Big 12 Week 11 Preview

By FieldinOfDreams@FieldinOfDreams Nov 10, 2017, 9:30am CST

#15 Oklahoma State @ #21 Iowa State

Saturday, November 11th 11:00 AM CT, ABC/ESPN2

NCAA Football: Iowa State at Oklahoma State

This game is very much an elimination game for both teams in their race to make it to the Big 12 Championship Game. Both teams suffered disappointing losses this past weekend. #21 Iowa State (6-3) lost in Morgantown, coming up 4 points short after shutting out the Mountaineers in the second half. #15 Oklahoma State (7-2) lost in a very different fashion at home to Oklahoma, in a 62-52 shootout. Iowa State needs to get its offense figured out and Oklahoma State needs to get its defense figured out. The question will be which one gets it figured out just enough to win on Saturday? I still like Iowa State this year and I think their defense will be better suited to stop Oklahoma State than it was to stop WVU. I expect a low scoring game with some Ames magic getting the Cyclones the win.

Baylor vs. Texas Tech

Saturday, November 11th 11:00 AM CT, FSN

IT’S BU-TT WEEK. Baylor (1-8) finally picked up their first win in Lawrence last weekend in blowout fashion, 38-9. Texas Tech (4-5), on the other hand, continued its four game losing streak with a 42-35 loss to Kansas State. These teams seem to be trending in different directions at this point. Texas Tech fans are, once again, very frustrated with Kliff Kingsbury. Baylor fans, while obviously not pleased, at least have something to hang their hats on for optimism. I think the Bears, led by Charlie Brewer and a functioning offense, could get this win. If they do, I think Kingsbury is out at Texas Tech. I’ll be bold and take the Bears to win a game where both teams score in the 30-40 range.

West Virginia @ Kansas State

Saturday, November 11th 2:30 PM CT, ESPN2

NCAA Football: Kansas State at West Virginia

Both of these teams are coming off of big wins this past weekend. Kansas State (5-4) got a critical win against Texas Tech to keep themselves above .500. West Virginia (6-3) got a win against a ranked Iowa State team to keep themselves in the race for the Big 12 Championship. Kansas State needs this win to become bowl eligible once again, West Virginia needs it to keep their hopes of reaching the conference championship game alive. I expect both teams to fight hard, but ultimately think Will Grier will make a play or two more than Kansas State can handle. I’ll take West Virginia in a close one.

Kansas @ Texas

Saturday, November 11th 5:00 PM CT, LHN

Don’t let the rest of this article distract you from the fact that Kansas beat Texas in football last year. Texas (4-5) has been struggling recently on offense. Their game against TCU last weekend was a disgusting punt fest. Kansas (1-8) missed probably its best opportunity to pick up a conference win in their loss to Baylor last weekend. Realistically, the Longhorns should blow through Kansas. The only hope Kansas has is if their defense shows up and some turnovers do something—anything—to get their offense moving. I’ll pick the Longhorns but could you imagine the memes if Texas loses to Kansas again?

#6 TCU @ #5 Oklahoma

Saturday, November 11th 7:00 PM CT, FOX

NCAA Football: Oklahoma at Texas Christian

This is, in a lot of ways, the other elimination game of the day. Not only in terms of the conference championship race, which has five teams with a legitimate shot, but also for the College Football Playoff. #6 TCU (8-1) is coming off of a dominate defensive performance against Texas. While their offense looked pretty bad at times, it was good enough to beat the Longhorns by a 24-7 margin. #5 Oklahoma (8-1), on the other hand, put up 62 on their instate rival, Oklahoma State. Much like the Oklahoma State-Iowa State game, this will be a game decided by if TCU can figure out its offense or Oklahoma can figure out its defense better. I think the difference maker will be quarterback play. Oklahoma has the now Heisman front runner, Baker Mayfield, running its offense. TCU, on the other hand, has Kenny Hill who has looked less than stellar the past few weeks. I’ll take OU to win by 10 or so.