Week 2 of the college football season is officially in the books, as it was a monumental weekend for the Big 12. The action started on Saturday morning and ended late Saturday night in Tucson.
Here are the good, bad, and ugly from Week 2 in the Big 12.
The Good
During the non-conference, we get our fair share of cupcake games, so I like to tip my cap to the teams who handled their business against lesser teams.
The Red Raiders crushed a bad Kent State team 62-14 led by quarterback Behren Morton who tossed 3 touchdown passes. 13 Red Raiders caught a pass in this game and the offence racked up over 600 yards on the day. And of course, the defense was outstanding.
Meanwhile, Utah destroyed Cal Poly 63-9 with the Utes rushing for nearly 275 yards and once again quarterback Devon Dampier was impressive. Cincinnati bounced back against Bowling Green thanks to Brendan Sorsby’s three touchdown passes.
Colorado wasn’t perfect against Delaware but ended up winning as three quarterbacks saw playing time. And after watching that game, it looked like that third string quarterback Ryan Staub may look like the best one. It’s going to be very interesting to see who gets playing time next week.
Houston got the best of their in-city rival Rice, in their 24-point win. Running back Dean Connors led the way for the Cougars with 132 yards and two touchdowns. Even though their defense struggled at times, they didn’t break very often.
UCF racked up 356 rushing yards against North Carolina A&T in their 68-7 win while Arizona stomped Weber State 48-3 thanks to Noah Fifita going off for 373 yards and five touchdown passes.
Last but not least was BYU who took it to Stanford in Provo 27-3. The Cougars controlled the game on the ground, but it was their defense who stole the show as they gave up just 161 yards on the evening.
Iowa State
It was a classic Cy-Hawk game in Ames on Saturday. It was an offensive struggle for both teams but luckily, Iowa State came out on top. The defense forced a big turnover that led to a score and when the offense needed to score points late, Rocco Becht led the way. And once again, Kyle Konrardy drilled a 54-yard field goal to take the lead against Iowa late. Sometimes winning isn’t always pretty but in a rivalry game like this, winning is all that matters. Matt Campbell has now beaten Iowa three times in the last four seasons.
Baylor
We had a classic shootout in Dallas between Baylor and SMU. Baylor’s defense left a lot to be desired but thankfully, the offense picked up the slack. Sawyer Robertson three for nearly 450 yards and four touchdowns as he lit up SMU’s defense. Receivers Josh Cameron and Ashton Hawkins combined for almost 300 yards and two scores as they cut right through the Mustangs.
I must give credit to Dave Aranda and this team. They were down at several points in this game when things looked bleak and they just kept fighting back. In overtime, the defense got the stop they desperately needed, and the offense came through once again. This was a huge bounce back win for Baylor and the Big 12.
The Bad
Kansas State
After barely escaping North Dakota last weekend, Kansas State couldn’t do the same against Army on Saturday. But, the Cats lost 24-21 to the Black Knights. The Black Knights controlled the game on the ground, dominating the time of possession 40:29 to 19:31. The Wildcats couldn’t get anything on the ground going and Avery Johnson struggled through the air. Even when they caught a break on the reviewed fumble late in the game, the offense couldn’t get it done. Call me crazy but maybe Kansas State isn’t a good football team. It looks like they haven’t recovered from the Ireland game two weeks ago.
Arizona State
There’s no other way to say it than Arizona State didn’t play their best game in Starkville. Sam Leavitt wasn’t good, but the rushing attack carried the offense with their 251 yards thanks to Raleek Brown and Kanye Udoh. On top of that, this team went 3/14 on third down. That’s not going to cut it on the road.
Meanwhile, the defense gave up two back breaking plays. One to start the game and one that put the final nail in their coffin. Between the lack of a passing game and giving up big plays defensively, it’s hard to win on the road like that. It had been two years since Mississippi State beat a team from a power conference and it’s unfortunate that it ended up being Arizona State to end their streak.
Kansas
It has been 14 years since Kansas and Missouri played and what a game it was to welcome back the Border War. Defense was optional for both teams and unfortunately Kansas came out on the wrong end of this one.
The offense led by Jalon Daniels wasn’t perfect, but he had to carry it on his back because the Jayhawks couldn’t run the football at all. But the blame of this one is on the defense. Kansas gave up almost 600 yards of offense and allowed Missouri to convert over 50% of their third down attempts. I had concerns about this defense coming into the season and I don’t feel any better about them after that game.
The Ugly
Oklahoma State
When you lose by 66 points, there is nowhere else to but here. I know the Cowboys were without starting quarterback Hauss Henjy but there is no way he would have made up for this gap. Oklahoma State was absolutely embarrassed on Saturday in Eugene. The offense was bad, and the defense was pathetic. I don’t know about you but this program under Mike Gundy has zero juice right now. I feel like the Mike Gundy era is coming to an end sooner rather than later.
West Virginia
While I am not expecting miracles in year one under Rich Rod, I do expect them to beat a team like Ohio. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen on Saturday in Athens which seems to be a bad place for Big 12 teams to go (remember Iowa State?). The defense wasn’t terrible, but the offense was hard to watch to say the least. And with the status of running back Jahiem White uncertain, this offense isn’t going to get any better.
