Week 10 start of Big 12 round-robin among playoff contenders

The Mountaineers lost the Big 12’s Big Four by a combined 81 points, but brighter days should be ahead. The quarterfinals and semifinal contests will be shown exclusively on the Big 12 Digital Network at Big12Sports.com with Lincoln Rose calling the action.

A playoff berth will be forged.

The Horned Frogs (8-0) are No. 8 in the College Football Playoff rankings, one season after they got the cold shoulder from the voting committee.

“I was proud of our team, proud of them for rallying in the second half”, said OSU coach Mike Gundy, who leaned heavily on backup quarterback J.W. Walsh, a Denton Guyer graduate, to help the Cowboys outscore the Red Raiders 42-15 in the final 30 minutes.

“And we’ve all got to play each other”. Somehow, November is here, and unsurprisingly, TCU’s undefeated. One thing they have in common: They are undefeated. Past year the Big 12 got left out. Next weekend, it’s Oklahoma at Baylor. After that, we get TCU at Oklahoma and Baylor at Oklahoma State. He is second in the Big 12 with 7.8 catches a game, and third with 106.3 yards per game.

Iowa State at #13 Oklahoma (-25.5) – Even though it was only Texas, Iowa State had its season-maker last week. Of the CFP top 15-ranked teams, only LSU (1st) and Stanford (18th) have comparable remaining schedules. The bigger the event, the more they become worthy of playing in the college football playoff.

There is, of course, the danger the Big 12 will knock itself out of the playoff picture. Playoff rankings were just released and now teams know where they stand.

Given that this is the best defense that TCU have played, I’m taking a low score by Big 12 standards, and a shootout by SEC or Big 10 ones.

Teams like the Oklahoma State, TCU, and Baylor have been putting up scores. “We had to play the Fiesta Bowl first before we got a chance at the Rose”.

Who that team might be is anybody’s guess.

Baylor has cruised through the first two months of the season, defeating every opponent by at least 17 points.

Such is the work required to prepare for Baylor freshman quarterback Jarrett Stidham. Thankfully, Walsh and Rudolph are never on the field at the same time, so whatever package is on the field, will have any easier time because it’s one tailored to a specific quarterback. Or you could go with multiple lineups, attempting to take advantage of the different guys at the helm. It’s about talent. It’s about playmakers like Leonard Fournette and Trevone Boykin. Travin Howard leads the Horned Frogs with 55 tackles, Josh Carraway has 4.5 sacks and Corry O’Meally has seven pass deflections. According to FPI, the best team Ohio State has played this season was Virginia Tech week one. “That’s what you have to do if you want to try to win a championship”.

Oklahoma seems to be surging at the right time, as well. Like the Buckeyes previous year, the Sooners have an almost inexplicable loss.

“You’d like to not be dealt that hand as many times as we have, but it is what it is”. “We’re executing really well”.

The remainder of the schedule for both teams, however, could fix their issues, with the Bears and Frogs facing ranked Oklahoma and Oklahoma State this month, before facing off against each other November 27. The Cowboys trailed or were tied with Central Michigan, Texas, Kansas State, West Virginia and Texas Tech and came back to win all four games with terrific fourth quarters.

To be blunt, Baylor and TCU haven’t played anybody through the first seven weeks of the season.

“We knew that November was going to be a hard stretch”, receiver David Glidden said. The unbeaten Spartans have won by an average of 11.66 points and are coming off their best offensive performance of the year, a 52-26 victory over Indiana last weekend.

The Cowboys will have their shot. So will the Sooners, Horned Frogs and Bears.