Week 7 of the college football season is officially in the books, as it was another big weekend for the Big 12. The action started in Cincinnati and ended Saturday night in Salt Lake City.
Here are the good, bad, and ugly from Week 7 in the Big 12.
The Good
Houston
The Cougars were a little slow at first, but it didn’t take long for the offense to click with a healthy Connor Weigman. He threw for over 300 yards and two touchdowns and added another on the ground. When the offense can move the ball like that, then they will be a problem in the Big 12. Plus, their defense tightened up after giving up a cheap trick play touchdown.
Cincinnati
While Houston started slow and finished fast, Cincinnati did the opposite. They got off to a hot start and then held on in the final two quarters. At first, the offense was firing with Brendan Sorsby, but then it went silent in the second half. Good thing for the offense is that the defense held UCF to just three points in the first three quarters. They bent a lot, but they didn’t break much at all. And now the Bearcats are 3-0 in Big 12 play.
Kansas State
Well, well, well, look who decided to finally show up. It’s none other than Kansas State. Avery Johnson threw three touchdown passes, and the defense forced three turnovers that turned into 14 points. I have been waiting for Kansas State to play a complete game, and they did on Saturday against a good TCU team. I know their Big 12 hopes may be dead, but this team still has plenty of talent to win games.
Colorado
Kaidon Salter had a bounce-back game, and shockingly, he didn’t turn the ball over once. The offense rushed for over 140 yards, and the defense gave up just two third-down attempts all game long. It was by far the best game Colorado has played all season long. And I think it’s safe to say that the fine for the fans rushing the field was worth every penny.
Texas Tech
It was the Cameron Dickey show on Saturday night in Lubbock. Dickey ran for 263 yards and two scores against Kansas. Even with Behren Morton going down due to an injury, Dickey kept the offense moving all game long. It also helped that the defense completely shut out Kansas in the second half. I feel like I say this every week, but even when Texas Tech doesn’t play its best, it still beats teams by twenty plus.
BYU
Even when the defense didn’t play its best and despite a few mistakes made by Bear Bachmeier, BYU still found a way to win in double overtime. This was a game where the offense for BYU had to win it because they were struggling a bit defensively during regulation, which is something we haven’t really seen. When BYU needed to make a play, it was Bear Bachmeier, it was LJ Martin, it was Parker Kingston. This offense they have has weapons, and they can beat you in different ways.
And speaking of Bear, not the best stat line, but when you need a touchdown, he finds a way to get it done with his arm or his legs, and to say that about a freshman quarterback is pretty remarkable.
Utah
What we saw against Arizona State was total domination up front. Utah ran for nearly 300 yards against a respectable defense, and of course, it was led by none other than Devon Dampier, who rushed for 120 yards and three touchdowns.
On top of that, the Utes’ defense came to play and completely shut down anything Arizona State did offensively with Jeff Sims. You can say what you want about Utah’s loss to Tech a few weeks ago, but there aren’t many teams that can match up with Utah in the trenches.
The Bad
UCF
The Knights‘ defense kept them in the game for as long as they could, but unfortunately, the offense did next to nothing outside of a late score. Speaking of scores, the score doesn’t tell the entire story of this game because it was not as close as it looked. Until UCF can figure out things offensively, they are going to struggle to be competitive.
TCU
Did anyone see TCU losing by double digits to Kansas State? Because I certainly didn’t. Josh Hoover struggled as the offense turned the ball over three times, including two scores that came from those turnovers. It put the defense in some tough spots throughout the game, and TCU’s defense didn’t do a great job either. They are a better team than what they showed on Saturday.
Kansas
I have to give the Jayhawks some credit for putting up a good fight in the first half. After being down by three possessions, Kansas came storming back and made it a four-point game at halftime. Unfortunately, they faded in the second half and didn’t score a single point as they were outscored 21-0. You can’t give up over 300 rushing yards and expect to win on the road.
Arizona
The Wildcats had a chance to put the game to bed in the fourth quarter with a double-digit lead, but couldn’t close it out. Arizona didn’t play badly by any means, but they had some trouble slowing down BYU’s offense when it mattered most. Giving up over 250 rushing yards isn’t a recipe for success, and neither is allowing an opponent to convert 50% of their third-down attempts. It was a tough loss for Arizona, and they were so close to making the game go to another overtime.
The Ugly
Oklahoma State
Outside of the neat trick play early on in the game, there wasn’t much that went right for Oklahoma State against Houston. The offense couldn’t do much after that fun play, and the defense fell apart quickly. But I did enjoy seeing the shirtless guys in the stands. That may have been the only positive for the Cowboys on Saturday.
Iowa State
I can’t remember the last time I put Iowa State in my ugly portion of this article, but I had to after watching them on Saturday. Rocco Becht didn’t look like himself, his receivers dropped too many passes, and they went 2/12 on third down. On top of that, Iowa State had seven penalties.
While the defense played better than the offense, it wasn’t by much. They had a bad blown coverage in the second half and struggled at times to stop the run. Between all the mistakes by the players and the coaching staff, it was the worst game I have seen Iowa State play in years.
Arizona State
I knew the offense would struggle without Sam Leavitt, but I expected the Sun Devils to score more than ten points against Utah. But the biggest issue that I didn’t see coming was defensively.
Arizona State gave up 279 rushing yards against the Utes and was absolutely dominated on both sides of the ball. Utah completed just eight passes in the game, and I feel like they didn’t even need to complete one, and they still would have won by double digits. Hopefully, Sam Leavitt comes back soon because without him, they don’t look the part.
