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Welcome to Week 10 in the Big 12 Conference. The main story line coming into this week was how open the conference race is. Half of the league was still legitimately in the mix even as late as this week. Baylor and Texas are undefeated in league play with OU, Okie State and Tech all with only one loss. Only 2 games have been played between these five teams, there will be a lot of Big 12 clarity in a short time.
The other big story line? The Tarp is gone. Finally, thankfully, gone. Ticket sales are brisk and the Bears are expecting the biggest crowd in quite a long time for the OU game. They should, it is a matchup of top 10s that has significant Big 12 if not National Championship implications. If you have not bought a ticket or ordered a black t-shirt do so immediately…
Kansas 13 @ Texas 35
In typical fashion, Kansas came out and played tough in the first quarter in this one, battling to a 0-0 tie. Case McCoy opened the game by throwing an interception giving the ball to the Jayhawks on the KU 30. Kansas mounted a solid drive but missed a 31 yard field goal squandering the opportunity to capitalize on the turnover. The Texas offense starting clicking in the second quarter and Malcolm Brown punched in 2 touchdowns on the ground and Texas took a 14-0 lead.
Case McCoy recovered from the early interception and played solidly through the rest of the half and the Texas offense was firing, putting up 219 yards. The only slip-up came at the end the half. Texas got the ball with 1:32 seconds remaining and was unable to kill the clock to take the lead into the break. With no timeouts, Kansas connected on a long Hail Mary pass to the Texas 2 yard line and was able to kick a field goal to take some momentum into the locker room.
Although the score was 14-3, the game was more balanced than it appeared. The yardage gained was 219 to 206 in favor of the Horns. Kanas had a missed field goal and 6 penalties though which was keeping them out of the game.
Coming out after the break though, Kansas started playing with inspiration and took their opening drive down the field and connected on a 27 yard field goal. The Kansas defense held the Horns on the next drive and they were playing at a higher level than they had in the second quarter. The crowd was fairly quiet at Memorial Stadium with Kansas within 8 points and beginning their second possession of the half.
They were unable to capitalize on this momentum though and gave up a sack/fumble recovery/touchdown 2 series later and a Malcolm Brown touchdown 2 series after that. Defensive lineman Chris Whaley was the beneficiary of the fumble recovery and rumbled 40 yards for the touchdown. Considering that was Whaley’s 2nd touchdown in the last 3 games, I expect that he will start getting reps as a short yardage specialist ala William "Refrigerator" Perry. I have to say the man has some moves and some speed for being such a load.
At 28-6 UT was firmly in control of this one and unfortunately for the Jayhawks, it stayed that way. Malcolm Brown scored another touchdown in the 4th quarter to make it 35-6 and the game was all but over. Brown was the big man in this game with 119 yards on the ground and 4 touchdowns. Case McCoy looked shaky at times with no touchdowns and 2 interceptions but played well enough for the win. Tyrone Swoops did make a brief appearance after this game was decided.
Montell Cozart had a 20 yard scramble late in the game to make the final 35-13 which should give Jayhawk fans some heart. To be honest, Kansas actually is better than their record. They have played very tough at times against upper level Big 12 competition. There still is a chance that they upset someone this year, but they have to put together 4 quarters of football.
Iowa State 7 @ Kansas State 41
Kansas State was coming into this game with a bit of momentum after having beaten West Virginia last week. With bowl aspirations still alive for the Cats, they were needing a big game against Iowa State. After playing Texas and Tech in close, hard fought games, Iowa State had been blown out the last two weeks in a row by Baylor and Oklahoma State.
Kansas State came out hot in this one with Jake Waters at the helm. Daniel Sams was subbed in liberally for situational downs though. John Hubert also had a great first half putting up 98 yards of offense and accounting for a touchdown.
Sam Richardson threw and interception early in the second quarter and was relieved by Grant Rohach. The Cyclones just could not get anything going in the first half and was down 17-0 at intermission.
After halftime, Kansas State took their opening possession down the field and managed a field goal. Other than that, the 3rd quarter was uneventful. With both teams trading punts throughout.
The fourth quarter is where Kansas State started to take control. They scored 21 unanswered points to make the score 41-0 midway through the 4th quarter. Iowa State was able to covert a fumble on the KSU 10 yard line into a touchdown to end the Cats attempt at a shutout.
Kansas State dominated this one from start to finish, are in the hunt for a bowl bid and are clearly the best of the Big 12’s next tier.
West Virginia 30 @ TCU 27
West Virginia, coming off of a 3 game losing streak was looking for anything to spark a revival in their season. Although not eliminated from bowl contention, their loss to Kansas State last week made things very difficult for them. TCU was trying to stop a 2 game losing streak of their own. With the game at Amon Carter, the Frogs were looking to climb into the bowl picture as well.
TCU had the ball on the opening drive but Casey Pachall threw a tip-ball interception which resulted in a WV field goal. TCU was able to reel off 17 unanswered points though with Pachall recovering well and accounting for touchdown throws to Josh Doctson and David Porter. TCU was clearly focused on bringing a pass-heavy attack from Pachall with the TCU rushing attack being largely ineffective.
West Virginia did show a spark mid-way through the 2nd quarter with a 3 play 87 yard drive to cut the TCU lead to 17-10. Charles Sims went in for the touchdown and accounted for 60 yards on the drive with a 29 yard and 31 yard runs.
Coming out after halftime, this was anyone’s game. Both teams were trading possessions, but a Chris Hackett pick 6 six by TCU seemed to put them in control early in the 3rd. Unfortunately for TCU, Jason Verrett was called for holding on the play and the points came off the board and the Mountaineers retained possession. Unfortunately for Mountaineer fans, they were unable to capitalize on the momentum shift but after a punt were able to hold TCU and get the ball back. Clint Trickett then threw another interception that was returned to the 2 yard line. No flags on this one, and TCU seemed to be ready to take control.
