In the preseason, the list of projected marquee matchups in the Big 12 Conference didn’t include Colorado vs. Cincinnati.

Quite a lot has changed since the preseason, however.

“The stakes just keep getting bigger,” Cincinnati head coach Scott Satterfield said this week. “We are going into game eight and playing a Colorado team that has the same record as us, and there is a lot riding on the line. We are both sitting right there at the top of the conference with a lot at stake.”

Few would have projected Saturday’s showdown at Folsom Field to carry so much weight for either team, or within the race for the Big 12 title.

CU came into the year projected by Big 12 media for an 11th-place finish in the conference, while Cincinnati came in projected 14th. Many prognosticators viewed both teams coming up short of bowl games.

In the topsy-turvy Big 12, however, the Buffs (5-2, 3-1 Big 12) and Bearcats (5-2, 3-1) are not only on the cusp of bowl eligibility but in the thick of the conference title race.

The winner of Saturday’s game will secure win No. 6 and coveted bowl eligibility. More importantly, the winner will go into November with a real shot to contend for a spot in the Big 12 title game. (BYU and Iowa State, both at 4-0, lead the Big 12).

“The ceiling for us is so high, which kind of makes it scary to how good we could be,” CU freshman tackle Jordan Seaton said. “But could and should don’t win.

“As we’re building and we’re coming together and finding those little pieces that make a team as good as they can be … every day in practice (we are) trying to get better and accomplish what we got to do.”

CU and Cincinnati are different in how they operate and how they look on game day, but there are a lot of similarities, too.

Both teams have seen dramatic improvement on defense this season. After allowing 30.0 points per game last year, Cincinnati is giving up 19.3 this year and has allowed more than 28 just once. CU gave up 34.8 per game last year but has dropped that to 21.9, while allowing more than 28 just twice.

CU has the much brighter star at quarterback in Shedeur Sanders, but both he and the Bearcats’ Brendan Sorsby have been efficient passers who avoid big mistakes. Sanders leads an offense that is scoring 31.0 points per game, while Sorsby’s offense is scoring 30.0 per game.

Both teams also overhauled their rosters. After going 4-8 last year, CU brought in 49 scholarship newcomers this year. Cincinnati went 3-9 last year and brought in 47 new scholarship players.

The main similarity, however, might be that neither team is surprised they are exceeding outside expectations, while gaining confidence along the way.

“We’ve earned where we are,” CU head coach Deion Sanders said. “We actually feel like we’re better than where we are, because we’re just starting to see the fruit of the work and the understanding of the expectation that we have for ourselves. Forget what others have of us, but what we have for ourselves.

“Dropping the last one at home (a 31-28 loss to Kansas State on Oct. 12) was tremendous. We could be in a much better place, but we control our own destiny, and we like that.”

Sorsby said the Bearcats are where they want to be, as well, but added, “A couple different plays here and there, and we could be undefeated. So, we just have to keep that same hunger and mentality throughout the rest of the year, knowing that if we win out, we control our own destiny.”

By the end of the game on Saturday, only one team will feel as good about its season. Coach Prime and the Buffs are determined to be that team.

“We’re going to apply pressure not only to our own team, not only to the coaches,” he said, “but we’re going to apply pressure to the opposing teams, because we want to win out, and we cannot do that without winning Saturday.”