Big XII Roundup: Newcomers get rough welcome

We recap the first full week of Big XII conference action.

This week, we see the Big XII get into full swing with conference play with all but two teams playing in conference. There weren’t too many surprises this week but lots of action to get to, so here is your weekly Big XII roundup.

Texas appears to be the real deal this season. The Longhorns went to Baylor and smashed the Bears, holding them to two field goals. Meanwhile, the Texas offense continues to hum right along. Quarterback Quinn Ewers threw for 293 yards and a touchdown and Jonathon Brooks scored two TDs on the ground while gaining 106 yards in the 38-6 win. Baylor goes to Orlando to play UCF while Texas hosts the 4-0 Kansas Jayhawks.

Life comes at you fast, and UCF got a taste of that in their encounter at K-State. DJ Giddens had himself a day for the Wildcats. He ran for 207 yards and four touchdowns in their 44-31 win. Only up by four at the half, K-State turned it on in the second and secured the win in the Knights’ first ever conference game. The American Athletic conference, this is not. Welcome, guys. They host Baylor next week as mentioned above and KSU has the week off.

Oklahoma beat Cincinnati 20-6 on the road. The Bearcats Big XII conference debut was a tough one as the OU defense dominated from start to finish. On the offensive side, Dillon Gabriel threw for 323 yards and a touchdown for the Sooners who are 4-0 on the year. Oklahoma hosts Iowa State next week and Cincinnati travels to BYU in a battle of new conference foes.

Rocco Becht led the Iowa State Cyclones to a win over Oklahoma State, throwing for 348 yards and three touchdowns in the process. On the flipside, OSU’s Alan Bowman threw two interceptions for the Cowboys as they have now lost two games on the spin. Final score: Iowa State 34, Okie State 27. The Cyclones travel to the aforementioned Oklahoma and OSU has a week off to try to right the ship.

An intercity battle (the battle for the Iron Skillet!) was on display in an early game on Saturday. TCU quarterback Chandler Morris threw for 261 yards and three touchdowns as the Horned Frogs handled SMU easily in the last non-conference game of the season. Final score: TCU 34, SMU 17. Next week, TCU hosts West Virginia.

West Virginia took care of Texas Tech 20 to 13. Quarterback Nicco Marchiol got his first start for West Virginia and although the overall stats were nothing to admire, the victory was. Texas Tech used backup quarterback Brehen Morton for most of the game after he came on early due to an injury and the West Virginia defense stifled the Red Raiders passing attack for the majority of the game. Brehen was 13 of 37 for a passer rating of 15.9. The Mountaineers have TCU next while Tech hosts the Houston Cougars.

Speaking of Houston, they wrapped up the non-con portion of their schedule with a win over city rivals Sam Houston. After going down 10-7 early in the game, the Cougars ripped off 31 points in a row enroute to a 38-7 win. The two and two Cougs take on the one and three Red Raiders next week in a game that reeks of desperation for both teams.

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