Big 12 SBNation Whiparound: Week 2

Kansas State 30, @ UTSA 3

The Roadrunners hung with the Spacedicks for two quarters, but had no answer for KSU after halftime.  BOTC was pleased with the result, but didn't think it was very pretty.

The win was neither as easy nor as dominant as that scoreline might suggest. The offense did not execute well for nearly the entire first half and offensive line play was a serious problem for at least part of the game. However, the team came out strong and determined in the second half, and with the defense dominating the line of scrimmage almost throughout the game, the offense began to find some rhythm.

UTEP 20, @ Texas Tech 69

The game was close for most of two quarters, until Tech pulled away late in the second quarter for a 38-17 halftime lead.  Viva the Matadors expected a big win, and that's what they got.

One of the most consistent things this year for Texas Tech is their offense. Other than drops and penalties, it's been near impossible to stop. The opening drive of the game against UTEP only took 4 plays and 1:03 to get into the endzone as Mahomes and Grant hook up for 60 yards, putting Tech up 7-0.

Liberty 17, @ West Virginia 41

This game was a blowout from the beginning, as Turner Gills Liberty Flames stood no chance.  From Smoking Musket:

Chalk it up to nerves last week. Skyler Howard looked much, much better this week. At one point in the 3rd quarter he had completed 11 straight passes, with his last incompletion coming in the 1st quarter. He went 21/26 for 263 yard and 3 TDs on the day.

Stephen F. Austin 7, @ TCU 70

Yet another blowout that was never close.  Frogs O War had it covered:

As we all know, turnovers are a key statistic for this TCU team, and so far the numbers do not disappoint.  Overall a good win for this team, one in which the very young defense got valuable playing time and the offense rolled.

Iowa 31, @ Iowa State 17

I had no idea what to expect in this game.  Frankly... I didn't really care.  Luckily, WRNL was there.

Iowa State struggled to contain Beathard's scrambling ability in the first half. At halftime, the Hawkeyes' quarterback had gained 84 yards on the ground, most of them gained on two big rushes when Iowa was backed up in their own territory.

It sounds like the ISU offense really struggled to get going, especially after halftime, not crossing the 50-yard line at all in the third quarter.  Big 12 play might be brutal to the ‘Clones as well as Kansas.

Oklahoma 31, @ Tennessee 24 (2 OT)

Down 17-0 at one point, the Sooners stormed back to steal one in SEC territory, and Crimson and Cream Machine was absolutely thrilled, calling it one of the most entertaining games of the Bob Stoops era.

Baker Mayfield looked phenomenal. 19/39 and 187 yards don't look impressive on paper, but his leadership and four touchdowns in the fourth quarter/overtime was enough for the Sooners to pull off the victory in Knoxville. It's also the largest comeback in Neyland Stadium, which is amazing when you realize Tennessee has more victories in that stadium than any other team has in one stadium.

Central Arkansas 8, @ Oklahoma State 32

Through three quarters, Central Arkansas was only down 20-8, but don't fool yourself.  According to Cowboys Ride for Free, this game was dominated by the Cowboys.

For those who didn't watch, OSU may not have scored a ton of points, but the stats show domination. As a team, OSU passed for 414 yards on 25-39 with 1 interception. Completions went to 12 different players, and accounted for 3 TD's. The running game amassed a respectable 164 yards on 35 carries for 4.7 ypc. The defense was expectedly stout, holding UCA under 100 yards rushing (2.4 ypc) and only 128 yards passing on 14-25.

Lamar 31, @ Baylor 66

Baylor put up video game numbers again on an overwhelmed opponent, but Lamar put up 31 points of their own.  Our Daily Bears was... well... not really impressed.

For better or worse, we basically got the whole kit and caboodle tonight from Seth Russell as a passer.  There were several outstanding plays, like basically all of the touchdowns to Coleman and the bullet on third down that Jay Lee dropped.  There were also several really bad ones, like 2 of the 3 interceptions and a fourth pass that probably should have been intercepted.

... this was the second game in a row where we started things off completely unable to handle the zone read or a running QB.  Sure, we eventually adjusted, but that doesn't bode well at all for future games against Rice's Driphus Jackson, Tech's Pat Mahomes, or TCU's Trevone Boykin, to name three.  And given that we'd just seen Matt Davis run all over us the week before, it's also completely inexcusable.  After that game, everybody and their dog knew that mobile QBs could give us fits, and we still went into this game without a good plan for dealing with it.

After tonight, if you told me that we just don't practice special teams at all during the week, I wouldn't challenge you.  It's the only reason I can think of that we're consistently offsides on kickoff coverage and make so many poor decision on when to bring the ball out on kickoff returns. We seem to be decent enough at covering punts, but that may well be due to the fact that our punter is a freshman and hasn't had time to forget everything he learned in high school.

Rice 28, @ Texas 42

I have no idea how this one went down, so let's get right to Burnt Orange Nation:

... the Texas defense struggled to get off the field, allowing too many third-down conversions and losing the line of scirmmage too many times. Overall, the Horns allowed the Owls to extend drives on 14-of-21 third downs and the single fourth down attempted. The pass rush didn't look much better than against Notre Dame and while the freshman cornerbacks provided some spark, it was disappointing to see a lack of improvement from redshirt freshman John Bonney at the boundary.

Overall, Rice out-gained Texas 462-277, with virtually every Longhorns player missing a tackle on Jackson at some point in the backfield. Jefferson was active during the game, but he had trouble bringing down the Rice quarterback, who only gained 15 yards on 12 carries, but was in sum much more dangerous than that in hidden yardage.  So it wasn't a perfect performance and there are still major concerns about the defensive front's ability to stop the run after the Owls gained 228 yards rushing.

But what the Longhorns needed on Saturday was to win the game easily, find a rhythm offensively, and create some big plays in all phases. In those areas, the game was a success, with plenty of room for tough coaching this week.