Big 12 Report: Week 2 Previews

Baylor Bears (1-0, 0-0)
Opponent: SMU Mustangs
What Happened Last Week: Baylor 55, Northwestern State 7 (Box Score)
Location: McLane Stadium | Waco, Texas
Date and Time: Saturday, September 10th at 2:30 pm
Television: FS1
Line: Baylor +32

Seth: Baylor sufficiently knocked around Northwestern State and it wasn’t even close. The freshman quarterback, Zach Smith, got in the game early and Baylor had scored 48 points by halftime. Much like Texas Tech’s game, this was pretty much over at half. Baylor now faces SMU at home, where the Mustangs won their first game of the year against North Texas. I wouldn’t expect SMU to give Baylor much trouble at all and if the spread is any indication, I think this will be over relatively quickly; however, I will be interested to see how Chad Morris’ SMU team improves this year and maybe this is a good barometer.

Iowa State Cyclones (0-1, 0-0)
Opponent: Iowa Hawkeyes
What Happened Last Week: Northern Iowa 25, Iowa State 20 (Box Score)
Location: Kinnick Stadium | Iowa City, Iowa
Date and Time: Saturday, September 10th at 6:30 pm
Television: BTN
Line: Iowa State +15

Brian: Oh, Cyclones. I tried to warn you last week, but to no avail. This week, Iowa State travels to Kinnick Stadium to take on sworn enemy Iowa in a matchup that will surely throw out any reasoned preview analysis once the game starts. The Lazard-Lanning combo seemed to work out well against UNI, so look to them to try to replicate the success against Iowa CB Greg Mabin, who plays opposite of 2015 Jim Thorpe winner Desmond King. RB Mike Warren was effectively stymied last Saturday, but will hope to find a bit more traction against a middle of the road Iowa DL. Defensively, the Cyclones face a tall order in slowing down Iowa RB tandem Akrum Wadley & LeShun Daniels. If they have any success, expect to see some play action from experienced Hawkeye QB CJ Beathard. Not that Kirk Ferentz cares too much right now, mind you; he’s locked up his future and is too busy counting his money. If I were George Clooney in Ocean’s 11, Ferentz would be my first call.

Kansas Jayhawks (1-0, 0-0)
Opponent: Ohio Bobcats
What Happened Last Week: Kansas 55, Rhode Island 6 (Box Score)
Location: Memorial Stadium | Lawrence, Kansas
Date and Time: Saturday, September 10th at 1:30 pm
Television: FSN
Line: Kansas -3

Brian: What do you do when you break a 15 game losing streak and you’re also Kansas football? You rush the danged field, that’s what. All 75 fans! They may have another chance on Saturday, depending on how much Ohio’s OT loss to Texas State took out of them (the Jayhawks are still 9 point dogs). Kansas threw the proverbial kitchen sink at Rhode Island on offense, including 3 quarterbacks & 4 running backs, and 9 different receivers notched receptions. A QB still hasn’t been decided on, so both Montell Cozart & Ryan Willis will get a chance to make a case for the position by slinging all over a woeful Bobcat passing defense.

Kansas State Wildcats (0-1, 0-0)
Opponent: BYE
What Happened Last Week: Stanford 26, Kansas State 13 (Box Score)

Oklahoma Sooners (0-1, 0-0)
Opponent: Louisiana Monroe Warhawks
What Happened Last Week: Houston 33, Oklahoma 23 (Box Score)
Location: Memorial Stadium | Norman, Oklahoma
Date and Time: Saturday, September 10th at 6:00 pm
Television: PPV
Line: Oklahoma -46

Seth: I think OU might take some frustration out on La.-Monroe this weekend and that’s a terrible thing for the Warhawks. With Oklahoma getting man-handled by Houston, the Sooners will look to rebound against a relatively easy FCS opponent. I watched a good portion of the OU game and I thought that the Sooners didn’t rely enough on their running backs and Baker Mayfield tried to do way too much. I also wonder about that deep threat we’ve discussed this season, how it might be really tough to replace Sterling Shepherd. Either way, expect Oklahoma to absolutely roll.

