Around the Big 12: Week 3

By Steve Lansdale

Texas took it to Rice as the Longhorns got back on the winning track Saturday with their 48-13 rout of the Owls, a walkover that reinforced head coach Tom Herman’s declaration that despite last week’s loss to LSU, Texas still can achieve all of its goals in 2019.

Doing so, of course, depends in part on what the other teams — on UT’s schedule and around the nation — do in their games. So what happened this week in the Big 12?

First up, let’s look at what the Horns’ next opponent — Oklahoma State — did in its Week 3 game then get to the rest of the conference: [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]

Oklahoma State 40, Tulsa 21

Sophomore running back Chuba Hubbard ran for [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]a career-high 256 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Longhorns’ next opponent to a 19-point victory in Tulsa. Hubbard reached the end zone twice and exceeded the 100-yard rushing mark in the game’s first four minutes when he raced 75 and 30 yards for touchdowns. His 75-yard score came on the first play from scrimmage, 10 seconds into the game.

The score ended up lopsided, but the game was not a rout the entire time. After surrendering a 17-0 lead, Tulsa fought back to take a 21-20 lead late in the first half. But Oklahoma State, which improved to 3-0, outscored the Golden Hurricane, 20-0, and limited the TU offense to 138 total yards after intermission.

Quarterback Spencer Sanders completed just 12 of 22 passes for OSU, with one touchdown and an interception. Star receiver Tylan Wallace led the Cowboys’ receivers with five receptions for 118 yards and a 90-yard score, a slight step back for the gamebreaker who had 10 receptions for 272 yards and five touchdowns in Oklahoma State’s first two games of the season. Wallace’s touchdown was the third-longest in program history.

The victory was the seventh in a row for the Cowboys over Tulsa. All have been decided by at least 10 points. 

Kansas 48, Boston College 24

Break up the Jayhawks.

A week after losing to Coastal Carolina, Kansas bounced back with a road win at BC, ending a 48-game losing streak in road games against teams from Power 5 conferences, a skid that goes back to an Oct. 4, 2008 win at Iowa State.

“I can’t tell you how happy I am for those kids,” first-year KU head coach Les Miles said after the win. “If anybody wants to know why a guy would come back to college football, this night tells you how much fun … how important college football is.

While stumbling last week against Coastal Carolina, Kansas mustered 280 yards of total offense, but broke loose for 567 Friday against the Eagles. Running back Pooka Williams rushed 22 times for 121 yards and a score, while quarterback Carter Stanley completed 20 of 27 passes for 238 yards and three touchdowns.

No. 5 Oklahoma 40, UCLA 14

Oklahoma has had a history of elite quarterbacks who can both run and throw, but Jalen Hurts became the first in school history to throw for 200 yards and run for 100 before halftime in the Sooners’ 34-point win in Pasadena, Calif. Hurts accounted for 439 of OU’s 611 total yards and led the Sooners on six touchdown drives in the victory. He completed 15 of 20 passes for 289 yards and three touchdowns, and rushed 14 times for 150 yards and another score.

Hurts’ 103 rushing yards in the first quarter broke the OU record, which had stood since 1985, when Jamelle Holieway ran for 98 yards in the opening stanza against Missouri. His fast start made him the first Big 12 quarterback since Vince Young to eclipse the 100-yard rushing mark in the first quarter of a game. His 141 rushing yards in the first half broke the program record he shared with Holieway.

Wide receivers CeeDee Lamb and Charleston Rambo each scored twice for Oklahoma, which improved to 3-0. UCLA fell to 0-3 for the second straight season. Lamb added a rushing touchdown, making him the first Sooner since Brandon Daniels (1996-99) with a rushing, receiving and passing touchdown in his career. His passing touchdown came in 2018 when he threw a touchdown pass against Georgia to quarterback Baker Mayfield.

OU is off next week before opening Big 12 play Sept. 28 against Texas Tech.

No. 19 Iowa 18, Iowa State 17

Trailing by a point with 1:31 remaining, the Cyclones’ hopes of rallying past their in-state rival ended when two ISU players collided on an attempted punt return, allowing the Hawkeyes to recover and seal the victory in a game that was interrupted twice by lightning.

