Big 12 Wrap: Week 12
There was only one surprise in the Big 12 this week, but it was a big one, as the conference's best team suffered an upset. Here are the games:
Texas A&M 30, Oklahoma 26
Oklahoma will probably be happy not to see another Big 12 freshman phenom for a while. They barely survived an upset bid by Brad Smith at Mizzou earlier this year, but they couldn't survive Reggie McNeal at College Station this time. Before the game, Oklahoma defensive tackle Tommie Harris didn't sound too worried: "They only have like three passing plays, and they're bootleg or play-action." It's a good thing A&M doesn't have, say, FIVE passing plays, or the Sooner secondary that broke down so often might have really had some problems. Right. A win like this is probably enough to save R.C. Slocum's job for a while, and I must admit that A&M's offense is better than I thought. Oklahoma still controls its own destiny in the Big 12 with games remaining against Baylor, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State. That's not the case in the BCS, where Oklahoma will have to hope others lose (but their strength of schedule will probably place them higher on Monday than most people have guessed).
Texas 41, Baylor 0
Texas is a good football team, and Baylor is terrible. I'm so tired of writing that about Baylor each week that I'm going to leave it at that the rest of the season. The only surprise was that Cedric Benson struggled a bit, which has been the case off and on all season.
Kansas State 58, Iowa State 7
After severe thrashings at the hands of Oklahoma and Kansas State, Iowa State clearly hasn't proven ready to challenge the big boys of the Big 12. This loss effectively puts both of these teams two games behind Colorado, which makes it highly unlikely either one catches the Buffs in the North.
Colorado 42, Missouri 35
The last 20 minutes or so of this game may have been the most entertaining football played in the conference this year. Mizzou staged a furious comeback, Colorado responded, and managed to win in overtime to all but sew up the North. The Buffs rolled up nearly 400 yards rushing with their power attack. It's hard to believe they've lost 3 games this year.
Nebraska 45, Kansas 7
I'm adopting the same policy on Kansas games as I am with Baylor games. Nebraska is a good football team, Kansas is terrible, and Nebraska spanked them.
Texas Tech 49, Oklahoma State 24
Every time Oklahoma State looks ready to turn the corner, they have a setback. That setback came in the form of Raider red this week. Oklahoma State rallied in the third quarter, but then Mike Leach stepped on the gas and left the Cowboys behind. Texas Tech probably clinched a decent bowl appearance with this win. OSU still has a shot with two very winnable games ahead.
[Posted at 21:27 CST on 11/10/02] [Link]
