Big 12 Football Week 5: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
We are now five weeks in to the 2022 college football season as we head into the second weekend of conference play. It was another wild weekend in the conference, so here is the good, the bad, and ugly from Week 5 in the Big 12.
The Good
TCU (Beat Oklahoma 55-24)
There were plenty of shocking things from this weekend but this one nearly took my breath away. Hats off to TCU because they had a game of a lifetime. The offense ran wild for a tune of 361 yards on the ground as Max Duggan and Kendre Miller combined for 252 yards and four rushing touchdowns. Duggan also got it done through the air as well with 302 yards and three scores. TCU was better in every single phase of the game against Oklahoma and completely blew them out for the entire time. The offense went off and the defense kept the Sooners in check. Overall, it was a great win for Sonny Dykes and TCU should be taken more seriously in this Big 12 title race.
Kansas State (Beat Texas Tech 37-28)
Another Saturday means another game where the Kansas State offense dominates their opponent on the ground. Adrian Martinez completed just 12 passes against Texas Tech, but they didn’t need to throw it much because the offense rushed for nearly 350 yards. Martinez ran for 171 yards and three scores while Deuce Vaughn added another 170 on the ground. Meanwhile the defense sacked Texas Tech quarterback Donovan Smith six times. I know it wasn’t always pretty at times, but a win is a win and Kansas State is now 2-0 in Big 12 play.
Kansas (Beat Iowa State 14-11)
I was left a little speechless for many reasons. If you told me Kansas was going to score 14 points against Iowa State, then I would have said they would have lost by a few scores. The Jayhawks had very little offense in this game, but they can thank the defense for win. That Kansas defense did an excellent job getting pressure on Hunter Dekkers and shutdown the Iowa State run game. If not for the defense, then they would have lost. Instead, this team is now 5-0 and will be hosting College GameDay next weekend.
Oklahoma State (Beat Baylor 36-25)
The scoreboard may say 36 points and one could think that the offense had a great day. While the Oklahoma State offense did some good things, Spencer Sanders didn’t have the greatest game. He made some mistakes, but for me this game was about the defense and special teams for Oklahoma State. The defense got a safety in the second quarter and then Jaden Nixon got the second half started with a 98-yard kickoff return for a score. For three quarters (everything but the third) the Oklahoma State defense held Baylor. They got Blake Shapen to make mistakes late and that is what helped seal the deal in the fourth quarter. The biggest key here was the third down defense. The Cowboys allowed Baylor to convert just three third downs. I thought this was a great team win for Oklahoma State who may now be the favorite to win the Big 12 this year after this weekend.
Texas (Beat West Virginia 38-20)
I thought Texas would have another letdown as they look ahead to the Oklahoma game, but I was wrong. Texas absolutely dominated West Virginia for four quarters. Bijan Robinson went for over 100 yards but the two players who deserve a game ball are Hudson Card and Xavier Worthy. Card went 21/27 for 303 yards and three passing touchdowns while Xavier Worthy had seven catches for 119 and two scores. He also had a passing touchdown as well. While the offense was keeping their foot on the gas, the defense had a big bounce back game. The defensive backs for Texas won the battle throughout the game as West Virginia struggled to get anything going.
The Bad
Texas Tech (Lost 37-28 to Kansas State)
It doesn’t take a genius to understand what went wrong for Texas Tech. The defense couldn’t stop the run and Donovan Smith was under pressure and made mistakes. Smith was sacked six times against Kansas State, and he also had two picks. On top of that, Texas Tech also had two fumbles. You can’t turn the ball over four times on the road and expect to win. Yet somehow this team had a chance to win the game in the fourth quarter with the score tied at 20.
Baylor (Lost 36-25 to Oklahoma State)
The third quarter was great but everything other than that wasn’t good for Baylor in their loss to Oklahoma State. They scored just three points in the first half and then allowed a kick return for a score to start the third quarter. This team dug themselves a big hole and they weren’t able to crawl out of it despite scoring 22 of their 25 points in the third quarter. The offense struggled to keep drives alive as they went 3/11 on third down and they failed to score in the fourth quarter when the game was close. Blake Shapen made mistakes with back-to-back interceptions in the fourth quarter which didn’t help either. It’s not very often Baylor is the team making the mistakes but that is exactly what happened against Oklahoma State. There were just too many mistakes and missed opportunities for them to win.
The Ugly
Oklahoma (Lost 55-24 to TCU)
In my five years of doing this article, I don’t believe I have ever put Oklahoma in the ugly category, but it’s 2022 and anything can happen. The defense has some serious issues going on and they had no chance of stopping TCU’s offense. They gave up nearly 400 rushing yards and 668 yards of offense. I don’t care how good your offense is because you aren’t winning a game where you give up that many yards. And speaking of the offense, they have issues too. Dillon Gabriel missed a ton of throws and unfortunately, he got injured in this game on a play that I thought was completely dirty. I thought this team could win a Big 12 title and at no point over the last two games have they looked anything like that. It’s clear that Brent Venables has his work cut out for him. And how ironic is it that the offense that tore up his defense is Garrett Riley, the brother of Lincoln Riley.
Iowa State (Lost 14-11 to Kansas)
I want to be clear that the defense doesn’t deserve to be here in the ugly part of my column. They played well enough to win that game by multiple scores. However special teams and the lack of offense made this game unwatchable at times. Hunter Dekkers missed some throws and was sacked five times in the game. There was also a ton of pressure on him to perform due to the fact that once again, there was no run game to be found. I know Jirehl Brock got hurt, but there was zero push up front as the running backs had a total of 57 yards on the ground. Dekkers is a first-year starter, and he is going to need some help in the run game and hasn’t gotten it in the last two games. Of course, I can’t forget about special teams either as kicker Jace Gilbert missed three field goals including a 37-yarder to tie the game that ended up not being close.
West Virginia (Lost 38-20 to Texas)
I don’t have a whole lot to say here about West Virginia. In my four thoughts after the game, I said that they either stayed on the plane or stayed in Morgantown because they didn’t show up at all. The offensive line struggled against the Texas front and once again receivers dropped passes. JT Daniels needs help, and he isn’t getting it. Also, the defense continues to struggle to get off the field. They allowed Texas to convert over 50% of their third downs and gave up multiple big plays in the passing game. If Neal Brown’s seat was hot going in, then it should be on fire now.