“The game obviously, in a lot of ways, was frustrating,” Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell said, “and frustrating because it was our detail that really earned us what happened at the end.”

Quarterback Brock Purdy completed 24 of 34 passes for 276 yards and a touchdown. Wide receiver Deshaunte Jones also threw a touchdown pass on a wide receiver option.

Defensive backs Greg Eisworth and Lawrence White led the Iowa State defense with 15 and 11 tackles, respectively.

Iowa State (1-1) hosts Louisiana-Monroe next week.

Kansas State 31, Mississippi State 24

Saddled with the unenviable task of replacing a legend in retired coach Bill Snyder, Chris Klieman has identified the single best way to make believers of the Wildcats’ fans: win.

Junior quarterback Skylar Thompson threw his only touchdown to Dalton Schoen with 5:37 remaining to lead the Wildcats over the Bulldogs in Starkville and remain undefeated this season at 3-0. KSU mustered just 269 yards of total offense, 146 of which came on the ground, and still managed to win.

K-State surrendered a 17-14 halftime lead during the third quarter but tied the score when Malik Knowles returned a kickoff 100 yards.

Thompson completed 10 of 18 passes for a modest 123 yards to lead KSU to its first victory in four meetings with Mississippi State and its first non-conference road win over a team from a Power 5 conference since 2011.

Kansas State has next weekend off before facing Oklahoma State the following week in Stillwater.

Arizona 28, Texas Tech 14

Quarterback Khalil Tate threw for 185 yards and a score and ran for 129 more — including an 84-yard touchdown — to lead the Wildcats to a solid, if somewhat methodical, victory over the Red Raiders in Tucson.

Tech quarterback Alan Bowman completed 30 of 55 passes for 307 yards, but found the end zone just once while throwing a pair of interceptions. T.J. Vasher led the TTU receiving corps with six catches for 96 yards, while McLane Mannix snagged four passes for 78 yards and a touchdown. Mannix’s touchdown reception gave Tech a 14-13 lead in the third quarter.

Running back Armand Shyne led the ground game with 13 carries for 68 yards, but when needed, Tate proved too much for the Tech defense. The Tech defense, which fared well in the first two games of the season, allowed 499 yards of total offense to Arizona, including 314 on the ground.

TCU 34, Purdue 13

Darius Anderson rushed for 179 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and Sewo Olonilua added 106 yards and a rushing touchdown of his own as the Horned Frogs rolled in West Lafayette, Ind.

As a team, TCU imposed its will on the Boilermakers, piling up 346 yards on the ground. The Frogs rushed for 160 yards in the first half while limiting the Purdue ground game to -1 yard before the intermission.

Purdue was playing without starting quarterback Elijah Sindelar, who led all FBS teams with 932 passing yards through the season’s first two games, because he was sidelined with a concussion. In his place, redshirt freshman Jack Plummer was limited to 13-of-29 passing for 181 yards and a pair of interceptions.

The victory marked the sixth straight time TCU has one its first road game of the season. Its 40 road victories since the start of the 2009 season are the third-highest total in the country.

As expected, TCU played two quarterbacks: Max Duggan was 7-for-18 for 70 yards, while Alex Delton completed one of his six attempts for five yards.

The Frogs will host rival SMU Saturday.

West Virginia 44, North Carolina State 27

Quarterback Austin Kendall, a transfer from Oklahoma, completed 27 of 40 passes for 272 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Mountaineers (2-1) in Morgantown.

Meanwhile, running back Kennedy McCoy ran for 66 yards and a pair of touchdowns to lead a West Virginia ground game that put up 173 yards, despite an offensive line that was playing without both of its starting guards; not coincidentally, most of the Mountaineers’ rushing success was on the perimeter, outside the tackles. WVU churned out 445 yards of total offense a week after fizzling in a 38-7 loss to Missouri.

The West Virginia passing game got a boost from a trio of freshman receivers, led by Sam James, who caught nine passes for 155 yards and a touchdown.

The Mountaineers defense, which took ample heat a week ago after missing 22 tackles against Mizzou, held N.C. State to just 97 yards of total offense in the second half.

WVU plays its first Big 12 game Saturday at Kansas.

Baylor: Bye in Week 3

The Bears will take on Rice Saturday before starting Big 12 play Sept. 28 hosting Iowa State.

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