Week 2 action gets under way

Big 12 report: Time for the Texas statement

Cody Stoots
Sep 5, 2019, 12:09 am
@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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12. RICE

The struggle continues as Baylor comes to town the week after Texas left an impression of a boot print on the backside of Rice. I think this program is a long way off from winning games against Texas and Baylor but showing a little "want to" could go a long way with the alumni and the student section.

11. TEXAS STATE

I think I was wrong about Texas State not being the eleventh worst team in the state but honestly, maybe they are. This week at least will shake out the bottom of the list and show who is where as all the schools on this end of the list are playing similarly equal teams.

10. UTSA

How bad is UTSA? We'll know after this week. I think they can play a hard game against North Texas and honestly winning it isn't out of the question. This week will go a long way to determine the pecking order of the bottom of this list and if UTSA wants to move up, this is their chance.

9. UTEP

This week Nevada comes to town and UTEP gets to try and play away the memories of their Week 2 loss. How they perform this week will determine the integrity and quality of this team. Can they step up their game and respond to the adversity of a season slipping away?

8. NORTH TEXAS

Losing to SMU and then to Cal, the season is quickly slipping away from North Texas but here comes UTSA. This is a game that will determine the season for North Texas. Are they losers or are they going to fight for their season? This game will answer that question.

7.  TEXAS TECH

So much losing last week, it feels like almost the whole state of Texas lost. Texas Tech losing to Arizona did not help their season at all but there was no way to bump them down because everyone else lost too. Tech's off this week so the Red Raiders can reload and try again next week.

6. SMU

So yet again I correctly predicted SMU would win, and now they're looking strong. This week they have a chance to really elevate their season by traveling to now ranked #25 TCU. This is the hard one; rolling strong, good momentum but here's hoping momentum travels because this is a tough road game. I don't think SMU's winning ways continue but the upset would be huge for their year.

5. HOUSTON

So last week someone e-mailed me and asked why I had U of H over Baylor, considering Baylor was having a better year so far and I pointed out Houston's loss was to a Oklahoma and Baylor had been beating up cupcakes. Well the losing continued and now Baylor moved up while on a bye; Houston is down and it looks like even a win against Tulane won't change things.

4. BAYLOR

Coming off the bye, they passed U of H in the rankings because honestly U of H lost again. Baylor looks to continue its dominance of cupcakes this week against Rice and unless something changes this is probably where they'll be until they play Oklahoma later this season.

3. TCU

TCU won against Purdue and now they have SMU coming to town. These mid-level teams battling it out is the hardest thing to predict, because it's tough to gauge how far apart these teams are. I think TCU will win this game but even if they do, how much do we reward such a win? These are the things that makes college football fun.

2. TEXAS A&M

Texas A&M did exactly what I thought they would and beat Lamar. That probably helped the locker room feel better about their season but here comes Auburn and honestly, it's tough to see a way A&M wins this game. Obviously this will be the game to watch, but the odds of it going well are slim.

1. TEXAS

Texas took full advantage of Rice and took care of business. A big win after a loss is always what the doctor ordered but now Oklahoma State is coming to town and Texas needs to decide if they want to have a good season or a bad season. Stay Tuned.

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