Big 12 Roundup & Power Rankings: Sooners Fall & Texas Is Back?

#8 Stanford 26, Kansas State 13 (0-1, 0-0)

Kansas State kicked off the Big 12 slate by taking on Stanford. The Cardinal took a 17-3 lead into halftime but as Bill Snyder is known to do, adjustments were made and Kansas State slowed the game down. Stanford only had 30 yards after halftime when K-State made the game close, scoring a touchdown with 1:51 left. Trailing by 6, the Wildcats attempted an onside kick that didn’t travel 10 yards. Heisman hopeful Christian McCaffrey would score a 70-yard touchdown to put the game out of reach.

Week 2: Bye

#23 Baylor 55 (1-0,0-0), Northwestern St 7

Baylor played a FBS team to open the season?! Oh wait, that’s Northwestern STATE. Phew, my whole world almost collapsed there for a second. Baylor didn’t roll up a ton of offensive yardage but Seth Russell completed 14 of 20 passes for 4 touchdowns. Baylor was able to play a lot of their younger players which is going to be handy as their current recruiting class is taking a nosedive.

Week 2: vs SMU

#15 Houston 33, #3 Oklahoma 23 (0-1, 0-0)

KICK SIX! KICK SIX! KICK SIX! If you ever think to yourself, “its the end of the half. Sure its a long field goal but what do we have to lose?” This is what you have to lose. It’s happened to Nick Saban and Bob Stoops. More than that, this loss is going to maybe end Oklahoma and the Big 12’s playoff chances. Getting through the Big 12 undefeated is a challenge and a two-loss champion, especially one without a championship game, could derail the Big 12. Thanks Sooners....

Week 2: vs Louisiana Monroe

#13 TCU 59 (1-0, 0-0), South Dakota St 41

This is why I want to play teams breaking in new quarterbacks and new defensive players early. South Dakota State put it to TCU. Ultimately, playing on the road and against superior talent, the Jackrabbits fell behind and couldn’t match TCU but for 3+ quarters, this game was back and forth. Former Texas A&M quarterback Kenny Hill threw for 439 yards while rushing for an additioinal 45. He threw two touchdowns and rushed for three, proving to be a solid replacement for all-world Trevone Boykin.

Week 2: vs Arkansas

#21 Oklahoma State 61 (1-0,0-0), Southeastern Louisiana 7

Mason Rudolph threw for 188 yards and Oklahoma State cruised against an inferior opponent. The warmup game for the Cowboys allowed the team to ease into the 2016 schedule. Former Stanford running back Barry Sanders Jr., son of the Detroit Lions running back, had 76 all-purpose yards and scored on a 1-yard run. The Cowboys wanted to work on their run game but averaged only 3.8 YPC on 37 carries. This season is going to rely on Rudolph to shoulder the load.

Week 2: vs. Central Michigan

West Virginia 26 (1-0, 0-0), Missouri 11

The second most impressive victory of Week 1 belonged to the Mountaineers. Stifling an SEC opponent, the Mountaineers slowly suffocated the Tigers and built an insurmountable lead at 20-3 early into the third quarter. The Tigers scored their only touchdown of the game against second and third string players late in the 4th quarter.

Week 2: vs Youngstown State

Kansas 55(1-0,0-0), Rhode Island

Kansas beat Rhode Island for their first win since beating Iowa State in 2014. The win caused head coach David Beatty to tear up after the game.

"I've never been through what we went through last year," the second-year coach said shortly after a 55-6 victory over Rhode Island on Saturday night. "Personally it was very difficult. I got emotional with those guys. It's just so hard, so obviously I'm overjoyed for them."

Good for you Kansas. The students rushed the field to celebrate the victory, only to be told to return to their seats. Don’t ever stop being you Kansas.

Week 2: vs. Ohio

Northern Iowa 25, Iowa State 20 (0-1, 0-0)

The Matt Campbell era got off to a rousing start with such great reviews on the recruiting trail. Unfortunately those recruits aren’t playing this year and it showed. The offensive line is patchwork and it kept running back Mike Warren from getting going. Warren only had 30 yards on 12 carries and the offense could not sustain drives. This led to a fatigued defense which faltered.

Week 2: @ Iowa

Texas Tech 69 (1-0,0-0), Stephen F. Austin 17

Patrick Mahomes made sure that this game was decided early, allowing the Mountaineers to enjoy seeing Stephen F. Austin lose to the Red Raiders. Mahomes threw 4 touchdowns and almost 500 yards plus 57 yards and 2 touchdowns for the Red Raiders. Mahomes was a one-man show, accounting for 5 of the 6 Red Raider touchdowns in the first half.

Week 2: @ Arizona State

Texas 50 (1-0,0-0), #10 Notre Dame 47

“TEXAS. IS. BACK. FOLKS” Those were the words uttered by the announcers 0.001 nanoseconds after Tyrone Swoopes crossed the goalline in the second overtime against Notre Dame. This back and forth game looked to be in control by the Longhorns before the Fighting Irish clawed their way back and tied the game at 37. An interesting tidbit, this was the first game to go to overtime in Darrel K. Royal - Texas Memorial Stadium history. 100,000+ fans got to witness the very first overtime game.

Week 2: vs UTEP

Big 12 Power Rankings

Power Rankings! Some people use power rankings as their vote in the AP or Coaches Poll. Some people do this as a weekly “Who’s playing poorly and who’s playing well”. I have always thought the latter is the better solution. These rankings are going to be fluid. They should take into account record and standing but you can win 3 straight games and look awful and you can lose 3 straight while looking like the better team.

1. Texas - While I think Notre Dame is always overrated, this was still the best win in Week 1.
2. West Virginia - Beating the SEC and keeping them from scoring a touchdown until 2 minutes left in the game was the second best win of the week.
3. Kansas - You win your first game in nearly two years and you get noticed here!
4. Texas Tech - The rest of the wins by the conference were over FCS foes but at least Mahomes accounted for 6 touchdowns and over 500 yards of offense.
5. Baylor - The defense stifled Northwestern State and that is partially why Baylor had no offense. It is hard to rack up yards when you only need 20 to score.
6. Oklahoma State - Seeing Barry Sanders Jr juke and spin and do his thing in Cowboy Orange brings back flashbacks.
7. Oklahoma - I feel bad for the Sooners. In the span of three minutes, Oklahoma went from down 2 points to down 16 and just couldn’t come back from it.
8. TCU - Yeah I know they won but when you give up 41 points to a FCS team and need an other-worldly performance to beat a FCS team, you get ranked low.
9. Kansas State - Losing to #8 Stanford isn’t a bad thing, but man Kansas State just looks mediocre on offense. The key to beating K-State hasn’t changed, jump out to a lead and their offense isn’t built for comebacks.
10. Iowa State - Lose to a FCS team and you end up on the bottom. Kansas feels sorry for you because they’ve been here. So has Michigan and Ole Miss.