Advertisement

Winners and Losers: What do we know about the Big 12?

After Week 2 provided us a disastrously bad sample for the Big Ten, Week 3 was a good opportunity to gauge the Big 12 as seven of the league's 10 teams played opponents from other Power Five conferences.

What did we glean? It was a good week for the Big 12, even if the league won't challenge the SEC or Pac-12 for the title of the best conference, and it's better than the Big Ten and likely the ACC. In the words of Dennis Green, they are who we thought they were.

Let's start with the good.

Oklahoma did what it was supposed to against Tennessee at home, jumping out to a big lead and controlling the game. Oklahoma State, led by backup QB Daxx Garman, beat a UTSA team that gave Arizona a close game and beat Houston.

West Virginia racked up nearly 700 yards of offense against Maryland and won with a game-ending field goal. TCU, a sleeper team behind the Sooners and Baylor, dominated Minnesota. Iowa State got its first win of the season against Iowa on a late field goal. OK, so perhaps the last two games are also indictments against the Big Ten. We're focusing on the positive in this paragraph, OK?

Texas' fight against UCLA counts as a positive, even if it ended up as a 20-17 loss for the Longhorns. While UCLA QB Brett Hundley missed most of the game with a left elbow injury, Texas' defense kept the Longhorns in the game despite allowing over 200 yards rushing. UCLA's winning touchdown was set up by a 45-yard punt return by Ishmael Adams that gave the Bruins a very short field.

While the gameplan was limited on deep throws, Texas QB Tyrone Swoopes was 24-34 passing for 196 yards and two touchdowns. Yes, baby steps, but the Longhorns will win games in David Ash's absence if Swoopes can continue to do that.

Now, for the negative. It's a big one too. If Texas Tech was to announce itself as a contender in the conference, it needed to beat a maligned Arkansas team at home. It was as simple as that. Instead, Arkansas literally ran over, around and through the Red Raiders en route to a 49-28 win. The Razorbacks ran 80 offensive plays and 68 were rushing attempts. That's 438 yards rushing (6.4 yards per carry) and another disastrous performance for Texas Tech's rush defense.

Oh, it was also Arkansas' first win against a Power Five school in 23 months.

Since a 7-0 start in 2013, Tech is 3-6 with wins over Arizona State, Central Arkansas and UTEP. It's not pretty in Lubbock and the near future schedule isn't easy. The Red Raiders' next two games are against Oklahoma State and Kansas State. Both of those teams can run the football well. You can bet what the focus of Tech's upcoming bye week will be.

(Kansas, who lost 44-3 at Duke is also a negative. But we're quite accustomed to Kansas football futility at this point.)

And while we can all agree that the Big 12's top two teams are Oklahoma and Baylor, it's still unclear who is the conference's third-best team. It's probably not Texas Tech or Texas. Is it Oklahoma State? TCU?

We'll take Kansas State, who was off on Saturday in preparation for Thursday's game at home against Auburn. It's a chance for the Wildcats to not only make a statement for themselves, but for the conference as a whole, and they can show the Big 12 may be closer to the SEC than we think.

On to the rest of our winners and losers.

WINNERS

Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty (14) is tackled by Buffalo linebacker Jarrett Franklin (36) during the first half of an NCAA college football game on Friday, Sept. 12, 2014, in Amherst, N.Y. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty (14) is tackled by Buffalo linebacker Jarrett Franklin (36) during the first half of an NCAA college football game on Friday, Sept. 12, 2014, in Amherst, N.Y. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

Bryce Petty: Not feeling great? Petty doesn’t want to hear your excuses. Less than two weeks after cracking two bones in his back, the Baylor QB returned to the field to torch Buffalo to the tune of 23 completions on 34 attempts for a sizzling 416 yards and 4 touchdowns – and nary an interception – in a 63-21 win. Sure, it was Buffalo, but it was still the sort of performance nervous Bears fans needed after the prized signal-caller went down. We can speculate all day about whether it’s wise to play an FBS game with damaged vertebrae, but it was also one on which Petty’s Heisman candidacy hinged. Throw in the fact that he’ll get a week of rest before the Bears start a nine-game conference slate, and Baylor is sitting pretty with its top QB in a groove as they prepare to climb the Big 12 mountain.

