The Big XII did okay this week, going 10-4 yet again.

Here’s my tier list and thoughts around the conference this week:

Tier 1

Texas (2-0)

Texas not only won in Tuscaloosa, they made Alabama (ranked AP #3 and c/CFB #4) look like a mediocre P5 team. The thing is, it’s early enough in the season that Alabama might just be a mediocre P5 team so I felt uneasy putting them in a league of their own. But Texas performed well at every position, only slightly marred by drops in the red zone that forced Texas to settle for multiple field goals (one of which kicker Auburn missed). Ewers had a couple flawless deep throws (including this incredible moon shot, answering one the biggest question about him. The RB room looks stacked, filling the need created by Bijan’s departure for the NFL. The front 7 pressured Bama QB Milroe all night, registering 5 sacks (Ewers took none). Milroe was also picked off by both Barron and Thompson, so don’t think Texas is all offense and no defense.

Tier 2

KU (2-0), K-State (2-0), OU (2-0)

Not only did Kansas QB Jalon Daniels return from injury in this game, he looked pretty darn good, leading KU to a decisive P5 non-con victory over Illinois (34-23). And it wasn’t as close as the score suggests (the only reason I watched the whole game was because nothing else was on). Thus, they move up a tier. But they didn’t make Illinois look totally helpless in their comeback attempt, with great scrambling by QB Altmyer (see this amazing run), and the fact that Illinois was successful on both 2-pt attempts tells me KU could work on their red zone defense.

K-State pushed Troy – one of the better G5 schools, or so I’m expecting this season – around for an hour and won by 4 scores (42-13). Will Howard is arguably the top QB in the conference (certainly one of the most experienced), and he showed out in this one with 3 passing TDs and 2 rushing TDs. I didn’t get many eyes on this game as I was mostly watching Baylor, but I’m keen to see if they can put up another 40-burger when they face a P5 team next week (Missouri – which I imagine will only add to the “SEC is trash” narrative building this season).

I’m only keeping OU in this tier because I think this game might have been a fluke, as they struggled with SMU (28-11), a vastly superior team to Arkansas State but still G5 (well, I guess not for long). SMU was only a field goal down during the 4th quarter in this contest. If not for the turnover margin (2-0), plus a missed field goal, the Mustangs could well have won. As a rule, I don’t watch OU games besides RRS or when they’re losing, so I probably missed some context for this one.

Tier 3

Cinci (2-0), TCU (1-1), Texas Tech (0-2), UCF (2-0)

Congrats to Cinci for the rivalry win (27-21). I think they surprised a lot of people, myself included, for pulling this off with the HC reshuffle at the end of last coaching carousel. Props to Satterfield for circling the wagons and assembling a decent team to best a Narduzzi squad (who might just be Michigan State’s coach next year). I don’t have much else to note as I didn’t watch the game (and to be perfectly honest, I only just realized Emory Jones is here and not at Florida despite writing about him in last week’s post…), but I don’t like that Pitt mounted a comeback drive. Take notes, West Virginia.

TCU pushed around an FCS team (41-6), as they should. Probably could have won by more if they were playing angry following last week’s letdown, but I believe teams should get their backups experience whenever possible as TCU did here. I was watching the Texas-Bama game so I’m just recapping from the box score: I see a 57-yard field goal – I like 57 yard field goals. Props to QB Morris for his rushing TD. Also, in the AP account of the game was this gem from Morris re: his W1 performance against CU:

I had two costly turnovers last week that I mean, I couldn’t even turn on Animal Planet during the week and watch some shows without seeing it on TV.

Are they showing CFB highlights on Animal Planet now?

So it might be controversial to have a winless team roughly in the top half of the conference, but I thought Texas Tech bounced back from their lethargic performance in Laramie last week in this week’s home game against the might Ducks (30-38). I know Oregon covered, but I expected them to beat Tech by more and Tech even led for more than a quarter of game time. If not for the pick-six in the last minute of the game (and Bo Nix doing Nix things), Tech could well have won by a walk-off FG. I’ve never been high on Tech QB Tyler Shough though (obviously the story in this game was that he was once at Oregon), so I’m not sure why I’m holding out high expectations for this team… Probably because I know they’ve got the weird tortilla magic that can ruin my Longhorns’ season on Black Friday. We’ve seen what McGuire can do for recruiting but can he turn the ship around on a losing season?

