Big 12 Conference Football Recap Week 10
Nebraska's Defense Swallows Oklahoma; Kansas State Beats Kansas
Nov 9, 2009
It wouldn't be the Big 12 Conference without some old-fashioned quirkiness in the results.
Oklahoma and Nebraska did their level best to set the game of football back to the bygone era of the leather helmet. And Bill Snyder showed that there's really not much to this coaching thing as he schooled his former assistant, Mark Mangino, once again.
A recap of last week's games:
Big Winners: Nebraska and Baylor
Nebraska 10, Oklahoma 3: So this is what life is like without Sam Bradford. Indeed, Nebraska's defense is what's keeping the team afloat. Bradford's replacement, Landry Jones, threw five interceptions worth of life preservers and littered the field with incompletions in an unsightly 26-for-58 passing line. Fortunately for Nebraska, Prince Amukamara returned one of those to the 1, or else these two teams were liable to play this one into the night tied 3-3.
The Huskers' problems on offense are so pronounced that Oklahoma could've left the field and Nebraska would still have trouble scoring. Beating the Sooners is nice, but seven first downs total - with only one of them in the first half - reek of ineffectiveness. Meanwhile, OU fans are increasingly disenchanted with offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson, even though the media still love him, and they are now even keeping Bob Stoops on a short leash.
Baylor 40, Missouri 32: The ghosts of previous seasons past under Gary Pinkel continue to plague the Missouri Tigers. The latest ignominy is losing to Baylor at home when the Bears were down to their third-string quarterback and had only previously won twice - that's right, twice - on the road against Big 12 opponents since joining the league.
Once again Missouri's offense took a second-half nap after grabbing a 27-16 halftime lead, and Baylor's quarterback du jour, Nick Florence, masqueraded as Drew Brees by torching Mizzou for 427 yards. Both Missouri and Kansas are 5-4 and 1-4 in the Big 12, and a season-ending Border War could potentially be reminiscent of the Larry Smith and Terry Allen days.
Oklahoma State 34, Iowa State 8: Kendall Hunter was back in the Pokes' lineup, but Keith Toston continues to scorch the running lanes with his 206 yards and three touchdowns. The Cyclones have reverted back to bottom-feeder form since the infamous victory at Nebraska, looking overmatched and also weighed down by quarterback Austen Arnaud's three interceptions. Iowa State stands a good chance, though, of winning their sixth game next week.
Big Losers: Kansas and Texas A&M
Kansas State 17, Kansas 10: With Bowl eligibility and, wonder of wonders, Big 12 North title hopes still alive, the Kansas Jayhawks crafted a lifeless, cheerless performance in Manhattan. Apparently it was nice while Ron Prince lasted at K-State, a coach who never beat Kansas. Now Bill Snyder steps back in, who always beats Kansas, and it's like those three years existed in another time-space continuum.
KU quarterback Todd Reesing looks like he has nothing left. His nagging groin injury shouldn't preclude him from hemorrhaging the football, so there has to be something more to this than just chalking it up to injury, because he hasn't been remotely serviceable at quarterback for a month now. Who knows what that something is.
For a team that Wildcat fans feared wouldn't win many games at all, 2009 has been a Snyder Special. Critics who claimed the Big 12 has changed too much since Snyder first left didn't take into account how weak the league is collectively. It's been a perfect year to return.
Colorado 35, Texas A&M 34: Despite allowing eight sacks for the second straight game and falling behind at the half 21-10, Colorado fought back and squeaked past Texas A&M, who squandered a 21-10 lead at the half and the prospects of a road victory. The Aggies, prone to slapdash defensive efforts, gave the Buffs 437 yards in total offense. Colorado's Patrick Devenny one-handed a Tyler Hansen pass down the middle of the field for the decisive touchdown catch.
Texas 35, Central Florida 3: Jordan Shipley (who knew he was Colt McCoy's roommate? Never heard that one before) broke Tony Jones' single-game receiving record with 273 yards in a workmanlike victory against Conference USA foe UCF. The game precariously stood at 14-3 well into the third quarter, when Texas finally salted it away. By the way, McCoy's 470 passing yards is three short of the record set by his assistant head coach, Major Applewhite.
Up Next: Tigers and Wildcats in Manhattan
Next week, it's Nebraska at Kansas, Texas A&M at Oklahoma, Colorado at Iowa State, Texas at Baylor and Texas Tech at Oklahoma State. The marquee game should take place in Manhattan, where Kansas State hosts Missouri. Gary Pinkel has yet to beat Bill Snyder, and should Nebraska win in Lawrence, a KSU victory would maintain the Wildcats' half-game lead in the Big 12 North heading into their mammoth game with the Cornhuskers.
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