Week 2 action gets under way
Big 12 report: Time for the Texas statement
Sep 5, 2019, 1:09 am
Week 2 action gets under way
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.
ÂIowa State *just* escapes with a win at home vs Northern Iowa 😅 pic.twitter.com/k7TYb3nwsD
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) August 31, 2019
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.
Â#OklahomaState RB Chuba Hubbard with the juice on this 53-yard TD run. Now with 23 carries for 213 yards and 3 rush TDs averaging 9.3 yards per carry. Chuba, Chuba, Chuba, Chuba, Choo-Choo. The train is boarding #devy #CFF pic.twitter.com/FsPROZsBeC
— Jason DiRienzo (@allpurposescout) August 31, 2019
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.
ÂK'Lavon Chaisson asked about seeing Sam Ehlinger again(they played vs each other in high school in the 6A State Title game in 2015)
— Brian Holland (@BHollandSports) September 1, 2019
"I don't find him too much of a threat, that's not a shot at him...he uses his legs more than his arms"#txhsfb #LSU #HookEm pic.twitter.com/njsHiOmB0J
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.
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.
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
Both continue to roll along despite rashes of injuries. When the Astros awoke May 24 their record sat at 26-25. Since then they have gone 26-10. That is a dominant stretch despite this clearly not being a dominant team. The still Alvarez-less offense is mediocre. So is the starting pitching apart from the one-two awesome punch that Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez have been. When Brown or Valdez has been the Astros’ starting pitcher this season, the team record is 25-9. With anyone else making the start, 27-26. They have been every bit as dynamic a duo so far in 2025 that Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole were for the Astros in 2019 when Verlander edged out Cole to win his third Cy Young Award. Brown is a lock to be named to his first American League All-Star team this Sunday. Valdez is worthy of a third consecutive selection but could get caught in a numbers squeeze. Eight or nine starting pitchers are picked for each league.
The Dodgers won’t face Brown this weekend, but will have to deal with Valdez on Saturday night. His mound counterpart will be Shohei Ohtani. Oooooooh! Framber didn’t give up a run in 13 innings over his last two starts, and over his last 10 outings has a super-spiffy 1.72 earned run average. The amazing Ohtani is easing back into pitching after his second Tommy John surgery. Ohtani has started three games, totaling just four innings. He has yet to throw 30 pitches in an outing. Saturday he probably will be allowed 30 to 40.
Arms race
While Friday’s outing isn’t remotely a make or break start for Lance McCullers, it does speak to a significant question the Astros hope to find a pleasing answer to over the remainder of the regular season. Who is their third starting pitcher in a playoff series? After Brown and Valdez there is simply no one who inspires confidence at this point. McCullers has been awful his last two times out, jacking up his ERA to 6.61 eight starts into his season. 20 walks issued in 32 2 /3 innings pitched is glaringly bad. McCullers is still reasonably in ramp up mode, but given his injury history along with performance concerns, the third starter spot can’t be considered his to lose. Spencer Arrighetti’s resume is thin but his return at the level he pitched at after the All-Star break last season would be massive. Colt Gordon and Brandon Walter have both done some nice fill-in work, but no one plausibly wants them starting what would be a do or die game if the Astros wind up in a game three of a best-of-three Wild Card series.
Historic achievement
Not as if it’s subplot or anything this weekend, but let’s call it notable that the two active career hits leaders in Major League Baseball share the field this weekend. Jose Altuve this week vaulted past Jeff Bagwell for second in Astros’ history behind Craig Biggio. Altuve enters the weekend 743 hits behind Biggio. He is no lock to catch him before Altuve’s five-year contract expires at the end of the 2029 season. Altuve will be 39 then. Biggio was 41 when he rapped his 3000th hit, then added 60 more before beginning the waiting game for election to the Hall of Fame.
Like Biggio got and presumably someday Altuve will get, Dodger first baseman Freddie Freeman will get the call from Cooperstown some day. Like Altuve, Freeman is 35 years old, has won a Most Valuable Player Award, one Gold Glove, and with his selection this week been named an All-Star nine times. Aaron Judge may change this in the next couple of years, but among active players only Mike Trout (by a long shot) has compiled more Baseball-Reference offensive Wins Above Replacement than Freeman (second) and Altuve (third).
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!Â
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