Big 12 Football Power Rankings, Week 13: Oklahoma asserts dominance
By Dante Pryor
The Horned Frogs positioned themselves to go bowling with a close win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders. TCU simply needs to split their last two games, and they are off to a bowl game. This team is young and made up of an assortment of parts. This Texas Christian squad doesn’t have the dynamic playmaker in the backfield or on the perimeter.
Defensively, this isn’t a typical Gary Patterson team. In their five losses they’ve given up over 30 points three times — two of those times teams went over 40. Patterson doesn’t look for five-stars, we know this. However, this team just doesn’t look as talented as a lot of other teams in the Big 12.
Kansas State was upset by the visiting West Virginia Mountaineers last week. Something that’s been consistent about the Kansas State season is they are better when starting quarterback Skylar Thompson doesn’t throw the ball a lot.
In Kansas State’s four conference losses Thompson is averaging 30.75 passes per game; in their three conference wins (and the Mississippi State win t make it even) Thompson averaged 21.3 passes per game. When he’s running as much as he’s passing we know two things. First, the offense is clicking and the run game is working. Second, the defense hasn’t allowed them to fall behind early, and the Wildcats have to throw to catch up.
The Texas Longhorns are proof why some people can’t have anything nice. Two weeks ago the Longhorns put together a nice win against the Kansas State Wildcats after a loss to the TCU Horned Frogs the week prior. This week, they fell to Iowa State. We know the plight of the Longhorns here at headquarters.
The Longhorns have dealt with injuries, that’s for sure. This is head coach Tom Herman’s fourth season. He’s had three outright recruiting classes and one he inherited from outgoing head coach Charlie Strong. There’s no indication that Herman is or even should be on the hot seat. When should we at least criticize him for not having talent depth?