Around the Big 12 Week: 2

posted September 9, 2021 in CommRadio, Sports by Logan Bourandas

The first week of play for the Big 12 conference didn’t disappoint as many of the teams lived up to the Big 12 tradition of having high-scoring offenses. The Big 12 was one of the better performing schools this past week as all but one team secured an opening week victory.

West Virginia was the one outlier as they played in a close game against Maryland and suffered a six-point loss after allowing a late touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Moving into the Big 12 teams which opened up the week ranked, there was a near disaster for the No. 2 ranked Oklahoma Sooners. The Sooners were locked in a high-scoring matchup against a Tulane team that only finished 6-6 in the American Athletic Conference last season.

Quarterback Spencer Rattler, who opened the season as a Heisman Trophy contender, threw two interceptions with one coming on the first pass of the game. The Sooners ended up winning 40-35 but moved back to No. 4 in the rankings and will face West Carolina on Saturday.

Unlike in the Oklahoma game, the No. 7 ranked Iowa State Cyclones were in a defensive battle against FCS opponent Northern Iowa. The Cyclone’s only touchdown of the game came in the second quarter on a short carry from running back Breece Hall.

Defensively, the Cyclones recorded two interceptions off Northern Iowa quarterback Will McElvain with one coming late in Iowa State territory. Like the Sooners, the Cyclones found themselves moved back in the rankings now No. 9 in the country with a battle against in-state rival No. 10 Iowa on deck.

The No. 21 ranked Texas Longhorns were the last ranked Big 12 team to play a game last week with theirs coming against another ranked opponent in No. 23 Louisiana. This game became a blowout once the second quarter started with the Longhorns putting up 24 points during that period.

Freshman quarterback Hudson Card made his first career start in the game as he replaced the recently drafted Sam Ehlinger. Card threw for 224 yards and two touchdowns while also adding a rushing touchdown as well in a 38-18 Longhorns victory. Unlike Oklahoma and Iowa State, Texas saw its ranking sore this week going all the way up to No. 15 in the country.

While things are looking good on the field for the Big 12, rumors continue to swirl that new teams are officially applying to join the conference. As of now, Group of Five schools UCF, BYU, Houston, and Cincinnati have applied with an official vote on them joining the conference coming Friday.

With it just being week two of the college football season, there should be tons of drama in the Big 12 which could have an impact on the future of college football as we know it.

 

Logan Bourandas is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email lxb5412@psu.edu