This wasn’t a good week for the Big 12, as Pac 10 and Mountain West teams had their way with Big 12 teams.
Here’s a quick look at the games (the order of the games gives a rough idea of where I rank the teams in the conference right now).
Texas 52, Rice 7
Rice played better than was expected against Houston and UCLA, but Texas is a few orders of magnitude ahead of those programs. This amounted to a free Houston recruiting trip for Mack Brown, and the recruits should have come away impressed.
Oregon 34, Oklahoma 33
This game was not won by Oregon so much as awarded to them by clearly blown replay calls (as illustrated by this video). Still, an Oklahoma offense that played very well in the second half couldn’t put the game away with TDs instead of field goals, and the supposed strength of the team (the defense) is, at this point this season, the worst of the Stoops era.
USC 28, Nebraska 10
Bill Callahan finds out that USC is a little better than Lousiana Tech, Nicholls State, and the other creampuffs that have loaded Nebraska’s schedule during Callahan’s tenure.
TCU 12, Texas Tech 3
Mike Leach had a chance to make a statement that his team belonged among the big boys of the Big 12 (at least in this down year). Maybe next year.
Missouri 27, New Mexico 17
Missouri may be Nebraska’s only competition in a weak north.
Oklahoma State 48, Florida Atlantic 8
About the only real interest from this game came from the old fool Howard Schnellenberger carrying on about winning national championships at Florida Atlantic during game week.
Iowa 27, Iowa State 17
Iowa State extended their in-state rival in what is always a tough game, but came up short in the fourth quarter.
Washington State 17, Baylor 15
An improved Baylor squad can’t quite finish, as Washington State hit the winning field goal with seconds left in the game.
Toledo 37, Kansas 31
Toledo was a pitiful 15 of 47 passing, and only generated 237 yards of total offense. How in the world do they score 37 to upset Kansas? Oh yeah, five Kansas turnovers. Whoops!
Texas A&M 28, Army 24
Coach Fran’s plan to save his job with a cupcake schedule seemed to be in jeopardy at the end of this one. Inexplicably, Bobby Ross gave the game away at the end by running the ball (and running out the clock) instead of throwing to the end zone twice.
Kansas State 27, Marshall 3
Kansas State seems to be improving under Ron Prince. Or maybe Marshall’s just that bad. Hard to say.
Arizona State 21, Colorado 3
Four ASU turnovers seemingly kept this from being the expected blowout.
10 comments On Big 12 Wrap: Week 3
I think everyone in the "pick ’em" league for bad sports should be given a pass on the OU/Oregon game due to blind officiating.
OU won that game. Penalty on the onsides, OU gets the ball and kills the clock.
Oh yeah, let’s not forget the "phantom" penalties in that last drive as well….
Home Cookin’
mmm…mmmm good.
Are there asterisks in college football?
Is there any way we can find out if Steve Bartman was in the review booth at the Sooners/Ducks game?
Yeah, it was nice that USC did not cover in their win, but Bill Callahan better learn how to stop being scared of opening his playbook before the Texas game.
But then again, a few interceptions would have turned that final score into 70-10 in a hurry.
The totsl point count of 15 for the Tech/TCU game (along with the winner) is one of the more perplexing things I’ve seen in NCAA football in the past few years.
The only more prepexing thing I’ve seen in the past few years is the Bobby Ross run play call at the end of the A&M/Army game. Arguably the stupidest call I’ve seen in all my years.
OU did not "win" that game. Referees virtually never decide wins and losses, and this is coming from a die-hard Miami Hurricane fan who suffered through Terry Porter’s phantom PI call in the Fiasco Bowl in 2002.
The call was absolutely terrible, but OU had plenty of chances to win the game prior to and after the terrible call. The referees didn’t block that field goal, or let Oregon score (though the poor PI call helped, of course).
Whining about bad calls, even if legitimate, is the last respite for losers, IMO (and in so doing, I implicate 95% of my fellow Cane fans who were apoplectic over the call in the Fiasco Bowl). Teams virtually always have a chance to get it done even with a bad call.
Multiple calls were poor. There’s really no doubt they affected the outcome of the game. Pac 10 officials admitted as much.
Regardless, crying about it won’t change anything. In the minds of people who vote in the polls, Oklahoma was robbed of a win in that game, and maybe they’ll remember at the end of the season if Oklahoma is contending for a BCS berth. The Sooners have plenty to play for still, and plenty of problems to work on if they want to contend for a Big 12 championship.
Having a defense ranked 97th isn’t going to do it. Having any defense at all would have removed the ability of bad calls to affect the outcome of the last game.
They’ll get a chance to take out some frustrations on a I-AA creampuff this week, then on to tougher foes. What’s done is done.
I agree that the calls did not impact the outcome of the game, but it does not follow from that, IMO, that "OU lost because of the refs," or some other similar conclusion. As you point out, if OU had a defense this year, it would never have come down to those calls. If they had executed on special teams or prevented OU from scoring, they could have won even with those calls.
My point is simply that though referees obviously impact the course of the games, their actions are virtually never determinative of wins and losses.
Take the Fiasco Bowl: game should have been over; Miami should have won back-to-back NCs. That call would have ended the game. But Miami had plenty of chances to win before and especially after that call. They failed to get the job done. They determined their fate in that game — not Terry Porter. I think the same applies with OU here. JMO.
Sigh. I really need to get an account here, so’s I can edit comments, but I’m just too lazy.
First phrase should read:
"I agree that the calls DID impact the outcome of the game,"
Bad calls are among many variables that affect the outcome of the game, which I think is basically what you’re saying. I kinda get that. But holding all other variables equal, the dysfunction of a replay system designed to neutralize the impact of bad calls on the field failed miserably — the bad calls on the field still affected the outcome of the game. Maybe there’s a semantic difference with what Sedosi said, but I don’t know.
Regardless, it’s over and done with. I think it’s good that media attention got the Pac 10 to admit errors were made, but now it’s time to move on to things that can still be controlled by this football team. If that defense doesn’t improve, it’s going to be tough to avoid another 8 win season.
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