould stated. “We will continue to pursue bold cutting-edge opportunities for growth and progress, to best serve our member institutions and student-athletes.

“An exciting new era for the Pac-12 Conference begins today.”

The Pac-12 said it evaluated potential new members using five criteria: academics and athletics performance; media and brand evaluation; commitment to athletics success; geography and logistics; culture and student-athlete welfare.

Pac-12’s remaining Pac-2 welcome incoming members from Mountain West

Oregon State President Jayathi Murthy and Washington State President Kirk Schulz welcomed their new conference mates in a joint statement.

“We eagerly anticipate their uniquely insightful contributions during this transformative era for the conference and collegiate athletics,” they said.

The Pac-12 is currently operating as a two-school conference, with Oregon State and Washington State the only remaining members, taking advantage of NCAA rules that allow for a two-year grace period.

Oregon State and Washington State have a football scheduling agreement in place this season with the Mountain West, giving them six opponents from the league. The Sept. 1 first deadline for renewal of the agreement passed without a deal getting done.

Part of that deal included millions of dollars in additional fees for the Pac-12 if it poached Mountain West schools.

Oregon State and Washington State should be able to afford it. While the schools have publicly downplayed having a warchest of funds, they do have tens of millions of dollars at their disposal to work with from the two remaining years of the current College Football Playoff agreement and a contract with the Rose Bowl that will expire after the 2025 football season. Plus, they have revenue accrued by Pac-12 teams in recent years from NCAA men’s basketball tournament units and Pac-12 Network assets.

Oregon State and Washington State also have an affiliate membership in place for this school year and next with the West Coast Conference for men’s and women’s basketball and other Olympic sports.

Best of the rest

Leaders at Oregon State and Washington State have insisted since the Pac-12 collapsed that unless an invitation came from a power conference their priority was to rebuild and now that has begun.

Whether the Pac-12 will be considered a power conference again, on par with the Big Ten, Southeastern Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference and Big 12, seems unlikely, but the league is trying to position itself as the best of the rest — especially in football.

Boise State is the most notable addition as the strongest and most consistent football program outside of the power conferences for more than two decades. The Broncos have 16 double-digit victory seasons since 2002, when they were members of the Western Athletic Conference.

“What a great day to be a Bronco!” Boise State athletic director Jeramiah Dickey said.

Boise State is finally moving up, but the Pac-12 it enters hardly resembles the Conference of Champions it was for more than 100 years following the departures of 10 members last year — including Southern California, UCLA, Oregon and Washington to the Big Ten.

The collapse of the Pac-12 was the culmination of three tumultuous years of conference realignment in college sports, all of which went into affect this year and ushered in the superconference era.

The Big Ten now has 18 schools, spanning from coast-to-coast. The ACC has 17 football-playing members, including former Pac-12 schools Stanford and California. The SEC and Big 12 each have 16 schools.

The Pac-12 appears to be taking a different approach, trying to build a slimmed-down conference instead of just merging with the full, 12-member Mountain West.

Left behind
The Mountain West will be left with Air Force, UNLV, Nevada, Utah State, New Mexico, Wyoming, San Jose State and Hawaii and an uncertain future.

Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said in a statement late Wednesday night after the news of the Pac-12’s move leaked that the MW’s board of directors was meeting to discuss the next steps.

“All members will be held to conference bylaws and policies should they elect to depart,” she said. ”The requirements of the scheduling agreement will apply to the Pac-12 should they admit Mountain West members.”

Follow @AZSports

Arizona trailed at halftime, 10-6, before pulling away and holding the Lumberjacks scoreless in the second half of a 22-10 win on Saturday in Tucson.

The Wildcats (2-0), who won 61-39 over New Mexico in the season opener, were leapfrogged by the Louisville Cardinals, who have more decisive wins over Austin Peay (62-0) and Jacksonville State (49-14).

Next up for Arizona is a road matchup against the No. 14 Kansas State Wildcats, who themselves are coming off a close call. They pulled off a 34-27 win at Tulane that require a rally from a 20-10 halftime deficit.

The Wildcats-versus-Wildcats matchup will not count as a Big 12 game, as it was previously scheduled as part of a nonconference schedule when Arizona was in the Pac-12.

