Around the Big 12: Week 14 (Football)
Even though it is late in the year, the Big 12 never fails to disappoint, as last week's games were huge in terms of the standings. The big game last week saw Iowa State narrowly beating Texas, as the Cyclones now have a firm grip on the first place spot in the conference.
Texas came into the game as just a one-point favorite and even jumped out to a 10-0 first quarter lead until the Cyclones woke up. Breece Hall was the player of the game for Iowa State as he ran for 91 yards and the only fourth quarter touchdown as Iowa State squeaked by Texas 23-20.
Texas now falls to 5-3 and fourth place in the Big 12 standings. A win against Iowa
State would have created madness, as four teams would be at six wins late into the college football season. The Longhorns still have two games remaining against Kansas State and a winless Kansas team, so there’s still a very slim shot to make it to the Big 12 championship game.
Another top team in the conference in Oklahoma State kept it close against a struggling Texas Tech team. The Cowboys leaned on the run game all day, as Dezmon Jackson ran for 235 yards with three touchdowns on an insane 36 carries while filling in for an injured Chuba Hubbard.
The Red Raiders kept things interesting towards the end of the game, as they began to rally down 50-31, but fell just short as Texas Tech lost 50-44. On the bright side, Alan Bowman played his best game since week one for the Red Raiders, throwing for 384 yards and three touchdowns.
One of the other teams towards the top of the conference in Oklahoma didn’t play last week, due to COVID-19 robbing us of what would have been a great game against West Virginia. This week, the Sooners will face off against Baylor in a rematch of the Big 12 conference championship game from a season ago.
Oklahoma won that game and there’s a good shot they win this matchup, being that they are 22 point favorites. Baylor has had a rough season thus far with complications surrounding COVID-19 and former head coach Matt Rhule going to the NFL.
The best game on this week’s slate may be Iowa State against a very good West Virginia team. Although West Virginia sits at 5-3 and fifth in the Big 12, they only lost by four points against Texas and blew out Kansas State and TCU this season. This will be the last game of the season for Iowa State before conference championship week, and since the Cyclones beat Oklahoma earlier in the year, they will have a spot in that game.
Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are likely fighting for the other spot and since the Sooners beat the Cowboys earlier in the season, that could be enough to make it. Oklahoma State will have to win out in their remaining games against TCU and Baylor, while all the Sooners have to do is win both of their games as well to make it in due to the tiebreaker.
Logan Bourandas is a sophomore majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him email lxb5412@psu.edu.
