Around the Big 12: Week Four

Saturday was the busiest week in the Big 12 so far this season, with four all-Big 12 games dominating the action.

You know the result of one of those games. That’s not why we’re here. Let’s talk about the non-TCU games! (Please. I beg of you.)

Also, a note — the “Good, Bad and Ugly” divisions normally featured in this weekly recap are no more, as we’d have too many repeats of games. Pour one out, if you want.

Oklahoma 28, Army 21 (OT): Well, well, well, what on earth happened here? (No, seriously — what happened? I turned the TV off after TCU-Texas.)

Army ran 83 plays to Oklahoma’s 38 in regulation. The Black Knights threw only nine passes and ran the ball 74 times, racking up 339 yards on the ground. When Oklahoma had the ball, the Sooners were efficient and balanced on offense, posting 165 passing yards and 190 rushing yards. The problem is that they rarely had the ball, because Army’s time of possession was nearly 45 minutes.

Oklahoma eventually pulled this one out in overtime, but the Sooners nearly had one of the most inexplicable losses since, uh...last year, when they lost to Iowa State.

West Virginia 35, Kansas State 6: Let’s play the hits: West Virginia is good, Kansas State is not, and Will Grier is very good. Grier did throw two uncharacteristic interceptions, but he also went 25-35 for 356 yards and five touchdowns, so it’s hard to complain.

Kansas State actually made some strides in the passing game, which was unexpected. The Wildcats had 227 yards through the air and 91 yards rushing. But they never scored a touchdown, relying instead on two field goals.

Texas Tech 41, Oklahoma State 17: This makes absolutely no sense. The Red Raiders’ defense had been shaky at best and downright bad at worst — and then they went and held a high-powered Oklahoma State offense to 17 points and 386 yards.

Texas Tech had 621 total yards in this game! And 224 of them were rushing yards! Nothing about this game was supposed to happen, and yet the Cowboys are now 0-1 in the Big 12 and Kliff Kingsbury is inching his way further and further off that hot seat.

I don’t know what to tell you, honestly.

Iowa State 26, Akron 13: Sure, fine, whatever, I didn’t watch this game and neither did you. Akron was coming off a win against Northwestern, however, so Iowa State did the right thing, took the Zips seriously and won. The Cyclone were only up 17-13 at the start of the fourth quarter but closed out the game with nine straight points.

Baylor 26, Kansas 7: Charlie Brewer took his turn in the Baylor Wheel of Quarterbacks and went 19-27 for 221 yards and three touchdowns. Kansas showed precisely zero of the promise that it had shown in the past two weeks, as the Jayhawks were shut out in the first half.