AP college football rankings: Top 25 poll for Sept. 9

Others receiving votes: Illinois 101, Boise St. 77, Texas A&M 68, Syracuse 63, Memphis 38, Washington 27, Iowa 24, Kansas 22, Vanderbilt 18, South Carolina 10, Liberty 9, Wisconsin 9, UNLV 7, North Carolina 7, California 3, BYU 2, UCF 1, TCU 1.

Follow @AZSports

The Wildcats (2-0) extended the longest active win streak in FBS by outscoring the Lumberjacks 16-0 in the second half after trailing 10-6 at the break. The nine straight wins matches the school record set in 1974-75 and matched in 1997-98.

Conley, a transfer from San Jose State, led the way as Arizona gained 188 yards on the ground. Receiver Tetairoa McMillan, who had a school-record 304 yards and four TDs in the 61-39 season-opening win over New Mexico, was limited to two catches for 11 yards.

Northern Arizona (1-1) finished with only 198 yards of total offense, 91 after halftime. Quarterback Ty Pennington threw for 84 yards on 14 of 24 passing and added 39 on the ground.

Arizona forced a turnover on downs in Northern Arizona territory to open the second half and converted that into points as Jeremiah Patterson scored on a 17-yard touchdown pass from Fifita for a 13-10 lead with 12:06 left in the third.

The Wildcats’ Chubba Ma’ae tackled running back Darvon Hubbard in the end zone for a safety with 11:33 left in the fourth, upping the lead to 15-10. And after getting the ball back, Arizona made it 22-10 on a 56-yard scoring run by Kedrick Reescano with 9:32 remaining.

Arizona only led 3-0 after the first quarter after settling for a red zone field goal on its first drive and punting the next two. Northern Arizona took a 7-3 lead with 10:24 left in the half on a trick play, with receiver Isaiah Eastman throwing a 25-yard TD pass to tight end Xander Werner.

A Fifita interception led to more points for the Lumberjacks, with Marcus Lye converting on a 38-yard field goal to make it 10-3 with 6:20 left in the first half.

The Wildcats cut Northern Arizona’s lead to 10-6 with 32 seconds left in the first half on a 48-yard field goal from Tyler Loop.

The takeaway

Northern Arizona: The Lumberjacks, who shocked Arizona in Tucson in 2021, dropped to 10-55 all-time against FBS schools. They have never beaten a ranked FBS opponent.

Arizona: A week after scoring on 10 drives and putting up the eighth-most yards in school history, the Wildcats had fewer yards in the first half (147) than on their first two drives in the Week 1 win over New Mexico.

Up next

Northern Arizona: The Lumberjacks continue a three-game road trip with a visit to Utah Tech on Saturday.

Arizona: The Wildcats hit the road for the first time, taking on Big 12 conference foe Kansas State on Friday in a nonconference game scheduled before they left the Pac-12.

Tiebreakers will come into effect to determine which teams reach the Big 12 Championship game if teams finish with the same conference record through nine games.

The league also reaffirmed that previously scheduled nonconference games between two Big 12 schools will not count toward the conference record. That means Utah and Baylor, who play Saturday, as well as next week’s Kansas State-Arizona matchups, will not impact the league standings.

Big 12 football tiebreakers

If two teams are tied by conference record, here is the order of operations to break ties in the conference’s football regular season.

A – The tied teams will be compared based on their head-to-head record during the season.

B – The tied teams will be compared based on win percentage against all common conference opponents.

C – The tied teams will be compared based on win percentage against the next highest-placed common opponent in the standings (based on the record in all games played within the Conference) proceeding through the standings.

D – The tied teams will be compared based on combined win percentage in conference games of conference opponents.

E – The tied teams will be compared based on total number of wins in a 12-game season.

F – The representative will be chosen based on highest ranking by SportSource Analytics (team rating score metric) following the last weekend of regular-season games.

G – The representative will be chosen by a coin toss.

For the Conference’s complete tiebreaker procedures, including a tie of three or more teams, please click here.

Here is the preseason media poll for the Big 12 football season.

Follow @AZSports

The Bucs signed Stille to their active roster, according to his agency, amid a run of injuries to the defensive line. Adding Stille to the active roster requires Tampa Bay to retain Stille for at least three weeks.

The 6-foot-5, 315-pound Manoa signed with the Minnesota Vikings after going undrafted out of Arizona this offseason.

