Around the Big 12: Week 5

By Steve Lansdale

The Longhorns, and their fans, had a week off as they prepare for next week’s matchup with West Virginia (the Mountaineers also enjoyed a bye). But what about the rest of the teams in the conference?

No. 6 Oklahoma 55, Texas Tech 16
It has been said that two is a pair, and three is a collection.

With that theory as a backdrop, how close is Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley to launching his collection of transfer quarterbacks who win the Heisman Trophy as Sooners?

When the season began, many considered the[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] race for the Heisman to have two primary contenders: Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence. But Bama-turned-OU quarterback Jalen Hurts is doing his best to make sure the trophy isn’t awarded prematurely. Hurts threw for 415 yards — he cleared the 400-yard passing plateau for the first time since transferring — and three touchdowns Saturday to lead the Sooners to a rout of the Red Raiders in Norman, and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb established career highs with 185 receiving yards and three touchdowns as No. 6 OU improved to 4-0 in the first conference game for each team. Lamb passed former Sooners Malcolm Kelly and Dede Westbrook to move into seventh place in school history with 2,379 receiving yards.

Hurts also ran for 70 yards and a score, and his 485 yards of total offense ranked No. 8 in OU history for total yards in a single game.

Texas Tech was without starting quarterback Alan Bowman, who sat out with a shoulder injury. In his place, Jett Duffey threw for just 120 yards. Running back SaRodorick Thompson ran for 96 yards for the Red Raiders, who slipped to 2-2.

Texas Tech hosts Oklahoma State next Saturday, while OU will visit Kansas.

Oklahoma State 26, No. 24 Kansas State 13
For Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard, the nation’s leading rusher, the 121 yards he had last week against Texas were viewed as something of a letdown. So just two weeks after rushing for a career-high 256 yards, Hubbard raised the bar, rushing 25 times for 296 yards and a touchdowns to lead the Cowboys over the No. 24 Wildcats in Stillwater.

Oklahoma State improved to 4-1 overall and evened its record in Big 12 games at 1-1. K-State fell to 3-1 in its conference opener.

Hubbard acknowledged being disappointed in his performance against UT, and took it out on the Kansas State defense. Quarterback Spencer Sanders completed 16 of 25 passes for just 153 yards and a touchdown. Wide receiver Tylen Wallace caught eight passes for 145 passes; the rest of the Cowboys caught eight passes for just eight combined yards.

Oklahoma State’s defense had a stellar day, limiting Kansas State to 126 rushing yards — the Wildcats entered the game averaging 280 yards on the ground — and allowing just eight first downs.

Oklahoma State heads to Lubbock, Texas next week to face Texas Tech, while Kansas heads home to host Baylor.

TCU 51, Kansas 14
A week after getting bumped from the national rankings by losing at home to SMU, the Horned Frogs may have, in fact, found their quarterback of the future.

Through the first three games of the season, TCU split time between Kansas State transfer Alex Delton and freshman Max Duggan.

TCU improved to 3-1 in its first conference game, while Kansas fell to 2-3 overall and 0-2 in Big 12 games.

The two shared playing time again Saturday, and Delton had more passing yards (186) than Duggan (100). But a week after appearing bewildered against the Mustangs, Duggan started his second straight game and was razor-sharp against the Jayhawks, completing 8 of 11 passes and throwing a pair of touchdown passes.

Four Horned Frogs rushed for a touchdown, including Darius Anderson, who had 18 carries (matching KU’s team total) for a game-high 115 yards.

As good as the TCU offense was, the defense was even better. The Frogs outgained the Jayhawks, 625-159, in total yards and stifled the KU offense, which mustered just eight first downs and converted one of 11 third downs in the entire game.

The Kansas offense was as anemic as the score might suggest. Quarterback Carter Stanley completed just 12 of 29 passes for 84 yards and a touchdown, and running back Pooka Williams had eight carries for just 12 yards. Velton Gardner led the KU ground game with four carries for 61 yards and a touchdown.

Kansas hosts Oklahoma next Saturday, while TCU travels to Iowa State.

Baylor 23, Iowa State 21
The Bears jumped out to a 20-0 lead on visiting Iowa State but still needed a 38-yard field goal from freshman John Mayers to drill the first field goal of his college career with 31 seconds left to knock off the visiting Cyclones in Waco.

Baylor took a 7-0 lead into the locker room at halftime after wide receiver Denzel Mims caught a 9-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Charlie Brewer, who completed 26 of 45 passes for 307 yards and three touchdowns.

Brewer found Mims again in the third quarter from 24 yards out — the subsequent two-point conversion failed — and Brewer then hooked up with Tyquan Thornton from 35 yards out to give the Bears a 20-point advantage.

But the fourth quarter belonged to the Cyclones. Johnnie Lang scored on a 3-yard run and caught a 12-yard scoring pass from quarterback Brock Purdy to close the margin to 20-14. With 3:45 to go, Purdy struck again with a 20-yard scoring strike to Charlie Kolar; the ensuing extra point gave Iowa State its only lead in the game before Mayers won it for Baylor in the final minute.

Baylor improved to 4-0, while Iowa State stumbled to 2-2 in the Big 12 opener for each team. The Bears head to Manhattan to face Kansas State next weekend, while Iowa State hosts TCU.
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