Week 2 action gets under way

Big 12 report: Time for the Texas statement

Big 12 report: Time for the Texas statement
@TexasFootball

The Big 12 is the only undefeated conference in football. There are some solid games to pay attention to this week but before we do that let's take a look back at last week in Big 12 action.

Wins that matter

Iowa State 29 Northern Iowa 26

The news clippings almost got the Cyclones! They had to struggle to take down the Panthers after coming in ranked for the first time basically ever. The absence of David Montgomery and Hakeem Butler were apparent. Deshaunte Jones was amazing but the wideouts outside of him didn't bring a ton. The Cyclones have a lot of improvement ahead of them if they want to be taken serious behind the Longhorns and the Sooners.

Oklahoma 49 Houston 31

The Sooners looked like they didn't miss a beat with new quarterback Jalen Hurts under center. They're nasty when it comes to pass catchers and the defense had some early bright spots before they started breaking more than the bent. Lincoln Riley is one of the best coaches in football and the Sooners seem ready to roll again.

Texas 45 Louisiana Tech 14

The Longhorns rolled. They allowed a few yards but made the plays they needed to keep the Bulldogs out of the end zone. The offense rolled despite limitation at running back in the game. Tom Herman and company had a good warm up before the biggest game of the early Big 12 schedule.

Three studs

Oklahoma State RB Chuba Hubbard

You can see the video above. He was a freak against the Beavers and Oklahoma State has a dynamic offense with him and quarterback Spencer Sanders leading the way. Hubbard is already to a third of his production from last season.

Texas Tech RB Armand Shyne

A Texas Tech running back? You're damn right. The Red Raiders played a FCS team but almost 700 yards is nothing to sneeze at ever. The ground game rattled off 255 with Shyne accounting for 125 yards on his 11 carries.

Oklahoma QB Jalen Hurts

What a debut for the former Alabama quarterback. He accounted for over 500 yards of offense and six touchdowns and my word he looked better than just about ever. He won the "Week One Heisman" is all you need to know.

Must-watch game

6 LSU at 9 Texas

What a contest. What a matchup. Just an incredible early schedule game for all of us to consume. Texas has the ability to defeat LSU and hand the Tigers a huge blow to a hopeful season. LSU probably has the offense capable of downing the Horns in Austin, but I don't trust Joe Burrow.

Last year Burrow tossed 16 touchdowns. The above mentioned Sam Ehlinger rushed for 16 touchdowns on top of his 25 passing scores. Burrow accounted for just 23 total scores. Yes, Burrow and the Tigers torched their week one opponent. Let's see if they can do it against Texas. I am worried about the injuries to the Longhorns running backs but if Ehlinger's legs hold up Texas is winning this one.

Who better ball

Texas RB Keaontay Ingram

He's one of the few healthy running backs that is actually a running back and not transitioned there off another position. He will have to be solid and durable for the Longhorns if they're going to win.

West Virginia's Running Backs. All of them.

Awful performance for them against James Madison last week. They rushed for a whopping 34 yards. That has to be better if they'd like to add to Missouri's horrid start.

Big 12 Rankings

1. Oklahoma

2. Texas

3. Oklahoma State

4. Texas Tech

5. Baylor

6. TCU

7. Iowa State

8. Kansas State

9. West Virginia

10. Kansas

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The Astros beat the Phillies, 2-1. Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images.

Cam Smith hit an RBI single in the eighth inning to give the Houston Astros a 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday.

The rookie's second hit of the game came off Orion Kerkering (5-3) and gave the Astros their fourth straight win.

Brandon Marsh tied the game on a sacrifice fly in the top of the inning to end the Phillies' 26-inning scoreless streak.

The Astros took a 1-0 lead on Yainer Diaz’s RBI single in the second inning. They only managed three more hits off Phillies starter Christopher Sanchez, who struck out 11 with zero walks over six innings. Sanchez has not issued a walk in three straight starts.

Hunter Brown lowered his league best ERA to 1.74 by scattering three singles over seven shutout innings, with nine strikeouts. He did not allow a runner to reach second base.

Bryan Abreu (3-3) struck out Trea Turner to end the eighth, and then struck out Kyle Schwarber, Alec Bohm, and Nick Castellanos in the ninth.

Abreu joined Julia Morales after the game and talked about his impressive performance!

Rafael Marchán had two of the Phillies' four hits. Bryson Stott reached base twice and scored the Phillies' lone run.

Key moment

Smith’s RBI.

Key stat

Brown’s 1.74 ERA is the fourth best in Astros history through 16 starts and the best since Justin Verlander posted a 1.60 ERA through 16 starts in 2018.

Up next

The Astros open a three-game series against the Cubs on Friday with LHP Brandon Walter (0-1 3.80 ERA) on the mound.

The Phillies open a three-game series at the Braves on Friday with RHP Mick Abel (2-1 3.47 ERA) against Atlanta RHP Bryce Elder (2-4 4.77).

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