Minnesota cut Manoa on Aug. 26.

He spent four years at UCLA before a 2023 campaign with the Wildcats, where he recorded 28 tackles to go with 1.5 tackles for loss, a sack and a fumble recovery.

Stille appeared in five games for the Cardinals in 2023, recording eight tackles and a sack.

Follow @AZSports

“As commissioner, it is my responsibility to explore a variety of value-creating opportunities on behalf of the Big 12,” he wrote. “Following detailed discussions with my conference colleague alongside UConn leadership, we have jointly decided to pause our conversations at this time. We will instead focus our attention and resources to ushering in this new era of college athletics.”

UConn, Big 12 were in talks of expansion

UConn athletic director David Benedict recently traveled to Dallas to pitch the Big East school to Big 12 administrators. Conference ADs and presidents heard from the league’s media consultants and discussed Yormark’s latest vision, according to The Associated Press.

The people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the conference and school were not making their discussions public.

UConn officials made an in-person pitch to the league that included a hefty investment in the Huskies’ struggling football program, two people familiar with the discussions told The Associated Press.

The people said a plan to add UConn, which has won the last two men’s college basketball national championships, would include the school’s football team staying independent before being added to the Big 12 in 2031 and not require current members to take a cut in their current expected conference revenue share.

To add a new member, 12 of the 16 Big 12 schools would need to be in favor of expansion.

According to several people familiar with the situation who spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the discussions are private, Yormark still had convincing to do among his members that adding UConn is a sound move and the Big 12 needed to act fast.

CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd polled eight Big 12 members — half of the 16-team league — and only six were in favor of adding the Huskies. A formal vote on such an addition is “not imminent,” Dodd reports.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Follow @AZSports

Florida State fell out of The AP top 25 poll released Tuesday after starting the season 0-2, becoming just the third team to go from preseason top-10 to unranked in the first regular-season poll since the rankings expanded to 25 in 1989.

Georgia remained No. 1, receiving 57 first-place votes after starting the season with a blowout of then-No. 14 Clemson. The Tigers hung on at No. 25.

Ohio State is No. 2 with five first-place votes. No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Alabama each moved up a spot, putting three Southeastern Conference teams in the top four along with Georgia.

No. 5 Notre Dame jumped two spots after opening the season with a victory at then-No. 20 Texas A&M, which fell out of the rankings.

Florida State has been the early season’s major disappointment. The defending Atlantic Coast Conference champion lost a Week 0 game in Dublin, Ireland, to ACC rival Georgia Tech and then dropped another league game Monday night at home to Boston College.

No other preseason Top 25 team this year lost to an unranked opponent to open the season. Florida State did it twice as a double-digit favorite.

The other preseason top-10 teams to fall all the way out of the Top 25 after Week 1 in the past 35 years were Michigan in 2007 after famously losing to Appalachian State as No. 5 and Clemson in 2008. The Tigers were No. 9 but opened with a blowout loss to Alabama and tumbled out of the rankings.

Mississippi remained at No. 6. Oregon slipped four spots to No. 7 after winning a close game with Idaho. Penn State stayed at No. 8. Missouri moved up two spots to No. 9 to give the SEC five teams in the top 10. Michigan dropped one spot to No. 10.

How many teams from each conference are in the college football top 25 rankings?

Despite Florida State and Clemson starting the season 0-3, the ACC has one more team in this week’s rankings than it did last time:

SEC — 8 (Nos. 1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 14, 16, 18).

Big Ten — 6 (Nos. 2, 7, 8, 10, 13, 21).

ACC — 5 (Nos. 12, 22, 23, 24, 25).

Big 12 — 5 (Nos. 11, 16, 17, 19, 20).

Independent — 1 (No. 5).

AP college football poll – Sept. 3

Others receiving votes: Texas A&M 97, Boston College 49, Boise St. 47, Iowa St. 32, Memphis 27, Nebraska 27, SMU 23, Washington 20, Liberty 12, Vanderbilt 8, Wisconsin 8, Auburn 8, Tulane 4, North Carolina 4, UTSA 3, Appalachian St. 3, Kentucky 2, West Virginia 2, Arkansas 2, UNLV 1, Colorado 1.

Follow @AZSports

McMillan, an AP first-team preseason All-American, set the school record with 304 yards receiving and tied another with four touchdown catches in the Wildcats’ 61-39 win over New Mexico.

