Around the Big 12: Week 15 (Football)
The Big 12 regular season only has one week remaining, and last week did a lot for the shaping of the standings. Oklahoma secured their spot in the Big 12 Championship and will face off with Iowa State for the conference title on December 19th.
Oklahoma defeated Baylor last week 27-14 and retained their No. 11 spot in the College Football Playoff rankings. It was a defensive battle to say the least, as both teams were held to under 300 total yards. The Sooners have now won six straight games.
Iowa State convinced the College Football Playoff committee to move them up a spot in the rankings to No. 7 after their 42-6 rout against West Virginia. The Cyclones were led by a nearly perfect performance from their quarterback, Brock Purdy. Purdy was 20-23 and threw for 247 yards and three touchdowns. Iowa State is on a winning streak of its own, having won five straight.
Oklahoma State still had an outside chance at the conference championship heading into last week’s matchup with TCU, but all of those hopes are gone as the Horned Frogs upset the Cowboys 29-22. TCU turned the ball over 5 times in the game, but were still able to hold Oklahoma State to just 22 points.
Texas reentered their name into the conversation last week, destroying Kansas State 69-31. The longhorns improved their record to 6-3 on the season, and received the No. 20 ranking in the College Football Playoff rankings. The Wildcats of Kansas State have now lost five straight games since losing their starting quarterback Skylar Thompson.
The final game from last week’s Big 12 slate was between Kansas and Texas Tech. The 0-8 Jayhawks fought extremely hard and gave the Red Raiders a run for their money, but ultimately came up just short, losing 16-13. Texas Tech improved to 4-6 on the year, and Kansas fell to 0-9.
Now let’s take a look at the final week of the regular season in the Big 12. TCU will play the only non-conference game of the week when they host Louisiana Tech on Saturday night. TCU is 5-4 on the season, and comes into this one as 21.5 point favorites.
No. 20 Texas will play with a number next to their name again when they match up against the winless Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday. Senior quarterback Sam Ehlinger has 2,788 total yards and 33 total touchdowns on the year for the Longhorns, and will most likely be salivating over the opportunity to play against the worst defense in the conference.
No. 22 Oklahoma State will travel to Waco, Texas to take on the 2-6 Baylor Bears at 7 p.m. on Saturday night. Both defenses are averaging giving up less than 28 points per game, and Oklahoma State comes in as five point favorites.
The Mountaineers of West Virginia will host No. 11 Oklahoma at Noon on Saturday. This will be the Sooners final game before facing off with No. 7 Iowa State in the Big 12 Championship. Oklahoma has the best yardage offense in the conference, while West Virginia has the best yardage defense in the conference. This should be a great battle between the two units, and the Sooners enter as 13.5 point favorites.
Trevor Grady is a junior majoring in management information systems and minoring in journalism. To contact him, email tmg5685@psu.edu.