Bowling Green: It took 73 pass attempts by Bowling Green QB James Knapke (he completed a whopping 46 of them for 395 yards), but the Falcons found a way to outlast the Hoosiers for a 45-42 win. Falcons receiver Roger Lewis caught 16 of those 46 passes for 149 yards and the game-winning touchdown with nine seconds to go. Oh, and he’s just a true freshman. We’re going to wait to throw a party celebrating the MAC’s power over the Big Ten until after Bowling Green beats a much stronger Wisconsin team next weekend at Camp Randall Stadium. And since that probably won’t happen, let’s all just savor a thrilling win over the big brother, regional rival.

Brigham Young quarterback Taysom Hill (4) out runs the tackle from Houston defensive back Trevon Stewart (23) in the first quarter of an NCAA college football game Thursday, Sept. 11, 2014, in Provo, Utah.(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Brigham Young quarterback Taysom Hill (4) out runs the tackle from Houston defensive back Trevon Stewart (23) in the first quarter of an NCAA college football game Thursday, Sept. 11, 2014, in Provo, Utah.(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

BYU’s College Football Playoff chances: Three games into the season, the Cougars are already making a case as the College Football Playoff’s party crashers, and Taysom Hill as the Heisman party crasher. BYU has outscored its first three opponents (UConn, Texas, Houston) 101-50 and the rest of their toughest games on the schedule don’t appear to be too formidable. Where do they stumble? At home against Virginia? At Boise State? At UCF? At Cal? It could happen, of course, but that’s a slate they’ll take. Meanwhile, Hill has 1,045 total yards and a QB rating of 136.2. The schedule isn’t impressive, but could the committee really keep an undefeated team out? We’re a long way from having to worry about it, but the Cougars have looked so good that it’s a scenario that’s too intriguing to ignore.

Western Michigan: It’s been six years since Western Michigan started a season 1-1 and the one victory was not against an FCS team. The Broncos defeated Idaho 45-33 to notch their first win and tie their win total from a year ago. Quite honestly, this team was just a few plays from defeating Purdue and starting 2-0. There’s no doubt this is a much-improved team in coach P.J. Fleck’s second season and it’s offense is something to be feared. In two contests, the Broncos have scored 79 total points. And with a game against Murray State looming, there’s a good chance Western Michigan could have its first winning record since 2012.

Sep 13, 2014; Durham, NC, USA; Duke Blue Devils running back Shaun Wilson (29) runs for a touchdown against the Kansas Jayhawks at Wallace Wade Stadium. (Mark Dolejs-USA TODAY Sports)
Sep 13, 2014; Durham, NC, USA; Duke Blue Devils running back Shaun Wilson (29) runs for a touchdown against the Kansas Jayhawks at Wallace Wade Stadium. (Mark Dolejs-USA TODAY Sports)

Shaun Wilson: Duke true freshman running back Shaun Wilson had gained just 89 yards on nine carries through two games this season. On Saturday? The 5-foot-9, 180-pound Wilson ran for a school-record 245 yards on just 12 carries in the Blue Devils' 41-3 home win. That's an average of 20.4 yards per carry. He also scored on runs of 69, 68 and 45 yards en route to breaking the 20-year-old record. Wilson was actually one yard short of the record with five seconds left in the game. The Duke coaches knew this, so instead of taking a knee, Wilson received a handoff and gained eight yards to put his name atop the record books.

LOSERS

Virginia Tech cornerback Kendall Fuller (11) leaves the filed after an NCAA college football game against East Carolina, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014, in Blacksburg Va. East Carolina won 28-21. (AP Photo/The Roanoke Times, Matt Gentry)
Virginia Tech cornerback Kendall Fuller (11) leaves the filed after an NCAA college football game against East Carolina, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014, in Blacksburg Va. East Carolina won 28-21. (AP Photo/The Roanoke Times, Matt Gentry)

Virginia Tech: Oh, Hokies, where to start? Coming off what seemed like a season-making win in Columbus, Virginia Tech needed to take care of business against East Carolina. Down 21-0 at one point, the Hokies slowly climbed back into the game, tied it at 21-21 with just over a minute to play, and then were promptly run over by the Pirates’ game-winning drive. The same defense that held Ohio State to 327 total yards allowed 504 yards against East Carolina. Pirates QB Shane Carden blazed the Hokies through the air – in a way Ohio State’s J.T. Barrett couldn’t – with 427 passing yards and three touchdowns. It was the first time the Hokies allowed a 400-yard passer since 2002. Virginia Tech quarterback Michael Brewer was sacked three times and threw two interceptions. That ACC sleeper storyline may have already been put to bed after one week.

Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason: Perhaps coming back against UMass and finding a way to at least stem an extremely negative tide of criticism is a win, but there are a lot of reasons to feel shaky about the new  coach’s start to the season. For starters, using four quarterbacks in three games is hardly advisable. To make that worse, freshman QB Wade Greebeck’s redshirt was burned when he was given the starting nod and then unsurprisingly looked like a freshman, going 1-for-2 for 3 yards and an interception. He was replaced by Patton Robinette, the season-opening starter, bringing the QB mess full circle. Robinette was perfectly serviceable, which Vanderbilt will take at this point. But Mason’s taken quite the path to settle on his quarterback. And no offense to UMass (OK, maybe a little offense), but an SEC team has little to no business flirting with a loss to a MAC team that’s won all of two games in three seasons. Perhaps the worst part is that Mason will deal with Commodores fans who will point to whatever Penn State and former head coach James Franklin do when they host these same Minutemen next weekend. Vanderbilt gets South Carolina. Hard to see things getting better for Mason anytime soon.

Kent State QBs: Colin Reardon and Nathan Strock don’t need anyone to tell them how bad things were against Ohio State, but just so it’s clear: The duo completed just 15 passes on 34 attempts for 79 yards and three interceptions in a 66-0 loss. All three interceptions belonged to Reardon, who finished with a brutal QB rating of 10.2. In fairness to both, the running game wasn’t doing much either, collecting just 20 yards on 23 attempts. It was really just a no-good, very bad day for the Golden Flashes, and it looked even worse for the guys under center.

Sep 13, 2014; Charlottesville, VA, USA; Virginia Cavaliers quarterback Greyson Lambert (11) celebrates with fans on the field after the Cavaliers game against the Louisville Cardinals at Scott Stadium. The Cavaliers won 23-21. (Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports)
Sep 13, 2014; Charlottesville, VA, USA; Virginia Cavaliers quarterback Greyson Lambert (11) celebrates with fans on the field after the Cavaliers game against the Louisville Cardinals at Scott Stadium. The Cavaliers won 23-21. (Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports)

Virginia fans: Listen, Wahoos, we need to have a talk about storming the field after beating No. 21 Louisville 23-21. That is not a storm-the-field scenario. Even if it was the first victory over a ranked team since the 14-13 result over Florida State in 2011, that’s not a reason to storm the field. Even if it was the Cavaliers’ first win in their last 11 games against ACC teams, that’s not a reason to storm the field. Even if Thomas Jefferson himself climbed out of the earth to make the tackle on the final play, that’s not a reason to storm the field (he might be a zombie and that means stay away). The point is, you don’t get to storm the field in the ACC opener unless you knock off the conference champ or maybe the runner-up. The team playing it’s second-ever ACC game? Really? You stormed the field for beating a team that was in the Big East and AAC the last two seasons? Ugh.

Gary Nova: Rutgers had a chance to make a statement in its first-ever Big Ten game with a win over Penn State in front of a raucous home crowd, but senior quarterback Gary Nova did not help the effort. Nova threw five interceptions for the Scarlet Knights in a devastating 13-10 loss. Granted, his first two interceptions were probably more the fault of his receivers, but the three second half picks halted the momentum established by a swarming Rutgers defense. And when Nova had a chance to lead the Scarlet Knights on a game-winning or tying drive in the final minutes, he was intercepted by Penn State safety Ryan Keiser with 26 seconds to go. Yuck.

(Max Thompson, Sam Cooper and Graham Watson contributed to this post.)

Related college football video from Yahoo Sports:

- - - - - - -

Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!