Big 12 Wrap: Week Three
Related entries:
Week Two Wrap
Overall, this was a good weekend for the Big 12. All of the games were against non-conference opponents, and every Big 12 team but Kansas won.
The games:
Oklahoma 37, Alabama 27
Oklahoma fans can be forgiven for wondering if John Blake had returned to coach the special teams, which should be renamed the atrocious teams. The Sooners dominated the first half. In the second half, the offense looked awful, and the shocker was, so did the defense at times. But credit the Sooners for rallying around Nate Hybl in the final few minutes and pulling out a game that looked lost. Starting quarterback Jason White was lost for the season, after blowing out a knee absent any contact for the second year in a row.
Nebraska 44, Utah State 13
The post-Eric Crouch Cornhuskers continue to improve. This one was never a contest.
Kansas State 68, Louisiana-Monroe 0
Bill Snyder destroys another non-conference opponent that he was heavily favored to beat. It may not sound like much, but ask Les Miles and Gary Barnett what they think about those sorts of opponents.
Texas A&M 16, Pittsburgh 14
As we noted last week, Texas A&M has problems on offense that go much deeper than the quarterback. A&M fans must cringe every time they see R.C. Slocum talking into his headset when his team has the ball. But at least the quarterback shuffle stopped at two this week, even though R.C. was promising to use all three at halftime. And Pittsburgh proved more inept on offense than A&M, making for some ugly football.
Colorado 34, San Diego State 14
San Diego State had it close at halftime (21-14), but Colorado just overmatched the Aztecs physically in the second half, and wore them out. A necesarry, if unspectacular, win for the Buffs after last week's upset. Colorado lost quarterback Craig Ochs to another concussion.
Iowa State 58, Tennessee Tech 6
The most exciting quarterback in the Big 12 practiced his passing against overwhelmed Tennessee Tech, one of many Division I-AA opponents scheduled by Big 12 teams this week.
Texas Tech 24, SMU 14
Kliff Kingsbury pads his stats as the Red Raiders bounce back against SMU.
Missouri 41, Ball State 6
It was 7-6 at halftime, before Missouri pulled away against another overmatched opponent. Five turnovers didn't help Ball State.
Baylor 50, Samford 12
The good news is, Baylor found a team it can beat. The bad thing is, it was a Division I-AA school.
Oklahoma State 45, Northern Iowa 10
Oklahoma State bounces back from last week's upset to beat a Division I-AA school.
UNLV 31, Kansas 20
UNLV wins the battle of basketball schools. The best chance for Kansas to win a game this year comes next week. That's right, a Division I-AA opponent, Southwest Missouri State.
(09-10-02 Update) Dave Hamby emails me that Kansas also has Tulsa upcoming, which is another good shot for a victory. Based on what we've seen from them so far this year, Tulsa should probably consider a move to Division I-AA.
[Posted at 22:42 CST on 09/08/02] [Link]