It was the first 300-yard receiving game in the Bowl Subdivision since Ohio State’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba amassed 347 against Utah in the 2022 Rose Bowl.

The 6-foot-5, 212-pound third-year player from Waimanalo, Hawaii, averaged 30.4 yards on his 10 catches and in the third quarter surpassed the previous school record of 283 yards by Jeremy McDaniel in 1996. McMillan matched Jacob Cowing’s touchdown catches record set against Southern California last season.

It was McMillan’s fifth straight 100-yard receiving game and eighth of his career.

He had touchdown catches of 69, 17 and 78 yards in the first half and a 40-yarder early in the third quarter.

McMillan’s game is second in Big 12 history behind Baylor’s Terrance Williams’ 314-yard, single-game record (2012).

Arizona faces Northern Arizona in Week 1 with a 7 p.m. tipoff in Tucson.

AP college football player of the week runner-up – Week 1

Ashton Jeanty, Boise State

The third-year player from Jacksonville, Florida, set school records with 267 yards rushing and six touchdowns in the Broncos’ 56-45 win at Georgia Southern.

Jeanty shed two would-be tacklers on his way to a career-long 77-yard touchdown after the Broncos went three-and-out on their first possession. He also had TD runs of 26, 1, 5 and 1 yards before breaking a 75-yarder that gave the Broncos the lead for good early in the fourth quarter.

Jeanty’s six rushing touchdowns tied the Mountain West Conference record and were the most in the FBS since Pittsburgh’s Israel Abanikanda had six against Virginia Tech in 2022.

Honorable mention

Miami QB Cam Ward, who was 26 of 35 for 385 yards and three touchdowns in a 41-17 win at Florida; Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders, who passed for 445 yards and four TDs in a 31-26 win over North Dakota State; and Abilene Christian QB Maverick McIvor, who threw for 506 yards and three touchdowns in a 52-51 overtime loss at Texas Tech.

Six more stats

— North Dakota churned out 23 plays on a drive in a 21-3 loss at Iowa State, the most in an FBS game since at least 2014, according to SportRadar. The Fighting Hawks moved 88 yards in 12 minutes, 24 seconds — all for a 26-yard field goal.

— Purdue’s Hudson Card tied the FBS record for completion percentage (minimum 20 completions), completing 24 of 25 passes (96%) for 273 yards and four TDs in a 49-0 win over Indiana State.

— Mississippi’s 772 total yards in a 76-0 rout of FCS team Furman were the most in a Division I game since UCF piled up 798 against Memphis in 2020.

— There were two 100-yard interception returns in Week 1, matching last season’s total. The pick-6s were by Washington State’s Stephen Hall (vs. Portland State) and Tulane’s Rayshawn Pleasant (vs. Southeastern Louisiana).

— On his first play for Bowling Green, Tennessee Tech transfer Justin Pegues returned the opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown to start a 41-17 win over Fordham.

— Missouri was the only team to not allow a scrimmage play of 10 yards or longer, according to SportRadar. The Tigers limited Murray State to 85 yards in a 51-0 win and gave up one 9-yard pass and two 9-yard runs.

Follow @kzimmermanaz

ESPN’s Bill Connelly called the 48-7 win an impressive statement to begin head coach Kenny Dillingham’s second season leading ASU football.

Against a Wyoming team not built to play well from behind — read: they want to run the ball and play plodding, physical ball — ASU scored a pick-six 41 seconds into the game and kept pouring it on from there.

He also pointed out the massive disparity in total yardage between the Sun Devils (499) and Cowboys (118), who gained 50% of their yards on the final drive in garbage time.

The win helped Arizona State rise in ESPN’s power index 24 spots to No. 39, the biggest jump among Power 4 schools.

And it projects well in the Big 12 landscape. Remember, the Sun Devils were picked to finish last in the expanded 16-team conference.

That was behind ASU’s Week 4 opponent, Texas Tech, which was also among the biggest surprises for a different reason. The Red Raiders needed overtime to beat Abilene Christian, 52-51.

Arizona Wildcats’ fiery duo in Heisman conversation

Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan has already added Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week and Associated Press Player of the Week to his ever-growing list of accolades, and his Week 1 performance also landed him fourth in Connelly’s Heisman rankings.

