The Big 12 had six conference games on Saturday, leveling each team at one game of Big 12 experience this season. Though some games stayed closer than others, the weekend carried excitement for what the rest of the season may look like, leaving three teams undefeated and others way behind the competition.
Kansas vs. BYU: Jayhawks finish victorious in battle of undefeated teams
In the only game to feature two 3-0 schools, Kansas pulled ahead in the third quarter to defeat the BYU Cougars 38-27. The teams held each other to even offensive production, with the Cougars totaling 366 yards and 23 first downs in the loss and Kansas gaining 351 yards and 23 first downs. While the Jayhawks gained 63% of their yardage in the run game, though, Kedon Slovis threw for 97.5% of BYU’s yards. The Jayhawks must have noticed that reliance on the quarterback during halftime, as they entered the third quarter with an immediate interception into a touchdown from senior safety Kenny Logan Jr. to get ahead of Brigham Young 21-17.
From there, the Jayhawks picked off another Slovis pass in the third to start the fourth quarter with a touchdown, making it the third straight touchdown in favor of Kansas to lead 35-20. The Cougars finished with one more touchdown, their only in the half, to shrink the gap of the away loss. They intend to resurge as a top team in the conference in a Friday night game against Cincinnati while Kansas will fight to keep their record undefeated against the mighty Texas Longhorns.
Iowa State vs. Oklahoma State: OSU settles on one quarterback but falls short against Cyclones
With a mid-afternoon start time, Iowa State set their record even to the Oklahoma State Cowboys at 2-2, winning 34-27. The Cowboys, led by 121 rushing yards from Ollie Gordon’s 18 carries, stayed productive throughout the game, but Iowa State simply scored a bit more every step of the way. Ending the first quarter tied at a touchdown, OSU matched a late Iowa State field goal in the second quarter, scoring in 43 seconds to close the half, but the Cyclones still managed three more points than the Cowboys in the quarter for a halftime lead. Alan Bowman’s interception halted an Oklahoma State scoring opportunity to start the half, widening the Iowa State lead to the seven point margin that remained in the final score.
The Cyclones needed the victory on Saturday to stay competitive in the conference early, as they are expected to lose to Oklahoma next weekend, and they looked strong as a team in doing so. Freshman leader Rocco Becht completed 27 of 38 passes for 348 yards, splitting his three touchdowns between receivers Jaylin Noel and Daniel Jackson. Oklahoma State will attempt to recover in October after their bye week.
Oklahoma vs. Cincinnati: 16th ranked Sooners continue impressive campaign
Scoring significantly less than their new average of 46.75 points per game, Oklahoma still got the job done 20-6 on Saturday with consistent scoring in Cincinnati. The Bearcats played better than they had in last week’s loss against Miami of Ohio, with stronger, more spread out running back production than Oklahoma in the game to tie their number of first downs at 21. The team even forced Oklahoma into a messy start, recovering a fumble from the Sooners’ quarterback Dillon Gabriel, but the Sooners never allowed meaningful production from the Bearcats, holding them to a 3/15 third down efficiency and no touchdowns in the game. Oklahoma expects to continue their undefeated season next week with a win against Iowa State while Cincinnati will attempt to recover from their two game losing streak on Friday against BYU.
Houston: Cougars even their record at two wins in nonconference victory
The Houston Cougars found their stride a bit with a convincing 38-7 win over the Sam Houston State Bearkats. After allowing one touchdown from their in-state opponents in the first quarter, the Cougars shut down the newcomers to the FBS, holding them to 178 yards as Houston gained 538 in the outing. Freshman running back Parker Jenkins led both teams with three touchdowns and 105 rushing yards. After tough opponents in Rice and TCU, the Cougars now have a bit of momentum going into their second conference matchup next week against Texas Tech before the team’s week off.
WVU vs. Texas Tech: Mountaineers slow Red Raiders down immensely to break four year losing streak in rivalry
The Texas Tech Red Raiders struggled to score Saturday after scoring 30 points or more for three weeks. With nine penalties for 96 yards, the Red Raiders lost nearly five times the amount of yardage as their West Virginia opponents did in the game. As such, WVU led throughout the game despite being outdone in every yardage category offensively by their Texas Tech rivals. Nicco Marchiol, who served as the Mountaineer quarterback in the absence of Garrett Greene, had a bit of a learning curve in the game, throwing two interceptions in the first half, but the team kept Texas Tech at three points for three full quarters to eliminate that as a factor.
With the 20-13 victory, West Virginia has the momentum of a three game winning streak as they travel to Fort Worth next weekend to play TCU. Texas Tech will try to gain leverage of their own against the lesser Houston Cougars, who have one more win than the Red Raiders this season.
TCU: Horned Frogs up their winning streak to three games
As Texas Christian University continues their efforts to regain their reputation from last season, the Horned Frogs are now 3-1 after a messy 34-17 victory over their SMU rivals. With headlines mostly focusing on the behavior of head coach Sonny Dykes and the upcoming break in the rivalry known as the Iron Skillet, TCU still has much work to do if they want to prove themselves capable of accomplishing similar feats as last season. Overall, the Horned Frogs had a slight upper hand over the Mustangs, but their 13-0 scoring advantage in the third quarter and the two forced interceptions from quarterback Preston Stone primarily led the charge for the TCU victory. The Horned Frogs get a bit more competitive in their schedule next week as they play the West Virginia Mountaineers, who have a tied record with TCU.
UCF vs. Kansas State: Wildcats drop undefeated UCF after loss to Missouri
The UCF Knights scored well once again this weekend but could not hold the brute force of Kansas State, as they lost their first game of the season 44-31. The Wildcats pushed for 32 first downs in the game compared to UCF’s 19 and capitalized in important moments with a 9/15 third down efficiency. With more than double the total rushing yards of the Knights, Kansas State’s six touchdowns came exclusively from their run game despite Will Howard’s 27 completions for 255 yards. Howard had seven carries for 64 yards and two touchdowns, but the bulk of the work came from sophomore DJ Giddens, who exploded for 207 rushing yards and four touchdowns. The team still has work to do to be a top force in the Big 12, but they bounced back from last week’s loss in a major way with this victory.
UCF split the work between their players offensively, but without the defense to contain Kansas State’s fierce run game or the leadership of injured quarterback John Rhys Plumlee, the Knights failed to make their production count. They will plan to bounce back against the 1-3 Baylor Bears next weekend while the Wildcats have earned their weekend off before facing Oklahoma State in the sixth week of the season.
Texas vs. Baylor: Bears unable to make anything happen against third ranked team in the nation
The Texas Longhorns reinforced their status as the top dogs in the Big 12 this weekend with a blowout victory against Baylor. The Bears fell 38-6 to the team ranked third in the AP’s top 25 poll and were held scoreless in the second half. The Longhorns made things happen mostly in the second quarter, which was the team’s fourth three touchdown quarter of the season. Quarterback Quinn Ewers played efficiently, completing 18/23 passes for 293 yards, a rushing touchdown, and a passing touchdown to wide receiver Xavier Worthy, who also threw one pass for 35 yards Saturday. The Longhorns really took advantage of the Bears in the run game with 175 rushing yards compared to Baylor’s 60. Baylor was forced into 18 third down plays during the game and had 25 more plays total than the efficient Longhorns.
The Bears did not play bad, nor did their quarterback Sawyer Robertson, who threw an interception and 203 yards on a 20/35 completion rate, but it is clear that Baylor sits at a lower level in the conference while Texas stands above the rest. Texas will test their undefeated record against Kansas next week while Baylor will take on UCF to try to gain momentum for their season.
