Big XII Power Rankings - Week 5

 

Week 5 Big XII Power Rankings

1 - Oklahoma

2 - Oklahoma State

3 - Texas

4 - Baylor

5 - Iowa State

6 - Kanas State

7 - Texas Tech

8 - West Virginia

9 - TCU

10 - Kansas

Big XII Weekly Awards - Week 5

Quietly through the first month, the Oklahoma State Cowboys have been just playing some good football and now its October and they are at the top with their in state counterpart Oklahoma in the Big XII.  How good will Bedlam be this year?  Especially with the OU to the SEC nugget.  TCU still is a bit of a thorn in Texas's neck but the Longhorns pulled it out.  And KState almost pulled a trifecta on OU.  Also this just in Kansas is still bad at football.

 TEAM OF THE WEEK

Oklahoma State

GAME OF THE WEEK

Oklahoma 37 - Kansas State 31

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

35 rush - 216 yds - 2 tds

2 rec - 22 yds

Big XII Power Rankings - Week 4

 

Week 4 Big XII Power Rankings

1 - Oklahoma

2 - Baylor

3 - Oklahoma State

4 - Texas

5 - Kansas State

6 - Iowa State

7 - West Virginia

8 - TCU

9 - Texas Tech

10 - Kansas

Big XII Weekly Awards - Week 4

 Could we have got the Big XII all wrong?  The favorites, Oklahoma & Iowa State are not looking like the dominant teams we though.  Oklahoma has struggled putting teams away.  Iowa State starting slow again the first month and are looking at 2-2 going into October.  The Sooners have stayed unscathed and joined are joined at the top of the standings after 1 month with Baylor and Oklahoma State.

TEAM OF THE WEEK

Oklahoma State

GAME OF THE WEEK

Baylor 31 - Iowa State 29

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Spencer Sanders - Oklahoma State - QB

22-34 - 344 yds - 2 td

9 rush - 18 yds - 1 td

2020 Week 8 Big XII Awards

Team of the Week : Kansas State : With a lot of the focus in the conference on the showdown in Stillwater, the Wildcats showed up and did what was expected; they DESTROYED Kansas.  K-State was helped along with 2 punt returns for scores by Phillip Brooks.  55 yards in the first quarter and then 52 at the end of the first half.  The Wildcats are no 4-0 in the Big XII and along with Oklahoma State have big jump ahead of the rest of the conference to get to Arlington and the Big XII Title Game.  With the 55-14 win the 'Cats have won 12 straight Sunflower State Showdowns.  The longest by either school in the battle for the Governors Cup.

One heartbeat

Game Highlights vs KU ⤵️

#KStateFB ⚒ pic.twitter.com/hsli0l6XaY

— K-State Football (@KStateFB) October 24, 2020

Game of the Week : Oklahoma State 24 - Iowa State 21 : The showdown in Stillwater felt more like a Big Ten Game rather than a Big XII shootout.  With these 2 teams defenses I'm not really shocked though.  The Cyclones scored first, but after OSU scored to tie it seemed they had control of the game.  The Pokes in the second half etched out a 10 point lead early in the fourth quarter.  The Clones scored late with 49 seconds left, but couldn't recover the onside kick to make it more interesting.  Oklahoma State along with K-State now are jockeyed ahead of everyone in the conference for the bids to the title game.  The Cowboys needed this one more though with their next 3 games vs Texas, KState and Oklahoma.  Don't count Iowa State out of anything either.  They own the tie breaker over Oklahoma and get Texas and K-State coming up.

Player of the Week : Phillip Brooks - PR - KState : Brooks set school records for KState for Punt Return yardage and scores in a game with his 2 scores vs Kansas.  Brooks 4 returns totaled 189 yards for the Wildcats.  His first return of 55 yards put KState on the board first.  His other score closed out the first half, essentially putting the nail in the coffin for the Jayhawks.

Brooks does it AGAIN!

He returns his SECOND punt for a TD in the first half for @KStateFB 🔥 pic.twitter.com/UGfYuj8Ezq

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 24, 2020

Big XII Scores

Oklahoma State 24 - Iowa State 21

Oklahoma 33 - TCU 14

Texas Tech 34 - West Virginia 27

Texas 27 - Baylor 16 

Kansas State 55 - Kansas 14

2020 Week 4 Big XII Awards

Team of the Week : Iowa State - This was a close one with TCU, BUT when you get a win over a team for the first time on your home turf since 1960s you get the nod.  The game, played in front of some 15,000 fans, went back and forth after the first quarter.  OU marched down easily their first drive but the Cyclone D held them to a field goal.  Back and forth in the second half, with late in the 4th quarter OU recovered a Purdy fumble and went up 30-23.  Iowa State responded with a long kick return and scored 2 plays later to tie it up.  After a 3 and out from OU, the Cyclones and Breece Hall ran on the Sooners to go up 37-30.  Spencer Rattler then threw a pick sealing the ISU win.   OU is now 0-2 going into the Red River Shootout.  ISU moves to 2-0 in conference play with their only blemish being the loss to Louisiana in the opener. 