McMillan sits behind Miami quarterback Cam Ward, USC quarterback Miller Moss and Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty.

“I almost gave the top four all a tie for first. They were difficult to choose among — Jeanty and McMillan both had basically perfect rushing and receiving lines, respectively — but when in doubt, go with the quarterback.”

Quarterback Noah Fifita was an honorable mention for the award’s way-too-early top 10.

Arizona stayed put at No. 24 in the power index with the 61-39 win over New Mexico.

Follow @AZSports

The 6-foot-5 junior standout lit up the Lobos defense for 304 yards and four touchdowns on just 10 receptions. His yardage feat in the Wildcats’ 61-39 victory resulted in a school single-game record. He broke Jeremy McDaniel’s 1996 mark of 283 receiving yards.

McMillan was only 10 yards short of matching a conference record in the program’s first game since leaving the Pac-12, as Baylor’s Terrance Williams (314 yards) retains that distinction set in 2012.

His four trips to the end zone also tied a single-game record set by Jacob Cowing (10 receptions, 88 yards) last season in a bonkers 43-41 triple overtime loss to now-Big Ten University of Southern California.

#Big12FB Offensive Player of the Week: Week 1⃣
Tetairoa McMillan | @ArizonaFBall pic.twitter.com/Xujq0bZH1d

— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) September 2, 2024

The projected 2025 NFL Draft first-rounder averaged 30.4 yards per catch, highlighted by three touchdown grabs of 40+ yards.

The product of Servite High School is now sixth in program ranks for most career receiving touchdowns (22).

In the ramp up to Week 1, McMillan was placed on the Associated Press preseason All-America First Team and seven other watch lists including for the Biletnikoff Award and Maxwell Award.

The two teammates combined for four touchdown passes in the Wildcats’ 61-39 win over the Lobos on McMillan’s record-setting day.

In Arizona’s first game in the Big 12, McMillan nearly set the conference’s single-game record for the most receiving yards, narrowly falling short of former Baylor receiver Terrance Williams’ 314 yards in 2012.

The junior wide receiver did set Arizona’s single game receiving record on Saturday with 304 yards. The previous record was set all the way back in 1996 when Jeremy McDaniel had 283 yards at California. McMillan also tied Jacob Cowing’s program record of four receiving touchdowns in a single game.

McMillan tallied 10 receptions for 304 yards, while Fifita finished 19-of-31 and threw for 422 passing yards.

On the game’s third play from scrimmage, Fifita found McMillan for a 69-yard touchdown pass to put the Wildcats up 7-0.

The Inevitable Connection™️

📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/nE9sHRb4yS

— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) September 1, 2024

On the next drive, the former Servite High School (Anaheim, California) teammates connected for another first-quarter touchdown, as McMillan made a difficult over-the-shoulder grab and then spun around for the 17-yard score to put Arizona ahead 14-7.

Try and stop these two 🫣

📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/ZU17nma0Pc

— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) September 1, 2024

In the second quarter, Fifita found McMillan for a third touchdown pass of the first half, this one a 78-yard score that tied the score at 24.

199 yards and 3 TD and we’re not even halfway done 😷

📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/ASmb3VanWz

— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) September 1, 2024

In the first half, Fifita went 12-of-21 and threw for 278 passing yards, and McMillan had six catches for 208 yards.

Arizona went ahead 27-24 at the half after kicker Tyler Loop connected on a 46-yard field goal. Loop finished the first half 5-for-5, including a career-long 54-yard field goal and converting all three extra points.

In the third quarter, Fifita and McMillan linked for their fourth touchdown of the game, a 40-yard pass from Fifita that McMillan took to the endzone.

T-M4C HOUSE CALL! FOURTH(!!!) OF THE NIGHT! 🥵

📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/rIASMHf70F

— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) September 1, 2024

How many touchdowns does Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan have?

The 6-foot-5 junior had four touchdowns for Arizona on Saturday after finding the end zone 10 times last year. He now has 22 career touchdown receptions. Juron Criner is the Arizona record holder with 32.

McMillan is projected to be a 2025 first-round pick in the NFL Draft after averaging 107.8 yards per game – fifth in the FBS – last season.

He was named to the Associated Press preseason All-America first team and was placed on the watch lists for the Biletnikoff and Maxwell awards.

Follow @AZSports