Quick thoughts and takes on every Week 6 Big 12 game.
Oklahoma 45, Kansas 20
At the very least, Oklahoma had to deal with a wee bit of adversity. It wasn’t really all that bad, but Kansas was more than a speed bump for a half. It’s not like the Sooners were pushed, and it turned it on to put the game away with easy, but it wasn’t a 58-3 wipeout. The Jayhawks were able to play a little bit, starting with …
Pooka Williams was able to tear off a few nice runs. He took off for 137 yards, Carter Stanley threw for 230 yards and three scores – most of the work coming late when the game was over – and the team kept on pushing even after it was over. The OU defense has been great on third downs all year, and Kansas was able to be okay, hitting on 6-of-14 chances.
Oklahoma got flagged a bit too often – getting hit with eight penalties – and it was -1 in turnover margin, but Jalen Hurts was Jalen Hurts hitting 16-of-24 passes for 228 yards and two scores with a pick, and ran for 56 yards and two touchdowns. The passing game spread things around better than usual, and the ground attack was dominant, averaging over seven yards per pop. The Sooners get their showdown with Texas up next, and Kansas gets two weeks off before facing the Longhorns.
Texas Tech 45, Oklahoma State 35
Just when it seemed like the Texas Tech offense wasn’t going to show up this season, Jett Duffey picked the game to go off. He’s supposed to be the running option – or, least, the more mobile one – and yet he threw for 424 yards and four scores as he picked apart the OSU secondary, and he ran for a touchdown. There was even a little bit of a running game to help the cause with SaRodorick Thompson and Ta’Zhawn Henry predicting a nice 1-2 punch.
Oh, Oklahoma State. The Cowboys did this last year, too, clunking against Texas Tech in a 41-17 loss just when it seemed like everything was going well. This time around, the defense was its predictable awful self, but the offense couldn’t stop giving the ball away and didn’t start producing until it was way too late. Chuba Hubbard was finally able to bust free for 156 yards and three scores, and Spencer Sanders threw for almost 300 yards with two scores, but …
Sanders threw three picks and lost two fumbles. Considering the defense didn’t generate a takeaway, the Cowboys had way too big a hole to dig out of. This is still a very good, very dangerous team, but with a loss to Texas already and Oklahoma still to face, this was a killer or Big 12 title hopes. Now they get two weeks off with Baylor up next. On the other side, Texas Tech’s bowl hopes just got a big boost. At 3-2, they get a trip to Baylor next week.
NEXT: Iowa State 49, TCU 24; Baylor 31, Kansas State 12; Texas 42, West Virginia 31
Iowa State 49, TCU 24
Iowa State’s inconsistent offense turned it on thanks to the Brock Purdy show. He was nearly perfect, hitting 19-of-24 passes for 247 yards and two scores, and he ran for a team-high 102 yards with two scores. Johnny Lang added 72 yards and two touchdowns, Deshaunte Jones caught ten passes, but this was Purdy’s game. The D allowed TCU to get back in the game in the second half, and then Purdy took over with a scoring drive to all but put it away.
TCU’s defense continues to be a mystery. It has the talent, and it has the ability in the secondary to clamp down, but it couldn’t get off the field, it couldn’t come up with a meaningful third down stop, and it couldn’t generate a turnover. Max Duggan wasn’t bad – hitting 17-of-25 passes for 219 yards and two scores – and the running game was okay, but the O couldn’t keep up after getting down too quickly in the first half. Iowa State’s defense stopped Darius Anderson early, and the TCU passing game couldn’t take over.
Iowa State bounced back fast from the loss to Baylor, and now it needs to keep it going on the road against West Virginia and Texas Tech in the next two weeks. This was a must with the big-hitters still on the slate. On the other side, this was hardly a deathblow for the Horned Frog Big 12 title hopes, but the pressure is on with road games at Kansas State and Oklahoma State in the next few weeks around a date with Texas.
Baylor 31, Kansas State 12
Now there’s the Baylor team we’ve been waiting for … sort of. The offense still isn’t a thrill ride, but Charlie Brewer still hasn’t thrown an interception on the year and cranked up 230 yards and a score. The running game was able to bust out, averaging over five yards per carry with JaMycal Hasty and John Lovett each coming up with over ten yards per run.
Kansas State turned it over twice and didn’t come up with a takeaway, but it was able to control the clock for almost 37 minutes, was good on third downs, and won the penalty battle. Skyler Thompson wasn’t bad with his 218-yard day, and the running game was decent, but the defense couldn’t stop the big Baylor gashes at the wrong times.
Baylor is now a very, very nationally quiet 5-0. It’s playing fantastic D, efficient O, and it might just have the make-up to run through Texas Tech this week and Oklahoma State and West Virginia to be deep in the Big 12 title chase.
Kansas State is all but done with its Big 12 title hopes after this, and now it has to find a way to get three wins out of this slate just to go bowling. Kansas is one, but that’s on the road. West Virginia? Iowa State? Don’t worry too much about it, but this is a home game hit.
Texas 42, West Virginia 31
The banged up Texas secondary had better figure something out in a hurry with Oklahoma coming up next. Austin Kendall was able to bomb away for 367 yards and three touchdowns, and he was able to keep on pressing, but give the Longhorns credit – they came up with four picks. The UT D had issues, but it made up for it by surviving with big takeaways.
And there’s the running game. Sam Ehlinger was fine overall – he wasn’t accurate enough, but he threw for 211 yards and two scores with a pick, and ran for 45 yards and two touchdowns – but the rushing attack was able to grind it out with Roschon Johnson taking over. He ran 21 times for 121 yards for an offense that held the ball for over 36 minutes.
Texas got flagged ten times, West Virginia’s four interceptions … it wasn’t always pretty. At least the Mountaineer O finally got moving, and at least the Longhorns showed they were able to crank things up when they had to in a tight road battle. That’s going to have to be Texas football – score at least 40 and get everything moving, or forget about keeping up.