Y’all okay, UCF fans? I believe this is a good Boise squad so a nail-biter (18-16) against them on the Smurf turf is nothing to be ashamed of. But I would hope you have more up your sleeve for conference play than kicking FGs (shout out to Colton Boomer for hitting 4, including 2 for 50+ and the go-ahead walk-off 40 yarder). After last week’s solid performance, I would not have expected a pair of red zone interceptions. And with QB Plumlee out due to injury for a few weeks, I’m very curious how UCF regains their footing. I trust Malzahn will devise serviceable game plans, but maybe they lose one more game than expected going forward.

Tier 4

Baylor (0-2), BYU (2-0), Iowa State (1-1), Oklahoma State (2-0)

Behold my surprise when Baylor pushed around Utah for the majority of their contest (yes, Utah had key players out), only to choke in the fourth and then be robbed of a chance at OT (13-20). But just as Texas left points on the board, Baylor really should have capitalized more on all the momentum they had. There was no need to push so hard in the fourth in a tied ball game – all you need to do is manage the clock to kick a late field goal (and if you miss, let it go to OT). But no, let’s throw an interception instead. And then give up a whole TD in about a minute (leaving only 17 seconds to score your own TD to equalize). Props to Utah here for recognizing that Barnes wasn’t working at QB and resorting to playing former Longhorn Ja’Quinden Jackson as wildcat QB and just running the ball. Baylor’s not going in the basement this week just because they looked more dominant than a ranked team for 58 minutes.

I’ve not go much to say about BYU blowing out an FCS school (41-16). 4 passing TDs and a rushing TD from QB Kedon Slovis is always commendable, I guess. Props for getting a blocked punt. And always good to add an INT to that for the defense (but Slovis had one of his own as well). But I would expect a higher score when your opponent also muffs a punt and misses a FG. Now good luck going into Fayette-nam next week, BYU. flashbacks begin

Iowa State could just not get things going in ¡El Assico! this year (13-20). Nearly shut out of the first half, they allowed Iowa to do Iowa things (scoring on defense) and had to settle for 50+ walk-off field goal to get on the board. And Iowa didn’t even look great (especially on offense, go figure), taking home the Cy-Hawk Trophy but crucially falling short of their 25 point target. Because the Cyclones seem plagued by drops and bad QB play, they are relegated a tier this week.

I caught a bit of the Big-XII After Dark game, which looked fairly evenly matched until OK State pulled away in the fourth quarter (15-27). But maybe both teams are auditioning for the B1G or something, as 9 drives ended in punts and 4 turned over on downs. Looks like Mike Gundy is still going with a committee at the QB position, with 3 getting significant playing time. I’m expecting this to be a bad ASU team (true freshman QB Jaden Rashada looked way too raw) so the Pokes really needed to win by more and not trail for so long for me to have them any higher.

Tier 5

Houston (1-1), West Virginia (1-1)

Houston lost to some carbs (41-43). I guess this makes me feel better about Texas’s sluggish performance against Rice last week. Rice was just in control of this game, up 28-0 late in the 2nd quarter. Props to JT Daniels for passing for over 400 yards and to Luke McCaffrey for this amazing catch. Houston had to mount a hurried comeback to get to OT, but fell short of the required 2pt conversion in the 2nd OT period. I hope Holgo is wearing fire-retardant pants because his seat is probably getting very hot after this cross-town rivalry performance.

West Virginia beat up their FCS foe, scoring a whopping 28 points in the 2nd quarter to do so (56-17). But they shouldn’t have been tied with Duquesne at the end of the first quarter. I have the same trousers comment for Neil Brown as I did for his predecessor, so it’s fitting they get to hang out in the Big XII cellar together.

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Please tell me how I got everything wrong and why your team is going to win the conference this year!