Big 12 Roundup & Power Rankings: It’s Wide Open Y’all

Oklahoma 52, #19 Kansas 42

The Oklahoma Sooners snapped a three-game skid Saturday, fending off the Kansas Jayhawks, 52-42. The win raised OU’s overall record to 4-3 and 1-3 in Big 12 play. Quarterback Dillon Gabriel returned to the lineup after missing most the previous two games with a concussion. A week after the Sooners were blanked in a 49-0 loss to the Texas Longhorns, the Hawaiian field general showed his value to the by leading the OU offense to 701 total yards. Gabriel completed 29-of-42 pass attempts for 403 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He also fumbled twice.

The Kansas running backs had a decent day rushing 2 touchdowns and 165 yards. Devin Neal had a game high 46 yard run. The Kansas wide receivers combined for 4 touchdowns and 265 total yards. On the defensive end, Hayden Hatcher recovered not one but 2 fumbles. That was the lone bright spot as the KU defense forced Oklahoma to punt only 1 time. The injury ridden Jayhawks suffer their 2nd straight loss as they travel to Baylor next Saturday.

#22 Texas 24, Iowa State 21

A couple weeks ago, Steve Sarkisian said Texas will start believing they can gut out the close wins — something they’ve struggled mightily to do under Sark — when they can actually go out and do it. Seeing — or doing — is believing, as they say. Texas missed on more than its fair share of opportunities today — more on that in a second — while ISU chipped away at Texas’ double-digit lead and ultimately jumped out ahead in the fourth. But in crunch time, Bijan Robinson and the offense recaptured the lead, needing a 4th a Goal conversion to do so, and the defense helped finish the job, forcing a fumble on Iowa State’s potential game-tying or winning drive. In a lot of ways, this one was ugly, but Texas found a way to win by playing a C+ game at best. For this program at this point, that’s significant.

Iowa State gets the ball at the 25 and two short rushes and a short pass leads them to a quick fourth down. It’s Hutchinson time, as he makes a beautiful catch for 15 yards and the drive is still alive! The very next play Dekkers throws a deep ball downfield and Hutchinson is wide open! He gets his hands on it but loses it when he hits the ground and it’s incomplete. A brutal drop for the Cyclones. Campbell calls a timeout to regroup and on the next play, Dekkers finds Hutchinson in the middle of the field for 20 yards. The Cyclones hurry up the line and Dekkers runs the ball but gets hard and fumbles the ball. It’s reviewed and the call of the field stands. The call could have gone either way, and there was also a potential targeting on the play that wasn’t looked at. The targeting hit not even being looked at is questionable, to say the least. Two calls on one play go against Iowa State and Texas takes over.

#13 TCU 43, #8 Oklahoma State 40

The TCU Horned Frogs pulled off a thrilling come-from-behind victory Saturday night, taking down 8th-ranked Oklahoma State in double overtime. The Frogs never held a lead during regulation and trailed by 14 points into the 4th quarter before a furious comeback powered by a stingy defense that never let the game get out of reach as OK State didn’t score a 2nd half touchdown. Going into the first season under Sonny Dykes, it may have been a reasonable pre-season goal for TCU to reach a bowl game; the Frogs have earned bowl eligibility and remain undefeated through six games to open the new era.

POWER RANKINGS

Reminder - power rankings are fluid and based off of numerous factors, one of which is how much I’ve drank before I put these together. Don’t take them too seriously.

1. TCU Horned Frogs - The only true undefeated team left in conference.
2. Oklahoma State Cowboys - Tough loss, but I expect them to be in the running for the championship
3. Texas Longhorns - They complete the first tier of teams. Any of the top 3 are contenders.
4. Oklahoma Sooners - Big bounceback win. Could have been ugly in Norman.
5. Kansas Jayhawks - Tough loss and bowl eligibility is looking shaky right now.
6. Kansas State Wildcats - The other “undefeated” conference team, they get ready for a second half slate.
7. Texas Tech Red Raiders - The #1 passing offense in the league will take on the worst passing defense next week.
8. West Virginia Mountaineers - First conference win of the year!
9. Baylor Bears - Tough loss and could have gone their way.
10. Iowa State Cyclones - They remain winless in conference.