Weekend Warzone: Big 12 Roundup week 11

Another week is in the books, and the whole thing got turned upside down. West Virginia is seven points better than Baylor in Morgantown, Kansas State is 41 points better than West Virginia in Morgantown, Baylor is 28 points better than Kansas State in Waco. Ponder that for a while.

Texas Tech 21, @ Oklahoma State 59

With the backup to the backup in the game at quarterback, Oklahoma State was sure to be at a quarterbacking disadvantage in this one right? Not even a little bit. Clint Chelf didn't have a highly accurate day, completing barely over half of his passes, but he did have a highly effective day all the same, averaging over 10 yards per attempt and 3 TDs to no interceptions. Tech's senior QB Seth Doege? Higher completion percentage, lower yards per attempt, 1 TD and 2 INTs. The Red Raider second half slide is in full effect as the Raiders have not been a good team since beating the Frogs in OT, and this one was as comprehensive a beating as you could wish for, with the Raiders only matching the Cowboys point total in one quarter, the fourth. The Raiders got shredded through the air and on the ground and ended up trailing by 45 before their backup QB led the raiders to a garbage time touchdown with three minutes left. Best Staff Pick: Me! I had the Cowboys by 22, 52-30. Next week- Oklahoma State: @ Oklahoma. Bedlam time and Oklahoma State looks nasty. Given OU's issues in Morgantown, I'm thinking the Cowboys will be in control of this one as well. Texas Tech: @ Baylor. Tech goes into Waco right after their biggest win in their programs history. Bad luck, Raiders. Tech is the last hope for those TCU fans who hope that Baylor will miss a bowl, so go Raiders!

Oklahoma 50, @ West Virginia 49

Geno Smith found his mojo after it had taken an extended leave of absence, but in the end the Sooners had too much. OU got absolutely nothing done on the ground all game, so they turned to the steady but unspectacular Landry Jones to win the game for them, and win it he did. 554 yards passing, almost 75% completion rating and 6 TDs to one INT, the West Virginia secondary is smoking more than any Morgantown couch this past year. Tavon Austin bid farewell to the home crowd by dropping 344 yards on the Sooners on the ground, to compliment 82 in the air and two TDs, leaving the rest of the Big 12 to wonder just what the West Virginia offense is going to be when he graduates this year (my guess is bad). West Virginia almost pulled off the comeback, pulling ahead of the Sooners time and time again in the fourth quarter, but in the end the secondary just couldn't stop Landry Jones, especially when it counted. Best Staff Pick: Do you favor the correct team winning, or closest to the actual margin? Trey had OU by 20, while I had West Virginia by 1. I'm inclined to give it to myself, but... I would be. Next week- Oklahoma: Oklahoma State. Right after a heart stopping win in Morgantown the Sooners will be dealing with a fired up and red hot Oklahoma State cowboy team. The Sooners are going to be absolutely worn out when they hit Fort Worth on December 1st. West Virginia: @ Iowa State. The Mountaineers need one more win to lock up a bowl bid, otherwise Dana Holgorsen is going to have a lot of questions to answer from the Mountaineer faithful. They get their second to last shot against Iowa State on Friday, so a short week to get their heads up after their loss. Expect a tight game.

Iowa State 51, @ Kansas 23

It looked like it would be a dogfight, as the cyclones and jayhawks traded the lead early. Then, out of nowhere, Iowa State's quarterback issues were solved. The answer to the Jantz/Barnett question that has plagued the team for two years now seems to be "none of the above" as true freshman Sam Richardson took the helm after a Jantz fumble and absolutely carve up the hawks. After Kansas scored to take the lead at 14-10 at the beginning of the second quarter, Richardson comes into the game. Before Kansas kicks a field goal at the end of the second quarter the score is 38-14 thanks to four touchdnowns by Richardson. After that, a previously salty KU crowd started to leave and the rout was on for the clones. Richardson may be special, or Jantz and Barnett may be that bad, but either way it's a great win for the Cyclones and a great sign for the future. Best staff pick: Purple Wimple had Iowa State by 4, 21-17. Not that close, but good enough to win this week! Next week- Iowa State: West Virginia. The Cyclones would like to get out of the Pinstripe bowl slot, and a win over West Virginia would help. Also helping the Cyclones: they're suddenly able to throw the ball. Kansas: Bye. The Jayhawks take the week off before also facing West Virginia in the finale. Weis is going to have to cook up something, as West Virginia has been solid against the run of late, but that's all Kansas can really do at this point.

Kansas State 24, Baylor 52

This is why we can't have nice things. TCU decimates the Kansas State defense, taking out their MVP safety among others, and Baylor capitalizes for their biggest win ever. The Cats never had a shot in this as Baylor jumped on them early and the Wildcats decided to try and keep pace with the bears by taking to the air themselves. Huge mistake. The bears brought pressure and got to Klein, forcing him to make bad throws much as TCU did, which was made much easier by the fact that the Wildcats utterly and inexplicably abandoned the run. Nothing makes a defense back up and stop blitzing than a quick dive up the middle for eight. Klein is not an air raid quarterback, and asking him to throw it 50 times a game is asking for disaster- and that's just what the wildcats got. On the Baylor side, their defense had their best game of the season (admittedly not a lot of great games to choose from) while the offense seems to have hit a rhythm with Lache Seastrunk in at running back. Once again, no national title appearance for the Big 12, and even worse, if Notre Dame loses we're probably looking at an all SEC title game again. Screw Baylor, seriously. Best staff pick: ahahahahahahaha. Nobody. Next week- Kansas State: Bye. The Wildcats get a fortunate week to regroup after this baffling loss, still hoping to clinch their second ever Big 12 title with a win over the Horns on December 1st. It'll be a hard slog to pull the wildcats heads up after this one, but Snyder can do it if anyone can. Baylor: Texas Tech. Baylor needs one more win to go bowling for the third year in a row, a sickening thought for Frog fans. Standing in their way? A Texas Tech team in its second half spiral. D'oh.