The long wait of the off-season finally came to a conclusion. While this Week 1 slate was not great, football is football. It’s tough to gauge teams with one week. But you can see what areas they improved in.
Some teams had surprising performances; while others were just pure dominant. It’s time to take a look at what we learned and RedCup Big 12 Power Rankings:
“Not so pretty” Perfection
4 of the 5 power 5 conferences had at least one slip up by a heavy favorite. The Big 12 did not have that as they went 10-0 through the Week 1 slate. What made it not too pretty was the fashion of how few of the games went down.
The expected bottom feeders of the conference both had scares with Kansas and West Virginia. Kansas took till the very end with a TD pass from Carter Stanley to Daylon Charlot. The Alabama transfer was able to seal the game 24-17.
Oklahoma QB Transfer Austin Kendall hit Tevin Bush for a 22 yard TD to put WV up 10 late. They would hold on and win by 7 against James Madison.
Spencer Sanders silenced some critiques with a great performance against Oregon State. Take that what you will, but Oregon State also had the 2nd worst defense in FBS last year. And the Pokes gave up 36 points to that team.
Even TCU struggled on offense throughout and Iowa State needed 3 OT’s to beat Northern Iowa. Baylor, Kansas State, Texas Tech, and Texas were dominant in their performances.
The Big 12 played some weak week 1 opponents, but ended unscathed.
Charlie Brewer or Sam Ehlinger?
This will be one of the more underrated QB matchups late in the season. The 2 Austin natives are both Juniors, but neither have truly played against each other. Sam had an impressive 4 TD performance against LA Tech with 2 to WR Freshman Brennan Eagles.
Charlie Brewer played a little over 2 quarters, but had 199 yards and 3 Touchdowns on 67% completion. Brewer looks to be more accurate, but Ehlinger can sling the rock.
Jalen Hurts is the #1 QB by many, but to say Brewer and Ehlinger aren’t far behind is not crazy.
Iowa State fans, don’t panic
It was mentioned earlier, but Iowa State really got pushed against NIU. As so it seems they did. Iowa State had issues in finishing drives, but drove the ball at will. The defense played well as NIU didn’t get an offensive touchdown till the 2nd OT.
Timely turnovers and finishing drives were the only killers. Deshaunte Jones is the clear #1 after catching FOURTEEN passes for 126 yards. Iowa State was able to establish the run game and gave up 34 yards. Just a mere 1.09 yards per carry.
It looked ugly, but the stats and the eye test showed Iowa State will be fine.
Les Miles debut nearly ends in disaster
Les Miles had made the comment during Media Day that he had “Big 12 level talent”. This game didn’t back up that statement very much. But there is some positives to take.
Andrew Parchment and Daylon Charlot played really well and combined for 200 yards. Khalil Herbert played alright in the absence of Pooka. And Carter Stanley had one of his better games.
The problem is the Jayhawks did something they didn’t do often last year. They had 3 turnovers, all 3 from fumbles. The Jayhawks got outgained and gave up 11 TFL’s.
It was a win, and KU won’t get many of those. But the start looks like an indication of how the rest of the season fairs.
Big 12 Power Rankings:
Oklahoma (1-0)
Texas (1-0)
Baylor (1-0)
Oklahoma State (1-0)
Iowa State (1-0)
Texas Tech (1-0)
TCU (1-0)
Kansas State (1-0)
West Virginia (1-0)
Kansas (1-0)
(The power rankings are based off of what we’ve seen so far from the season. NOT from pre-season expectations or being biased).
Image Credit: https://www.heartlandcollegesports.com/2019/08/31/spencer-sanders-shines-in-oklahoma-state-debut/
