After running the table and going 10-0 last week, the Big 12 had a bit of a let down record wise. However, we learned more about some teams and what they have for 2019.
TCU and Iowa State had bye weeks. In spite of that, both teams have intriguing matchups next week that we’ll get into in the next post.
Texas is back……almost
Whatever criteria you used to define Texas is whether they’re “back” or not. Being back to a conference title contender or a champion. Or even a National Championship contender.
With all of that being said, Texas was impressive, especially in the 2nd half with Sam Ehlinger making some big throws.
It felt like the air was taken out of the building in the 1st half. Being down 20-7 doesn’t sound awful, but it felt like Texas was in the game.
With one of the easiest catches of the week dropped on 4th down, the score could’ve easily been 20-14. Or even 20-10 as they had 2 4th down opportunities inside the 5. They turned it over on downs both times.
Ehlinger and Burrow turned the 2nd half into a shootout. Ehlinger had 4 total touchdowns and 2 of those going to Senior Devin Duvernay.
I think Texas is definitely heading in the right direction. This game though was a prime opportunity to get a HUGE Non-Conference win. And especially at home, they weren’t quite able to pull it out.
From a national title perspective, Texas is not quite back yet. But they are heading in the right direction and could be there within the next few years.
Baylor, Texas Tech, and Kansas State can blow out lesser competition
TCU and Iowa State got last week off, but these 3 teams are the biggest question marks through the first 2 weeks. All 3 played an FCS and Non Power 5 school. And all 3 teams dominated those games.
This makes next week’s matchups even more interesting. This is the last year Baylor has to play literal cupcakes, but for K-State and Texas Tech the season begins next week.
Chris Klieman takes his first road trip as a Wildcat to Starkville to play Mississippi State. While Matt Wells will be doing the same in a 10:30 EST showdown with Arizona.
Being in a hostile environment against much better competition will give us a better gauge. All 3 teams displayed a much improve defense and offense that is capable of putting up points. While that is against Nicholls, Stephen F. Austin, and Montana State.
Next week will answer the questions for Tech and K-State, while Baylor travels in week 4 to Rice.
Brace yourself West Virginia fans
Coming into the season, I knew West Virginia would take a big step back. Neal Brown had all the ingredients for a mulligan season similar to Matt Rhule in 2017. Losing an abundance of production, transfers, and implementing a new system.
While it may not have come to a huge surprise that WV fell into Missouri, the score did. West Virginia looked out of the game from the get go and Austin Kendall was extremely uncomfortable throughout.
WV only had one drive that went more than 45 yards and that drive had a 46 yard play. Missouri was able to establish dominance by pounding the Mountaineers for 232 rushing yards. Meanwhile, WV had just 30 rushing yards all game.
It’s odd because West Virginia hasn’t been in a rebuilding phase since 2001. That was the first season under Rich Rodriguez. This year could be rough for the fans of blue and gold.
Trust the process and in year 3 and 4, Neal Brown will have WV back to where they used to be.
New coach, Same results
It’s harsh to judge a coach based off of their 2nd game.Les Miles has made Kansas look like they have the past 10 years. There was those very optimistic of Kansas winning 4, maybe even, 5 games. Those predictions were solely off of the hire though.
With Pooka Williams back after suspension, he did rush for 99 yards. But on 22 attempts and 4.5 yards per carry. Carter Stanley was poor to say the least with 107 yards and 2 INT’s. The Jayhawks got out-gained and lost the Turnover battle.
After WR’s Andrew Parchment and Daylon Charlot combined for 200 yards last week, they were non-existent this week. Parchment had 14 yards and Charlot was not targeted once.
Kansas isn’t going to be rebuilt in one day, and even if it does, it’ll be a lot longer than people anticipated. It takes a new coach normally half a season before he realizes what his team truly is and how to make adjustments.
And Les Miles is off to a good start recruiting wise. In the end though, Les Miles being the right move will be found out later in the year.
Oh, also shoutout to the Big 12 YouTube page for making one of the worst highlight videos on that platform.
Power Rankings:
Oklahoma (2-0)
Texas (2-0)
Baylor (2-0)
Oklahoma State (2-0)
Iowa State (1-0)
TCU (1-0)
Kansas State (2-0)
Texas Tech (2-0)
West Virginia (1-1)
Kansas (1-1)
Image Credit: https://tucson.com/sports/bowman-throws-tds-texas-tech-tops-utep—with/article_28188921-ac80-5933-a679-381968e23d6b.html