For the lead ⤵️

🌪️🚨🌪️ pic.twitter.com/k5jfKTAGLS

— Cyclone Football (@CycloneFB) October 4, 2020

Game of the Week : TCU 33 - Texas 31 :  The Big XII had really 3 good games this week and it could be easy to say the Iowa State - OU game, but I'll give the nod to TCU vs Texas.  For the second week in a row the Longhorns played from behind.  TCU started the scoring and from the play of Max Duggan and 2 turnovers took a 23-14 lead at Campbell-Williams Field.  Sam Ehlinger did his best to gun sling the Horns back for a second week in a row tossing for 4 scores but in the end was bested by Duggan and his legs.  Duggan threw for 231 yards, and added 79 on the ground with 2 scores.  If the Horns are going to compete for the Big XII they need to shore up the defense and get to where they aren't playing from behind.  Fun fact, the Horned Frogs are 7-2 vs Texas since joining the Big XII.  The state is turning purple from its burnt orange and maroon colors.

2020 Week 2 Big XII Awards

With Baylor - Houston cancelled it was a 1 game week in the Big XII so this will be pretty simple of an awards post.  

Team of the Week : Oklahoma State

Game of the Week : Oklahoma State 16-7 over Tulsa - The game was really ugly, IMO, to watch.  Neither team looked crisp which I would expect in the world of Covid College Football.

Player of the Week : Chuba Hubbard - RB - Oklahoma State - Hubbard scored the Cowboys only touchdown in the game and rushed for 93 yards in the 16-7 win.

 

Pistols Firing! #TouchdownTuesday #LetsRide pic.twitter.com/ezozXvfgnY

— OSU Cowboy Football 🇨🇦🤠 (@CowboyFB) September 22, 2020

2020 Week 2 Big XII Picks

1 week in the books and on the bright side, there are no SunBelt teams on the schedule this week.  The SBC went 3-0 vs the Big XII last week with wins over Iowa State, Kansas & Kansas State.  Houston Baptist almost got one for the Southland vs Texas Tech.  The good news for those that lost, they are still 0-0 in conference play.  The good of week 1, Texas and Oklahoma did Texas and Oklahoma things.  Spencer Rattler and Sam Ehlinger looked AMAZING.  West Virginia had a good showing on the ground game and got some confidence going into conference season.    Now week 2.  It's a light week, 2 games.  

Baylor opens up the 2020 season and the Dave Aranda era vs SWC Rival Houston. Baylor was a surprise team last year under Matt Rhule that went 11-3 and a New Years 6 Bowl.  Aranda comes in after a National Championship as Defensive Coordinator at LSU.  It will be curious how the team blends to his mind as a Defensive Coordinator and the offense that it put up last year under returning QB Charlie Brewer.  Houston is starting year 2 under Dana Holgorsen.  Dana is no stranger to Baylor being at WVU prior.  Will Houston take the strides to get back to the AAC title game and as a contender?  This game is a quick schedule add also in the world of college football in the Covid landscape.  

I think you see poor tackling and teams having issues with penalties holding, etc.  Both teams going back and forth offensively and taking the lead.  In the end I think Baylor gets a score or 2 in the 4th quarter to get the win and cover.  Baylor 41 - Houston 36

Big XII Game of the Week
Houston vs Baylor

11 - FOX - Baylor (-4)

Tulsa vs Oklahoma State

11 - ESPN - Oklahoma State (-22.5)

Week 1 Picks

Final GFR College Football Rankings

I didn’t post these weekly as it does take a bit of time!  But it’s here for the final GFR standings.

This year’s GFR National Champion – The LSU Tigers. 

Yes they got beat, but the Tigers resume` is one of the most impressive in YEARS:

Here’s who LSU has beaten in 2011:

Oregon – Pac12 and Rose Bowl Champs

West Virginia – Big East and Orange Bowl Champs

Alabama – The BCS Champion in their home Stadium

Arkansas – Cotton Bowl Champ

Auburn – Peach Bowl (I will not call it the name it is now) Champ

Florida – Gator Bowl Champ

Mississippi State – Music City Bowl Champ

Georgia – SEC East Champs – lost

They didn’t have a Cam Newton type player; they are a solid team and one I would put up against almost any of the past National Championship teams since the 2001 Miami Hurricanes.

