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 (1-8, 0-6) |
Date | November 10, 2012 |
 (6-3, 3-3) |
If anyone is looking for football links I went ahead and put them in the links post rather than here. Some interesting developments over the weekend, although all of the teams that were favored to win, won, except of course for our Red Raiders. /sad face/
Our Daily Bears (Baylor Bears): Give credit where credit is due-- Baylor's defense allowed just 102 yards of offense in the second half and, most importantly, zero points. The yardage was actually much lower (in the 40s) until a late drive in what I would call garbage time. I don't want to overstate things since it's just one game against Kansas, but there was a stark difference between the first and second halves of this game that was extremely positive. With a one-possession lead at the half (20-14) and Kansas taking the kick to open the third quarter, the defense could have easily buckled again and given Kansas the lead. It would have almost been poetic after a poor offensive second quarter where we only scored 3 points. Instead, they held for an entire half and Baylor ran away. I lambaste the defense enough when they play poorly that I am honor-bound to laud them when they don't. The two turnovers by Joe Williams and Ahmad Dixon were just icing on the cake. (Link)
Wide Right & Natty Lite (Iowa St. Cyclones): Iowa State put up a good fight, but were done in by Landry Jones' 405 yards and 4 TDs through the air, with Brennan Clay adding 24 carries for a career high 157 yards as the Sooners continued to torment the Cyclones. The defense played much better than the numbers showed, picking off Landry Jones twice in the first half, but giving up the touchdown to Oklahoma after thinking they'd go into halftime down 1 was a back-breaker. After that point, the defense was only functional, instead of the top 20 unit they've looked like the rest of the year. Meanwhile, the offense returned to its maddeningly inconsistent self, with a good looking scoring drive followed by a 3 and out. Drops haunted the Cyclone offense with a couple of drops on would be first down conversions. (Link)
Rock Chalk Talk (Kansas Jayhawks): This honestly went about as well as we could have expected. Through the half Kansas had done enough to be in the game against a team with an offense that really presented a horrible mismatch for Kansas. When you look at the Jayhawks and start thinking about what the deficiencies are, much of it revolves around having the athletes to compete across the board. Some of that can be masked with coaching, scheme and a little bit of heart, but that eventually only goes so far. Baylor's gameplan and personnel is designed to capitalize on that deficiency by spreading you out and making you cover in space. Kansas did an admirable job at times and they continue to be one of the best redzone defenses in the Big 12, but you're not going to shut the Baylor offense down. You can hope to contain them and look to outscore them, but with the Kansas offensive woes, that hope slipped away early in the second half. It was the least competitive Kansas has been outside of Kansas State and Oklahoma which means this team has battled in 6 of 9 games now, but even in a rather large loss, there were definitely some positive things that can be taken from this one. If you were expecting Kansas to go on the road and get a win in this one you were bound to be disappointed. Three games to do, Tech, ISU and WVU. (Link)
Bring On The Cats (Kansas St. Wildcats): It wasn't easy, but it was a win. A 24-point second quarter gave K-State a 31-17 halftime lead, and it looked like the Wildcats were on cruise control. And though Oklahoma State never cut the margin to less than 14 the rest of the way, it sure didn't feel like an easy win. Even with the win, we face a week of speculation and uncertainty. Heisman frontrunner Collin Klein exited the game in the third quarter. While K-State held a relatively comfortable 38-20 lead at the time of Klein's exit, it would be out of character for Bill Snyder to pull his starting quarterback so early. So now the speculation begins, on two fronts. First, we will probably have to endure a week of agonizing over Klein's status. I didn't hear Snyder's postgame remarks, but he's usually tighter with injury information than someone who grew up during the Great Depression is with a dollar. It certainly didn't look like Klein suffered a serious injury, although he clearly favored his wrist on the final scoring drive. But even after the apparent injury, he threw several nice passes to move the Wildcats down the field. (Link)
