Iowa St. Cyclones 40, Texas Tech Red Raiders 31

Iowa State got the ball leading, needing to milk the clock. David Montgomery wasted no time with a 25 yard run to the Tech 49. On 3rd and 8, Brock Purdy threw a dime to Hakeem Butler, the star wideout caught it and ran in for the 48 yard touchdown. Iowa State led 40-31. Texas Tech got the ball and needed to score quick, instead Bowman threw his third pick of the day. This time Greg Eisworth got him.

Or, instead of picking on a young football player, you can point your finger at Kliff Kingsbury for failing to adequately prepare his football team for this game. His quarterback looked rattled, his team undisciplined, and it was clear Matt Campbell was just the better coach. His aggressive playcall late in the fourth quarter on third down when he told his freshman quarterback to take a shot downfield instead of run the football and force Tech to use a timeout, that was bold. And it paid, and effectively sealed the game. Bowman’s proceeding interception wasn’t really a factor, the game was already decided.

#8 Oklahoma Sooners 51, Kansas State Wildcats 14

Bill Snyder has had some very good teams during his almost three decades coaching the Kansas State Wildcats. This year’s team is not one of them. Oklahoma dominated K-State from start to finish en route to a 51-14 win in Norman Saturday afternoon. This game was so out of hand that quarterback Kyler Murray and a number of other starters didn’t even stay in the game a full three quarters.

You come here after the game for analysis, and that basically sums things up. K-State was outplayed on almost every level, and did not help themselves by turning in a listless effort which was even noticed and commented on by the television crew. K-State only managed 245 yards of offense, while giving up 702 (fairly evenly divided between rush and pass, to make matters worse). Far too much of that WIldcat offense came in the fourth quarter against Oklahoma’s reserves, and barely matters.

Kansas Jayhawks 27, TCU Horned Frogs 26

For Kansas, Pooka Williams led the way with 2 touchdowns and over 130 total yards. Kansas recovered an interception in the third quarter that led to a field goal to put them ahead. Then late in the 4th quarter, they forced a fumble on their own red zone. Of course Kansas did whatever it could to lose this game. The defense, outside of the two turnovers, struggled to stop TCU. They then almost Beaty’d the ending with the intentional safety when they recovered a fumble with a minute left. Beaty gonna Beaty.

Kansas beat TCU 27-26 on Saturday in a game of American football. In the end — appropriately enough — it ended on a buttfumble.

Darius Anderson ran smack-dab into Austin Myer’s backside with 58 seconds left on the five-yard line and dropped the ball, and the Jayhawks recovered it. TCU had mounted a beautiful drive to get to that point, and it was all for naught.

Oklahoma State Cowboys 38, #6 Texas Longhorns 35

Oklahoma State saved their season in front of a sold-out, homecoming crowd on Saturday, ending Texas’ shot at the College Football Playoff with a 38 to 35 win over the Longhorns. It was exactly the kind of outcome you’d hope for on a night when the Cowboys were honoring the greatest player to ever don the orange and black, and one of the greatest college football players of all time.

The mistakes started during the bye week, as senior cornerbacks Kris Boyd and Davante Daviswere suspended for the first quarter for arriving late to a team function. Junior wide receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey was suspended for the first drive. The suspensions made a huge difference, as Oklahoma State scored 17 points in the first quarter, partly a result of redshirt freshman cornerback Kobe Boyce consistently getting beat in coverage by standout Cowboys wide receiver Tylan Wallace. Herman doesn’t want to compromise on discipline, and it arguably cost the Longhorns a win on Saturday.

Big 12 Standings

The loss by the Longhorns once again creates a three-way tie for first place. Currently, based on tiebreakers, Texas would be #1 because of their head-to-head win over Oklahoma. As for the Sooners and ‘Eers, it is too early for me to try and figure out exactly how the tiebreakers work until the season is over. I think it comes down to a draw but honestly, I’m not sure right now. Once the season is over and all the games have been played, then we can talk.

West Virginia holds its own cards right now. Win the next four games and you are definitely, 100% sure playing in the conference championship game. The same can be said for Texas and Oklahoma. This coming week’s clash between Texas and WVU could determine who plays in Arlington.

Don’t forget about Iowa State though. Iowa State has Kansas, Baylor, Texas and K-State to finish the season. Outside of the Texas game, ISU is looking comfortable. If the Cyclones win out, they would finish 7-2 in conference with their only losses being to Oklahoma and TCU. Gaining the win over Texas would help push them to 2nd place in conference, where tiebreakers will matter. There are many scenarios out there (WVU wins out which gives Texas and OU a second loss, ISU wins out which knocks Texas out of race), (WVU loses to Texas but wins remaining, ISU wins out, creating a 4-way tie) to try and figure out exactly how this plays out but basically don’t count out ISU. Given the bad loss in Ames, West Virginia needs Iowa State to lose another conference game because if it comes down to head to head or scoring differential, ISU has a leg up on WVU.