Oklahoma State Cowboys (1-0, 0-0)
Opponent: Central Michigan Chippewas
What Happened Last Week: Oklahoma State 61, Southeastern Louisiana 7 (Box Score)
Location: Boone Pickens Stadium | Stillwater, Oklahoma
Date and Time: Saturday, September 10th at 11:00 am
Television: FS1
Line: Oklahoma State -21

Brian: Good news! Barry Sanders, Jr. is fully operational. Bad news! Barry Sanders, Jr. is fully operational, and he’s only one of a few deadly Cowboy RB’s. After waltzing through their opener against [checks notes, consults map] Southeastern Louisiana, Okie State looks to take on a [consults map again] Central Michigan team that kept it pretty close in 2015 (24-13 Pokes). Chippewa QB Cooper Rush looks to feature big again in the 2016 match-up, posing quite the threat with both his arms & legs. Speaking of legs, the Chips also rushed for 255 in their season opener, so this should be a good test of the Cowboys run D. Mason Rudolph and the other starters shouldn’t be making an early exit again this Saturday, so watch to see how he handles an entire game behind what seems to be a pretty thin Poke OL.

TCU Horned Frogs (1-0, 0-0)
Opponent: Arkansas Razorbacks
What Happened Last Week: TCU 59, South Dakota State 41 (Box Score)
Location: Amon G. Carter Stadium | Ft. Worth, Texas
Date and Time: Saturday, September 10th at 6:00 pm
Television: ESPN/ESPN2
Line: TCU -7.5

Seth: Well, this is interesting. Both TCU and Arkansas struggled last week. TCU couldn’t put away South Dakota State, a game that was way too close. And quite frankly, I’m shocked that the TCU defense gave up 41 points. That typically doesn’t happen for the Horned Frogs. Meanwhile, the Razorbacks struggled against Louisiana Tech, winning by a single point (keep in mind that the Bulldogs are a future opponent for Texas Tech).  This game is in Ft. Worth and regardless of what you think about Gary Patterson, he’s good at righting the ship. I think this game will be closer than the 6 points, but I still like TCU here.

Texas Longhorns (1-0, 0-0)
Opponent: UTEP Miners
What Happened Last Week: Texas 50, Notre Dame 47 (Box Score)
Location: Royal Texas Memorial Stadium | Austin, Texas
Date and Time: Saturday, September 10th at 6:00 pm
Television: LHN
Line: Texas -28

Seth: Well, wasn’t that fun. Shane Buchele looked the part against Notre Dame and the Longhorn offense learned how to use Tyrone Swoopes (as an aside, I thought Swoopes’ problems last year was because the offense wasn’t built for what he does best). The defense was questionable at times and they can be scored upon. I’d guess that UTEP will attempt to play keep-away as much as humanly possible. Aaron Jones will probably get the ball more times than he wants, but that will be the key. And as good as Texas was, freshman quarterbacks are going to have hiccups, it just happens no matter who you are.  Still, the Longhorn offense was markedly better, but it’s a copy-cat of Baylor for the most part, power running, let the wide guys run straight down the field and hope that your guys can out-run their guys. When it’s on, it works really well.

West Virginia Mountaineers (1-0, 0-0)
Opponent: Youngstown State Penguins
What Happened Last Week: West Virginia 26, Missouri 11 (Box Score)
Location: Milan Puskar Stadium | Morgantown, West Virginia
Date and Time: Saturday, September 10th at 1:00 pm
Television: TBA
Line: No line

Brian: Rushel Shell & Skyler Howard both did their thing against Missouri last Saturday, but it was the ‘Eer defense that stood out, terrible Missouri offense not withstanding. Howard may still be nursing a rib injury sustained in the second quarter, so the WVU OL will have to do everything it can to keep him clean versus a Bo Pelini coached Penguin D. Youngstown also plays an old school Pelini offense which will utilize full backs & tight ends to help mitigate the speed of Holgo’s spread, so WVU will need to make their possessions count. FUN TRIVIA: Youngstown, Ohio is the hometown of not only the Pelinis, but also the Stoops brothers. It’s also the alma mater of Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi & everybody’s favorite ornery pizza parlor owner, Mark Mangino. The more you know!

Back To Top