Crimson and Cream Machine (Oklahoma Sooners): We'd be remiss if we waited any longer to bring up the unquestioned offensive MVP of this game, one Brennan Clay. Where on earth did that come from, sir?!? Mind you, we're not complaining, trust me. And it couldn't have come at a more needed moment with the Sooners starter, Damien Williams, clearly hobbled by an ankle injury yet inexplicably still thrown out there by the OU coaches. As well as the supposed starter, as we were told earlier in the week, Dominique Whaley making a ever so brief appearance (still no clue what's going on there). Clay's 157 yards on 24 carries were a huge factor in this game and yet it was a run that may have gone largely unnoticed that changed the entire fabric of this game. As the Sooners appeared to be running out the clock late in the first half, Clay bounced a run to the outside for a gain of nine yards and an OU first down. Prior to that run, it looked as if Oklahoma would have been happy to run out the clock and take a modest 7-6 lead into the half. However, following that run by Clay the Sooners mentality changed as they took a successful shot down the field to Justin Brown for a 40-yard gain. One play later, the Sooners were in the end zone and had forcibly taken back all momentum in the game. (Link)
Cowboys Ride For Free (Oklahoma St. Cowboys): Give credit to Kansas State. They are well coached, and don't make costly mistakes. The missed FG and PI penalty on the Cowboys' last drive were about the closest thing to Wildcat errors all night. They play physical and to their strengths, and Klein has definitely improved his passing. The big question mark now, however, is Klein. What is the nature of his injury? Some speculated on his right wrist, others mentioned his neck and head. Snyder was obviously mum on the topic after the game. Is there a worse "game" interview than Snyder? He's downright annoyed that he has to talk to anybody. For those of you wondering about Lunt, in my opinion he should be a backup for the rest of the season. He won’t be back for at least a week from his concussion, maybe longer. Chelf should take OSU home this season, and depending on what we see, he just might be the guy to handle next year. The Cowboys should win 3 more games this year. West Virginia and Tech at home the next two weeks should be victories. Baylor in Waco shouldn’t be an issue. The Sooners in Norman will be an issue. (Link)
Burn Orange Nation (Texas Longhorns): Obviously Longhorn Nation is breathing a sigh of relief today as the Texas Longhorns held serve in the money quarter yesterday against a resurgent Texas Tech Red Raider team closing strong by a final score of 31-22. The win puts Texas squarely back in the conference title race, albeit with long odds as conference leader KSU would have to have some sort of meltdown against either TCU or Baylor on the road and OU would have to drop two of their final three but crazier things have happened. So I guess I'm saying there's still a chance. The instructional takeaway from Lubbock was not the immaturity shown by the Texas Tech bench as Kendall Thompson lay suffering on the field after a vicious hit in the 4th quarter as we've come to expect that type of assery from the tortilla flingers. (Link)
Frogs O War (TCU Horned Frogs): TCU on the road goes for two and Josh Boyce makes a hell of a grab for the conversion. Sound familiar to anyone else? After a frustrating game, where the delayed handoffs up the middle brought the Frogs absolutely nothing and the Frog defense flummoxed Geno Smith throughout, it was of all things a trick play that brought the scoring to a close. West Virginia, like Oklahoma State last week, had great success at getting to Boykin and forcing him out of the pocket or to throw early and capitalized on a muffed punt by Skye Dawson to get their offense going after it struggled time and time again. And yet, on a day where nothing else was working with consistency with the exception of handoffs to Dean (can he please get some more carries in the red zone?) and Boykin hoofing it, the great consistency of Josh Boyce came through in a huge way as he made electrifying catches and fantastic yards after the catch, ending up with two touchdowns as well as the longest offensive play of the year to get us to overtime in the first place. (Link)
The Smoking Musket (West Virginia Mountaineers): This WVU loss that will hurt for a while because for almost four quarters our defense managed to keep TCU from throwing at our cornerbacks. Three defensive series later and I cannot believe that the most I’m now hoping for from this season is bowl eligibility. It was WVU's 3rd loss in a row for the first time since the 2004 season . (Link)