Week 6 of the college football season is officially in the books, as it was another monumental weekend for the Big 12. The action started on Saturday afternoon in Stillwater and ended late Saturday night in Tucson.
Here are the good, bad, and ugly from Week 6 in the Big 12.
The Good
Willie Fritz Got His First Win
It’s been a rough start to the season for Houston, but Friday night was much needed for head coach Willie Fritz. The Cougars rushed for over 200 yards and had four takeaways in their big 30-19 upset over TCU in Fort Worth. It was a sweet moment for Willie Fritz because he got his first Big 12 win as a head coach. Congrats!
Iowa State Woke Up
The Cyclones found themselves down 14-3 early on against Baylor, but then they decided to wake up and play good football. In the final three quarters of the game, Iowa State outscored Baylor 40 to 14. Most of that was due to their outstanding rushing attack. Jaylon Jackson ran wild for 107 yards and two scores, while backup Carson Hansen was three yards shy from a 100-yard performance himself. Along with the offense waking up, the Cyclone defense buckled down and completely shut down Baylor’s offense for the final forty minutes of the game. With the win, Iowa State is now 5-0 for the first time since 1980.
Powerful Rushing Attacks
Anytime you complete just ten passes and win by twenty-plus, that means you just ran all over someone, and that is exactly what West Virginia did to Oklahoma State. The Mountaineers racked up 389 yards on the ground as Jaheim White, Garrett Greene, and CJ Donaldson combined for a whopping 321 yards and four touchdowns. They could not be stopped on Saturday in Stillwater.
Meanwhile, we saw a similar situation in Tempe, but the score was much closer. The Sun Devils ran for 313 yards against Kansas, with Cam Skattebo leading the way with 186 yards and a touchdown. Anytime Arizona State needed a big play, Skattebo came up clutch. And I must give credit to quarterback Sam Leavitt, who found Jordyn Tyson for the go-ahead score with just 16 seconds left in the game.
Hello, First Place
I can’t believe I am saying this, but the Texas Tech Red Raiders are sitting at the top of the Big 12 standings at 3-0. Their defense did a great job of slowing down Arizona’s offense in critical situations as they held the Wildcats to just 3/14 on third down. And while their offense didn’t have their best performance, they still were able to come up big. Behren Morton didn’t turn the football over, and despite Tahj Brooks fumbling late, he managed to score three times to help make up for it. As I mentioned last night in my postgame article, I really like the way the schedule is set up for Texas Tech. Do not be surprised to see this team win eight or nine games and be right in the Big 12 title race come late November.
The Bad
TCU’s Turnovers
Once again, the Horned Frogs are on the losing end of the turnover battle. On Friday night against Houston, TCU turned the football over four times. That has been the story of the season so far for this team. They have moments where they play extremely well, then shoot themselves in the foot. In their last three games, TCU has turned the football over 12 times. Between the interceptions by Josh Hoover and the fumbles, something has to change for TCU because you can’t keep turning the football over and expect to win games.
Kansas’ Bowl Chances
While Jalon Daniels had arguably his best game of the season, it still wasn’t quite good enough to get the job done. This was the best overall effort I have seen from this Kansas team in weeks, yet they still came up short. It seems like every week, this team falls flat on their face in the fourth quarter, and that was the case on Saturday night. With the loss, Kansas is now 1-5 on the season and will have to go 5-1 in their final six games to become bowl-eligible.
Arizona’s Mistakes
The Wildcats didn’t play terribly, but they certainly weren’t at their best offensively. They struggled to protect Noah Fifita, and speaking of Fifita, his two interceptions were key in this game. But Fifita wasn’t the only one turning the ball over. Tetairoa McMillan also had a costly fumble late in the game that gave Texas Tech a two-possession lead. Between the turnovers and the inability to finish drives, Arizona simply couldn’t get the job done at home late Saturday night.
The Ugly
UCF’s Offense
Let me start by saying Florida is not a good football team. Yet, UCF had trouble scoring points against them on Saturday night in Gainesville. The Knights rushed for just 108 yards on 40 carries against the second-worst run defense in the SEC. What made matters worse was that UCF had zero threat of any passing ability due to KJ Jefferson, who went 12/22 for 165 yards and had an interception. Between Jefferson being unable to find receivers and being sacked five times, this UCF offense had their worst game of the season.
Dave Aranda
I don’t want to knock Baylor too much because I thought they played respectable for nearly three quarters, but we are at the point where that doesn’t matter anymore in Waco. The simple truth is that Dave Aranda lost the game, and Baylor is now 2-4 on the year and 0-3 in Big 12 play. This is the third straight season where things are going in the wrong direction. At what point does Baylor cut ties? He is 3-17 in his last 20 games against FBS opponents and is now 2-13 in his last 15 Big 12 games. It’s time to move on Baylor.
Oklahoma State
I am almost at a loss for words about this team. I picked Oklahoma State to make the Big 12 title game, and that will not happen. In fact, this team will be lucky to even make a bowl game with the way they look right now. The offense looks bad, and I am unsure if it can be fixed. They can’t run the football at all. Ollie Gordon III got hurt, and most importantly, Alan Bowman has regressed so badly that he has to be benched.
Defensively, this team is not any better. They let West Virginia run it right down their throat, and the Cowboys had zero interest in stopping it. The effort I saw from some of the players was absolutely embarrassing. Between the coaching and the play from the players, this season has been a total disaster so far.
