Fact or Fiction Friday: Texas Drops a Game Without Ewers, Gameday in Stillwater for Bedlam
Welcome to Fact or Fiction Friday. Each Friday, I give our Facebook fans an opportunity to ask the most intriguing questions in the Big 12 Conference, and I will tell you whether they come true or if they are set to fail. Let’s crack it open and see what we have in store this week.
Texas Loses a Game Without Ewers
Fact: Before last week, I was confident in Texas winning the rest of their regular season games and getting a second chance at Oklahoma in Jerry World. But after watching them in Houston, I do have some concerns. They were brought back down to earth after that game and losing Quinn Ewers scares me a bit. Of course, Texas will lean on their defense and their running game with Jonathan Brooks, but I do wonder if Maalik Murphy can keep them afloat for a few games. If there was one game that would worry me if I was a Texas fan, it would be the Kansas State game next weekend.
College GameDay Comes to Bedlam Next Weekend if Both Oklahoma and Oklahoma State Win on Saturday
Fiction: I wish they would, but we all know that the Big 12 never gets a fair shake when it comes to airtime on ESPN. If this happens, then College GameDay SHOULD come to Stillwater, but they won’t. I would guess that they will want to go to the LSU/Alabama game or the Washinton/USC game which would be sad because this could be the last Bedlam for a very long time.
Iowa State Wins Eight Games
Fiction: Right now, the Cyclones are sitting at 4-3 on the season. They have five games left against Baylor, Kansas, BYU, Texas, and Kansas State. I can see them two or three out of their last five to become bowl eligible. Sure, it’s not eight wins but making a bowl game would be huge considering how little we thought about this team before the season started. Hopefully that would shut up the people talking about Matt Campbell being on the hot seat.
West Virginia Fires Neal Brown
Fiction: I can’t believe I am saying this, but I do believe that Neal Brown will come back for the 2024 season. I know the last two weeks have been tough for West Virginia, but they are still 4-3 right now with plenty of football left. The Mountaineers have a fairly light schedule ahead of them as they will play UCF, BYU, Oklahoma, Cincinnati, and Baylor. Outside of the Oklahoma game, you can make an argument that West Virginia could finish the season with eight wins. That would be the highest win total in the Neal Brown era at West Virginia. If he can get to seven or eight wins after being picked dead last in the preseason poll, I would give him another year. Plus, it will help them save some money too.
Jalon Daniels Will Play Again This Season
Fiction: This whole Jalon Daniels situation smells fishy to me. I get it, back injuries are tricky because they are taken very seriously. But this man hasn’t played in weeks, and it feels like nobody truly knows the status of his injury. Each week there is a rumor he is going to play, and each week Jason Bean is their starter. At this point, I will believe it when I see it and if he doesn’t play the rest of the year, then I highly doubt he will be at Kansas next season.
Texas Tech Makes a Bowl Game
Fiction: There is a lot of fiction this week and this falls right into that. Texas Tech is a broken team right now. They are on their third string quarterback, and they haven’t looked good at all. For some reason they are letting true freshman quarterback Jake Strong sling it all over the yard and he is killing them with turnovers. They are still sitting at three wins right now and they only have four games left. There is now way this team is winning three out of their last four games to become bowl eligible.
