SB Nation Big 12 Whiparound: Week 9

Kansas State and Baylor were off this weekend; they play each other this coming Thursday, Nov 5.

West Virginia 10 @ #5 TCU 40

The Mountaineers hung with TCU for a half, but the Frogs' D shutout the ‘Eers in the second half as TCU pulled away for the big win.

Smoking Musket is... bummed:

The Mountaineers continue to be their own worst enemy. Numerous offensive miscues and dropped passes by the West Virginia receiving corps contributed to the insurmountable hole the Mountaineers dug for themselves.  Dropped passes erased at least three potential Mountaineer touchdowns that would have made this an entirely different game.

Even though TCU hung 40 on WVU, Smoking Musket wasn't all that upset with the defense:

Things weren't all bad for the Mountaineer defense, however. West Virginia DE Noble Nwachukwu is quietly becoming one of the Mountaineer's best defensive players, and is now officially the only Big 12 player this season to sack TCU QB Trevone Boykin. Most of TCU's big plays were not, in my opinion, because of poor defense but rather Boykin's ridiculous athleticism elusiveness. Boykin may well be the luckiest guy on the planet, because it seems like everything always goes his way.

FOW says, hey, just go ahead and send the Heisman Trophy to Fort Worth:

TCU opened the game with two touchdowns in its first two drives. The first, a pass to Josh Doctson. The second, a Boykin run -- actually no, make that a FLIP into the end zone (Heisman moment, anyone?). Boykin had a similar move in last year's blackout against Kansas State. That makes two consecutive blackout games in which Boykin flipped into the end zone for a touchdown. Count that stat.

For the second half, Boykin's feet put on a show. Despite lots of pressure from West Virginia, Boykin was absolutely excellent at dancing out of the pocket and getting the first down on his own. It was enough to impress West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen, who even high-fived Boykin following an impressive running play.

#12 Oklahoma State 70 @ Texas Tech 53

The Red Raiders jumped on the Cowboys early, at one point leading 24-7 before taking a 38-28 lead into halftime.  OSU rallied in the second half, though, including 28 4^th-quarter points, and the Cowboys went home victors in the high-scoring shootout.

The two teams combined for 1304 yards of total offense, 662 for Tech and 642 for OSU.  The difference ended up being turnovers, with Tech giving it away three times compared to once for Oklahoma State.  Each team punted once.

Cowboys Ride For Free has been saying all year long something along the lines of "Well, it wasn't pretty but we're still unbeaten, and we'll take it."  That seemed to be the vibe again this week:

To be honest, after the first quarter, OSU shouldn't have won this game. But OSU outscored Tech 42-15 in the second half, the defense was stellar and Mahomes looked shell shocked.  The Oklahoma State Cowboys are 8-0 and will face TCU next week in Stillwater. Biggest game in the history of the school? Yes. Be there.

Viva the Matadors was pretty disappointed in the outcome considering how the game went down:

This one hurts more than the TCU loss. Giving up two 17 point leads and losing by 17 is just an epic letdown. Nothing about OSU made you think they were better than Tech and especially not 17 points better. It's one thing to lose from the get or lose a back and forth... but it's another to lose while dominating in the 1st half.

#14 Oklahoma 62 @ Kansas 7

This was never a contest, as Oklahoma went up 21-0 on the Jayhawks before my frozen pizza was ready.  There's really not much to talk about here.  CCM expected a blowout, and that's what they got:

Unable to answer the challenge on a consistent basis, Kansas folded on homecoming.

The most memorable moment of the game may have come with Trevor Knight under center. As the crowd cheered with approval, Knight connected with his twin brother, tight end Connor Knight in the endzone. Overall, you can't complain with a dominating win.

Here at RCT, we're continue to be excited about what Ryan Willis could be, but this program isn't doing anything until the defense gets better.  And after the last two games, I find myself asking, has the team given up?

We knew going into this season that it was going to be a long year short on wins, and that's exactly what we're seeing.  The last two games, Kansas hasn't even been competitive, and that needs to change.

Texas 0 @ Iowa State 24

In the biggest surprise of the weekend, Iowa State outgained the Longhorns 426-204 and dominated Time of Possession 37:25/22:35 behind the 32 carries and 157 yards from RB Mike Warren.  (It should be noted that 77 of the 204 yard for Texas came on their final drive - pretty meaningless at that point.)  It was the first time since 1961 that Texas was shutout by an unranked opponent.

Burnt Orange Nation has just about had it, but at least they didn't blame the refs (this time):

All the good feelings, all the talk about the potential for bowl eligibility and progress? Out the window. This team won't have a postseason and Strong has major questions to answer. Saying that the team is better than it showed will no longer suffice. If there's one positive, it's that he didn't try to do so in the post-game press conference.

Every time Strong's teams take a step or two forward, several steps back quickly follow. It's a trend that can't continue, but with major offensive questions looming again and familiar defensive concerns returning, there wasn't really a single positive to take from this performance.

So what do we really have? It's simple. We have an underachieving football team being led by an underachieving coaching staff in what has become one of the most disappointing seasons in Texas football history.

WRNL, on the other hand...

IOWA STATE JUST SHUT OUT THE TEXAS LONGHORNS. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. DUMPSTERS ARE BLAZING. PARTY ON WELCH AVE.