The first play from scrimmage was a Trevone Boykin scramble then fumble and West Virginia had dodged a bullet. The Eers proceeded to take the ball down the field 72 yards and kicked a field goal to make the score 17-13 and the Mountaineers suddenly were the team that seemed to be gaining some momentum.
One the next series, Pachall threw his second pick of the game and 7 plays later, Cody Clay caught a Trickett pass and made a circus play on the pylon for a touchdown. West Virginia took a 20-17 lead, its first lead since the first quarter.
On third and long after getting the ball back, Pachall was thrown for a sack and fumbled the ball deep in TCU territory. TCU was using the 2 quarterback set with Trevone Boykin and Pachall on the field at the same time.
Trickett took the lead to 10 points on a pass and catch to Charles Sims 3 plays later. West Virginia seemed to be in control at this point, and with TCU not having scored since early in the 2nd quarter, a 10-point lead seemed pretty safe.
TCU was not done yet though, and Pachall completed 8 passes on the next drive, two to Boykin. The 8th pass of the drive was the most important though, a 3 yard bullet to the back of the endzone to David Porter.
A three and out by West Virginia, more outstanding play by Pachall, and a 46 yard field goal by Jaden Oberkrom and this game was going into overtime. TCU was jumping and high-fiving and West Virginia was walking around the sidelines with a case of minor shell-shock.
TCU seemed to be ready to pull out a hard fought victory in overtime just like they did last year. Only this year, during their first possession, TCU got flagged for a personal foul on 3rd down and ended up attempting a 62 yard field goal that missed left.
Needing only a field goal to win, the Mountaineers conservatively ran the ball to get into position for a game winning kick. Charles Sims did break free for a touchdown that got called back on a holding call. On 3rd and 14 from the 17, Josh Lambert kicked it home for a 30-27 win.
Oklahoma State 52 @ Texas Tech 34
This was the big game of the weekend in the Big 12 with two one-loss, ranked opponents squaring off in Lubbock to keep their Big 12 championship hopes alive. In the first quarter this game was all OSU with the Cowboys running out to a 21 point lead. Tech had a pair of 3 and outs and a Jace Amaro fumble and that put OSU in the driver’s seat. Until the 2nd quarter…
During that period, Tech woke up and scored 3 touchdowns including a pick 6 off of a Clint Chelf interception. Davis Webb was completing pass after pass and the Red Raiders were fighting to get back in this one. The Pokes scored one touchdown in the second, but this was a toss up heading in to halftime at 28-24 with all of the momentum on the side of Tech.
Coming out in the third quarter, Oklahoma State decided that it was their turn to run the scoreboard and rattled off two touchdowns including a 67 yard quarterback draw up the middle executed perfectly by Chelf. Although Chelf looked impressive on the play, to be honest, Jabba the Hutt probably could have scored. It would have been close, Jabba would have at least gotten inside the 20. Tech had rotated into man coverage and the middle of the field was wide open. The line opened up a hole at the point of attack and from there it was all over.
Tech refused to give up though and turned an interception into a Jace Amaro fueled touchdown drive. Midway through the 3rd quarter, Amaro had 12 catches for 153 yards. Clint Chelf had 79 yards rushing on 3 carries, two of them for touchdowns.
Going into the fourth quarter, OSU was up 49–34 but Tech was looking to go on a run. Unfortunately it was not to be for the Red Raiders. With the exception of continuing to feed the ball to Jace Amaro, the Raiders were not able to score any additional points. Amaro had a monster game and finished with 15 for 174.
The story of this game was the Tech defense giving up almost 300 yards on the ground and being gashed time and time again up the middle for big chunks of yards. Tech was also somewhat one dimensional, with their running attack only accounting for 100 of their over 500 yards in total.
Sunday Morning Quarterback
The Bears of course were off tonight along with Oklahoma. I am sure that both teams were watching intently as the Big 12 slate unfolded. In terms of games affecting the Bears, the Texas/Kansas game and the Tech/OSU game were the ones to pay attention to.
Texas continued their winning ways and are still looking dangerous. Kansas was in this game until the middle of the 3rd quarter and the Horns never really put their foot down on the gas though. Texas gave up 54 yards of penalties and 2 interceptions during this one though and looked disjointed at times. Kansas was not able to do much, but at times they did move the ball. Texas now has to play the meat of the conference with Tech, OSU and Baylor all on the schedule. The fact that the Kansas offense hung in there with UT defense and were in this game midway through the 3rd makes me believe that the Baylor offense will match up well against the Texas defense. Given that the game is the last one of the year, we will know a lot more about both teams. How amazing would this one be if both teams ran the table and the Floyd Casey sundowner ended up being the Big 12 decider. Talk about a big crowd.
In terms of Tech and OSU, OSU clearly came out as the stronger opponent for the Bears. They did give up 425 yards through the air to a one-dimensional Tech team. Even within the passing game Webb targeted Amaro seemingly in every critical situation. Even knowing that it was coming, the OSU defense did little to stop the air raid attack. Without the penalties and turnovers from Tech, this game would have been much closer. In terms of the Tech defense matching up against the Baylor offense, I expect that it will be the Lacheshow. With the offensive line springing Lache into the secondary and the defensive backs unable to prevent big plays up the middle, this should be a big one for the running game.
OSU’s secondary gave up huge plays to Jake Amaro even when they knew he would be the number one receiver. This should be a good night for the Goodley/Reese tandem. If they play the same way they played last night, Bryce Petty will have a great game as well.
The bottom line is that the Bears need to keep winning starting this week against Oklahoma. The tarp is off and the place should be rocking.