Oklahoma State was the only other team that had a shot at the top spot all year, the OT loss at Iowa State helped the Tigers edge the Cowboys.  Alabama ended up finishing 4^th.

The Final GFR top 25

*IOWA STATE finished #53

*IOWA finished #55

The 2011 Conference Strength

2011 College Football Awards

I’ve normally in the past split these out in to separate blogs, but I’m combining them into one big one this year.

Offensive Player of the Year – Robert Griffin III : QB : Baylor  - No other player was as important for his team than RG3 was.  He started the season on fire vs a strong TCU defense lighting them up and ended it 9-3 with a huge performance vs Texas’s strong D.  He was a little Michael Vick and Tom Brady all in one leading Baylor to their best season since 1986

Defensive Player of the year –Tyrone Mathieu : DB : LSU – The Honey Badger may have made more plays in college football than any other player this year.  It seemed every week there was a pick, forced fumble and recovery or TD for Mathieu, and capped it with a few huge plays in the SEC championship game over Georgia. 

Coach of the Year – Mike Gundy : Oklahoma State – Gundy’s a man!  The Cowboys had an amazing year that should have ended in the BCS championship game but an overtime loss in Ames, Iowa (and an SEC Bias in human polls) have the 11-1 Big XII champs in the Fiesta Bowl.

Big Ten Player of the Year – Monte Ball : RB : Wisconsin – Mr Touchdown!  The Badger back tore through defenses behind the Badger OL for 32 touchdowns and 1759 yards.  He was dinged up a bit in the first game vs Michigan State and the Badgers National Title hopes were dashed, but then kept going and helped Wisconsin get to Back-to-Back Rose Bowls.

Big XII Player of the Year – Robert Griffin III : QB : Baylor – Griffin threw for almost 4000 yards and 36 touchdowns to only 6 picks.  The Bears QB lead Baylor to its best season since 1986 and an Alamo Bowl berth vs Washington.  He also took home the Heisman and Davey O’Brien awards.  Want to know something scary…he can come back next year too and the Bears may be even a better team!

Games of the Year (in no particular order)

Michigan vs Notre Dame

Michigan State vs Wisconsin

Baylor vs TCU

Oklahoma State vs Iowa State

Stanford vs USC

2011 Big XII Predictions

Welcome to the new Big XII, or as I like to call it, the Texa$ Ten.  No more divisions, no more championship game…a round robin schedule of 9 games too.  The conference was on life support last year and may not be out of the neck of the woods yet with the rumblings going on in Norman, Austin and College Station about the new ESPN juiced LongHorn Network.  Somehow the conference has 9 bowl tie-ins for 10 teams.  That’s gonna change soon, and how did the Holiday bowl slip to #5 in the pecking order.

The conference, in my opinion won’t be around like it is come 2015 but that’s the future.  Let’s talk about this year:

The conference will be split into 3 tiers, the top will be very good, the bottom very bad, and the middle average.

The Conference Championship (and one half of the National Championship) is determined on Nov 5 in Norman when the Sooners host the Aggies. 

Texas will be better than last year but will not move into the elite of the top 3.

Baylor’s record could easily flip flop if Robert Griffin III gets hurt, and they will score the upset of the first week when the Bears beat TCU.

Iowa State record won’t be great but they have a stud on the OL in Osemele, and the new scoreboard is going to be a nice addition to Jack Trice Stadium.

The state of Kansas will continue to be under a heat wave in the college season as the coaches seats will be getting warmer.  I think this is Snyder’s last year at KState and will select his successor and Turner Gill needs to win next year or he will be done at Kansas.

Now for the picks…Norman, Oklahoma should be happy.

BIGXII PREDICTIONS

Oklahoma                         9-0                 12-0              National Championship Game vs Alabama

Texas A&M                       8-1                 11-1              Fiesta Bowl vs Wisconsin

Oklahoma St                     7-2                 10-2              Cotton Bowl

Texas                               5-4                  8-4               Alamo Bowl

Baylor                               5-4                 8-4                Insight Bowl

Missouri                            5-4                 7-5                Holiday Bowl

Texas Tech                        3-6                 6-6               Texas Bowl vs Michigan State

Kansas                              1-8                 3-9

Kansas State                     1-8                 3-9

Iowa State                         1-8                 2-10

BIG XII AWARDS

Coach of the Year – Bob Stoops : Oklahoma

Player of the Year – Landry Jones : Oklahoma

2010 Bo Carter Big XII Award

A year after losing one of the best receivers in Dez Bryant no one was sure of what to make of Oklahoma State.  Well 2010 ended with them going 10-2 and WR Justin Blackmon put up NFL type numbers in 12 games.  102 catches, 1665 yards and 18 touchdowns, and the 2010 Bo Carter Award.