Around the Big 12, Week Three: The Jayhawk Cometh

No sense beating around the bush — let’s take a look at the action from around the Big 12 in Week Three.

The Good

Kansas (2-1) 55, Rutgers 14

The question must be asked: is Kansas - gulp - good?

No. But the Jayhawks are better than Rutgers. And in what I’m assured was the only Big 10-Big 12 matchup that everyone had their eye on Saturday, Kansas put up 544 yards of offense, 400 of which came on the ground. The last time the Jayhawks had scored 55 and gone over 500 yards of offense was against Rhode Island in 2016; before that, you’d have to go back to a 2007 game against Nebraska to find those numbers.

Good for Kansas. They play Baylor next week and could conceivably win three games in a season for the first time in David Beaty’s head coaching tenure.

No. 24 Oklahoma State (3-0) 44, No. 17 Boise State 21

Whoa! Oklahoma State put a whoopin’ on a Boise State team that was one of the hottest in the country. Taylor Cornelius did what he needed to do, throwing for 243 yards and a score, and the Cowboys racked up 176 yards on the ground against a very solid defense.

Oklahoma State is good, once again, and maybe it’s time we stop focusing on Mike Gundy’s mullet and start focusing on how he can continuously plug in quarterbacks and not lose a step on offense. Shoutout too to the Cowboys’ new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, who has really toughened up that side of the ball.

No. 5 Oklahoma (3-0, 1-0 Big 12) 37, Iowa State (0-2, 0-1 Big 12) 27

I filed this one under good, because I think before the season if you told both teams’ fans this game would in with a 37-27 Oklahoma win, the Sooners and Cyclones would probably both be pretty satisfied.

Iowa State struck fear in Oklahoma for the second straight year, but the Cyclones just don’t have enough offensive firepower. And Kyler Murray — my goodness. He’s showing why he didn’t lose a game while at Allen High School.

Texas (2-1) 37, No. 22 USC 14

USC did not deserve to be ranked No. 22 in the country heading into this game, but that doesn’t make what the Longhorns did any less impressive. Texas shut down the Trojans and allowed — hold on, that can’t be right, there must a typo in this box score. USC had -5 yards rushing? Negative five? They went backwards? Alrighty then, that is horrifying, and while it’s fun to laugh at Texas for losing to Maryland, we should also recognize that their defense is not something to mess around with.

Kansas State (2-1) 41, UTSA 17

I’m sure this was fine. I didn’t watch this game, and neither did you, don’t lie to yourself.

Texas Tech (2-1) 63, Houston 49

Hot damn, son! This game had more scoring than a Marvin Gaye concert in the 70s. Kliff Kingsbury has staved off the people clamoring for his firing for yet another week. Alan Bowman threw for 605 yards and six touchdowns for the Red Raiders. Alan Bowman sounds like the name of either an Australian Prime Minister from 1979-84 or an actor that played a Bond villain once.

Texas Tech is back, in its purest form: points, points, and more points, and let’s hope the defense doesn’t fall apart.

The Bad:

Duke 40, Baylor (2-1) 27

The only two Big 12 teams that lost their out-of-conference games this weekend were TCU and Baylor, and the scores were nearly identical. Conspiracy? Many people are saying it, and you’re hearing it more and more.

N/A:

West Virginia’s game against NC State was cancelled due to the effects of Hurricane Florence. Prayers up for the Carolinas, and donate if you can to Red Cross relief efforts.