Around the Big 12, Week Nine: Fire and Blood

Let me pull back the curtain a bit. In addition to recapping games from around the conference, I normally use this space to poke fun at other Big 12 teams for poor performances over the weekend. So I’ll trawl through stats and pick out bad plays and funny mistakes and all that, and highlight them for the thousands dozens of people that read this each week.

Yeah, well — TCU lost to Kansas in football on Saturday, which gives me very little leeway to make fun of any team.

So here’s what we’re going to do. For each losing Big 12 team this weekend, we’re going to find something nice to say about their efforts. Ready? Let’s go!

West Virginia (6-1, 4-1 Big 12) 58, Baylor (4-4, 2-3 Big 12) 14: Ah, gee, this is going to be tougher than I thought.

West Virginia put up 41 points in the first half, and I thought for a minute that Dana Holgorsen would try to hit 100 in the game. Will Grier averaged over 20 yards a completion, while Baylor quarterback Charlie Brewer went 1-8 for 22 yards and three interceptions before being pulled for Jalen McClendon in the second quarter.

Baylor: You scored 14 points in the third quarter! That’s a great set of halftime adjustments by Matt Rhule. What a fantastic in-game coach he is. Good job!

Oklahoma (6-1, 4-1 Big 12) 51, Kansas State (3-5, 1-4 Big 12) 14: It’s a true travesty that Tua Tagovailoa (alliteration unintentional) exists, because otherwise, Oklahoma could have back-to-back Heisman Trophy winners. Kyler Murray is a revelation. He threw for 352 yards and three scores on 19-24 passing and helped the Sooners cruise to a 34-7 halftime lead.

Kansas State: You gave up fewer points than Baylor did! And Oklahoma has a slightly better offense than West Virginia, too, so that’s an even more impressive accomplishment. Good job!

Iowa State (4-3, 3-2 Big 12) 40, Texas Tech (5-3, 3-2 Big 12) 31: This one was a back-and-forth affair, with a late Texas Tech safety giving the Cyclones a two-point lead and the ball late in the game. Both of these teams are very solidly middle of the pack, and could beat or lose to any team in the Big 12 at any given time. Case in point: Texas Tech beat TCU, while Iowa State did not.

Texas Tech: Y’all looked like your old selves again! You threw 57 times and lost in embarrassing fashion, and your defense gave up 40 points to a subpar offense. But we love this version of Texas Tech! Good job!

Oklahoma State (5-3, 2-3 Big 12) 38, Texas (6-2, 4-1 Big 12) 35: This one got testy at the end, as Mike Gundy and Tom Herman both ran out on to the field to yell at their players, each other, the referees and God knows who else.

Why did this happen? Because Texas linebacker and noted Long-Hair-Having-Guy Breckyn Hager got too chesty on an Oklahoma State kneeldown and tried to run over an opposing player, which you can see at the beginning of this clip:

Texas: Sure, you torpedoed your College Football Playoff hopes, but at least you did so with dignity fought hard until the end of the game! And hey, you still haven’t lost to Kansas yet this season. Good job!