Welcome to the Frogs O' War Weekend Warzone- seven Big 12 teams in action this week as Oklahoma takes the week off to regroup, and the state of Kansas takes one of its football breaks before the Magnolia state showdown- it takes Kansas two weeks to really muster the energy needed to care about things that aren't a basketball game. All Big 12 members have played a conference game now, so we're starting to get an idea of how this season will play out.
Baylor 63, West Virginia 70- Four total punts, one total turnover and 1500 yards of offense. This is exactly the type of game that general college football fans think of when they think about the Big 12, and it would figure that our fellow Big 12 newcomer West Virginia would be involved in such a stereotypical game. However, though the offenses were suitably impressive, both defenses looked absolutely dreadful- Baylor's defense in particular consistently failed to get pressure on September Heisman frontrunner Geno Smith, and as a result he completed all but six of his fifty one passes, shredding the Baylor secondary repeatedly. That certainly has to have the awesome-in-dry-weather TCU receiving corps licking their chops for their venture to Waco, but West Virginia's secondary... wasn't much better. These are going to be interesting games, and they aren't games that TCU can win ugly. As it is, Baylor takes the loss compliments of an interception and not having Geno Smith, West Virginia continues their undefeated ways for another week at least. Best staff pick: HawkeyedFrog had the highest point total, but Trey had them the closest together, picking West Virginia to win 40 to 31. Next week: Baylor- Bye, West Virginia- @ Texas.
Texas Tech 24, Iowa State 13- Tech's defense just might be legit, as they held the formerly undefeated cyclones under 200 yards of total offense and collecting three picks from Iowa State's legendarily named quarterback Steele Jantz. Iowa State scored off a pick six while Teas Tech was heading into the end zone to open the scoring and grabbed their second lead in the middle of the third quarter, only to miss the extra point and see the air visibly go out from their bench. Tech took the lead on their next possession and Iowa State just couldn't get anything going the rest of the game, picking up a mere five first downs the remainder of the game and not getting past the Tech 42 yard line. Tech didn't have an efficient day either, with Seth Doege throwing two picks of his own, and averaging just 2.1 yards on the ground, but much like the TCU game it was enough to get the job done on the road, and you take what you can get on the road. Something to keep in mind for TCU's upcoming game with the cyclones is that Iowa State missed not only an extra point but a field goal as well, which can have a sizable effect on a kicker's mindset when he hits the road. If TCU can score on Iowa State there's a significant chance that Iowa State simply won't be able to keep up. Let's keep optimistic. Tech moves to 4-0 and a probably place in the blog poll, at least for one week. Best staff pick: Trey is on a roll, picking Tech to win 30-20. Next week: Texas Tech- Oklahoma, Iowa State- @ TCU.
Texas 41, Oklahoma State 36- First of all, I won't be moving Texas up in the blogpoll after this win, because if the game were called correctly they would have lost. Bergeron fumbled going into the end zone and did not score a touchdown, but it's one of those things that doesn't show up in the box score and will eventually be forgotten by all but Oklahoma State fans. Oklahoma State had more success moving the ball both through the air and on the ground, putting up over three yard advantages on rushes and pass plays. Texas' counterpoint was a more efficient passing attack, with Texas quarterback David Ash completing over 80% of his passes and getting a kickoff return touchdown by D.J. Monroe. The vaunted Texas defense is not living up to its hype so far, giving up almost 600 yards to Okie State who was piloted by their backup quarterback, but in the end managed to steal it away. Fortunately Texas won't have to worry about seeing a high powered offense for a while, right? Oh. West Virginia next week in a big early season clash. Right. Okie State gets some time off to regroup, which is probably for the best given the way they lost this game. Best staff pick: Trey goes three for three, picking Texas to win 28-27. Next week: Texas- West Virginia, Oklahoma State- Bye.
TCU 24, SMU 16- We covered the postgame analysis for this one elsewhere, but we'll make note of the predictions... mostly because I was the best. I won't cover what SMU does next as they're not a part of the Big 12, and never will be. Best staff pick: HawkeyedFrog (wooo!) picked TCU to win 30-24. Next week: TCU- Iowa State.