SB Nation Big 12 Whiparound: Week 8

West Virginia and TCU were on bye.

Iowa State 27 @ #2 Baylor 45

One of two games this weekend played in a downpour, this one was over early, with the Bears leading 35-7 at halftime.  Then Baylor stopped scoring and stopped playing defense, and the game became closer than it ever should have.  Baylor QB Seth Russell was still in the game with just over five minutes left and suffered a season-ending neck injury.  True freshman Jarrett Stidham will now attempt to lead the Bears to the college football playoff.

Our Daily Bears was disappointed with the outcome, and not just because they lost their quarterback.  Of course at the time of this writing, no one knew how serious the injury to Russell was:

I fully realize that it looks somewhat ridiculous to complain in any way after a 18-point conference win in monsoon conditions that took the crowd out of the game.  It's also ridiculous to expect that any team playing at a really high level would continue to do so in every single game.

My personal frustration stems not from only scoring 45 points or not blowing out Iowa State as we should have; it stems from the certainty that someone, somewhere is going to use this game as part of an argument against us, context be damned, and I hate that.

WRNL surprisingly managed to stay on the positive side despite the loss.  (Maybe they ran out of beer.)

Let's be honest, Cyclone fans; that game turned out a lot better than anybody expected. Even though Iowa State lost to Baylor on Saturday by a score of 45-27, there were a lot of positives coming out of a rainy day in Waco.

Kansas 10, @ #14 Oklahoma State

The Jayhawks got dominated from start to finish, but CRFF was not impressed with their team.

The offensive line is still not great, and the running game is probably going to cost us a win at some point.

Oh, you're not in agreement with that last statement? You tell me to take a look at the stat sheet for the Kansas game and take note of 47 carries for 202 yards? Yes, that looks pretty good, or at least it does until you look at the first half stats for the running game.

21 carries, 65 yards (3.1 ypc)

Against the worst run defense in the Big 12. That's not good. That's less ypc than OSU was averaging for the season coming into this game.

We at RCT are getting sick of dropped passes and kool-aid:

Fans got a brief glimpse of hope last week when the Jayhawks had a chance to knock off Texas Tech before ultimately losing 30-20. This week, hope never even made an appearance as Oklahoma State dominated Kansas from start to finish. Dropped passes and three & outs plagued the KU offense through the first quarter, and early in the second, a botched long snap led to a 21-0 deficit. The 'Hawks were buried 35-3 before seeing their biggest play of the game, a 33 yard touchdown strike from Ryan Willis to Steven Sims Jr.

Texas Tech 27, @ #17 Oklahoma 63

The Red Raiders hung with the Sooners for a half, but Oklahoma run away from Texas Tech in the second half for the big win.

Viva the Matadors didn't necessarily expect a win, but thought the game was gonna be closer than it was.

Not sure anyone really saw us coming out of Norman with a win. The only disappointing part is the way the 2nd half played out. Very much felt like the TCU game last year. The D didn't quit as much as the offense did.

Crimson and Cream Machine was, of course, happy with the big win, and thinks big things could be in store for the Sooners.

The Sooners rushed for seven touchdowns, passed for two, and picked off the Red Raiders four times showing that the Kansas State game wasn't a fluke. The Texas game made this team very mad and the past two wins have given them the most momentum they've had all year. It came just in time, because Baylor is only a couple of weeks away now.

Kansas State 9, @ Texas 23

The Wildcats hung tough for four quarters, but couldn't pull it out in Austin.  Bring on the Cats is frustrated with the quarterback play:

There's no sugar-coating it anymore. We're not trying to be mean to anyone, and Joe Hubener is a great kid who works hard and is doing his best. His best, however, is not Big 12-caliber play at quarterback. It's that simple.

Burnt Orange Nation thinks that the Longhorns may have turned a corner and might finally be coming together under Charlie Strong:

For two weeks, Texas faced questions about whether the team would continue to show improvement after the spark of the Cotton Bowl upset. Within the first two drives of the game against a program that has consistently out-toughed and out-executed Texas for years, Strong's Horns proved that they were the team that could best approximate Snyder's ideal style.