Around the Big 12: Week 4

By Steve Lansdale

The Texas Longhorns’ victory over the Oklahoma State Cowboys was easily the marquee matchup of the weekend for the Big 12, as several teams had the weekend off. But UT and OSU were not the only teams in action. So what happened to their Big 12 brethren?

SMU 41, No. 25 TCU 38
Former Texas quarterback Shane Buechele did[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] Saturday what he was unable to do while playing for the Longhorns: help lead his team to a victory over TCU.

Texas lost both times Buechele started against the Horned Frogs, but as a Mustang, he completed 23 of 34 passes for 288 yards, threw a pair of touchdown passes and ran for another to help bring the Iron Skillet back to Dallas.

The Horned Frogs had cracked the top 25 on the strength of victories over Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Purdue, but still are sorting some things out, most notably what to do at quarterback. Kansas State transfer Alex Delton had started the first two games of the year, but played exactly one offensive snap Saturday; after a very slow start, true freshman Max Duggan completed 16 of 36 passes for 188 yards and three touchdowns. SMU running back Xavier Jones rushed for 79 yards, ran for a touchdown and caught another, while Darius Anderson was spectacular for TCU, rushing for 161 yards (including 77 on one play) and a pair of touchdowns in defeat.

TCU hosts Kansas next week in its first Big 12 game.

West Virginia 29, Kansas 24
Running back Martell Pettaway’s 40 rushing yards were only the third-most among WVU players, but he reached the end zone twice to lead the Mountaineers past visiting Kansas. Kennedy McKoy led the West Virginia ground game with 20 carries for 73 yards and a score, while Leddie Brown added 12 carries for 70 yards.

West Virginia improved to 3-1 while Kansas fell to 2-2 in the first Big 12 game for each team.

Quarterback Austin Kendall, a transfer from Oklahoma, completed 25 of 37 passes for 202 methodical yards, and Evan Staley added to the offense by hitting all three field goal attempts, including one from 44 yards out.

Quarterback Carter Stanley led the Kansas offense, completing 19 of 25 passes for 275 yards and three touchdowns, two of which were caught by Andrew Parchment, who hauled in five passes for a game-high 132 yards.

West Virginia has a bye next week before hosting Texas, while Kansas will face TCU in Fort Worth.

Iowa State 72, Louisiana-Monroe 20
Cyclones quarterback Brock Purdy accounted for a school-record six touchdowns — three passing and three rushing — to lead Iowa State to a dominant win after narrowly beating Northern Iowa and losing to Iowa in its first two games of the season.

Purdy threw for a career-high 435 yards and ran for 75 in the rout, and his six total touchdowns tied a program record held previously by former ISU quarterback Bret Oberg. His performance made him the first player in school history to eclipse 500 yards in total offense … despite the fact that he didn’t even play in the fourth quarter.

The Cyclones’ 714 yards of offense were the most in the history of the program, and the 72 points were the most in 113 years; ISU beat Cornell, 81-0, in 1906, the same year in which the forward pass became legal.

Iowa State begins Big 12 play next week at Baylor.

Baylor 21, Rice 13
In a game that was closer than just about anyone expected, quarterback Charlie Brewer completed 20 of 27 passes for 303 yards and a touchdown as the Bears held on to knock off Rice in Houston.

Brewer cleared the 300-yard plateau that many view as the standard for passing excellence, but it was the Baylor defense that won the game for the Bears. While Brewer and the offense were piling up 427 yards of total offense, the BU defense limited the Owls to just 242, including just 64 rushing yards on 35 carries.

If nothing else, Rice didn’t beat itself: the Owls were flagged for just one penalty in the entire game.

Denzel Mims led the Baylor receivers with six receptions for 102 yards, and Chris Platt caught five for 85 yards, 50 of which came on Brewer’s touchdown pass.

While Brewer is not known as a runner, he was the Bears top rusher Saturday, leading the team with 12 carries and 58 yards on the ground and a rushing touchdown.

Baylor hosts Iowa State next week.
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