Arizona State Sun Devils

Big 12 Football Week 2: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Week 2 of the college football season is officially in the books as the conference as the Big 12 went 10-6 this weekend. The action started on Friday night with BYU and ended early Sunday morning with Arizona State. Here is the good, bad, and ugly from Week 2 in the Big 12.

The Good

The Kick Heard Around the World

At halftime of the Cy-Hawk game, I was worried. The Cyclones offense couldn’t do anything right, and the special teams struggled as well. Between the penalties and miscues, I didn’t think Iowa State could pull it off. Then in the second half, the offense found their rhythm and put together back-to-back 75-yard touchdown drives and their defense completely shut down Iowa in the second half. But the hero of this game was true freshman kicker Kyle Konrardy who drilled a 54-yard field goal to take the lead and give ISU the 20-19 win. This man should never have to pay for a drink in Ames ever in his life.

 

Teams Who Handled Business

Not every team handled themselves against inferior opponents on Saturday but there were a few that did. BYU’s defense dominated SMU’s offense as they gave up just 261 yards and only allowed the Mustangs to convert three out of their sixteen third down attempts.

UCF put a beatdown on a good Sam Houston team as they ran for a whopping 384 yards with none other than RJ Harvey leading the way with four rushing touchdowns. Meanwhile, in Morgantown the Mountaineers had a bounce back game against UAlbany. Quarterback Garrett Greene threw for three touchdowns and the offense had over 300 rushing yards on the day.

On Saturday night, the Horned Frogs hosted Long Island and put on a defensive clinic as they gave up just 127 total yards and didn’t allow a single point on the board in their 45-0 route.

Last but not least is Arizona State. In case you aren’t staying up late, this Sun Devils team is going to be a problem for some teams. They ran for over 350 yards against Mississippi State as Cam Skattebo led the way with 262 yards in their 30-23 win over the Bulldogs.

Houston Kept it Close

I am not one for moral victories, but Houston shocked me on Saturday night against Oklahoma. Nobody expected them to stay within 20 of the Sooners and they put up a fight thanks to that defense of theirs. The Cougars held the Sooners to just 252 yards and had seven tackles for loss. I hope Willie Fritz will be able to use this as momentum going forward for his team.

 

The Great Escapes

We saw several teams in the conference walk away with a win that was too close for comfort. It started with Oklahoma State hosting Arkansas. The Cowboys found themselves down 21-7 at halftime and the seven came from a pick six. Then all of a sudden, the offense got going and scored 21 unanswered and took a 28-21 lead late in the fourth quarter. The Cowboys broke the tie with less than a minute left thanks to a Logan Ward field goal, but Arkansas should have never gotten the ball back to begin with because of this bad call. Luckily, Oklahoma State escaped with a double overtime victory because their defense got the stop that mattered most.

Speaking of escapes, look no further than Kansas State. Tulane was driving in the fourth quarter to take the lead and then the defense came up with a huge play as Jack Fabris returned a fumble for six the other way to give the Wildcats the lead. Then later in the game Tulane had a few chances to score in the redzone, but the defense came up clutch once again thanks to an interception by VJ Payne with just 12 seconds left.

Then you had Arizona who struggled all evening with Northern Arizona. The defense did their part, but the offense struggled. Most of their issues were up front as they had trouble protecting quarterback Noah Fifita and it didn’t help that they were down a few starters. The Wildcats were actually down 10-6 at halftime before scoring 16 points in the second half to win the game.

 

The Bad

Cam Rising’s Health

Even though Utah won the game against Baylor, the focus was on Utah quarterback Cam Rising. During a play late in the second quarter Cam was shoved into a bank of watercoolers on the Baylor sideline. Rising was later seen in street clothes on the sideline with the ring and middle fingers on his right throwing hand taped. As of now, there is still word on his status moving forward. Also, it was weird to see Baylor and Utah play in a non-conference matchup, but I know this game was planned years ago.

Jalon Daniels

I am sorry but I just have to wonder, is Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels OK? Is he truly healthy? Through two games he has completed just 57% of his passes and has thrown more interceptions than touchdown passes. He looks like a shell of himself from two years ago and against Illinois he struggled to hit receivers and threw costly pick six as his team fell 23-17.

Ugly

Texas Tech Red Raiders

One thing I did not see coming was the Red Raiders getting blown out in Pullman against Washington State. I knew the defense would have some trouble through the air but to give up over 300 rushing yards to the Cougars was surprising. While the defense struggled, the offense was busy turning the ball over four times and as a team Texas Tech had ten penalties in this game. You simply can’t do these things and expect to win on the road.

 

Colorado Buffaloes

While the score may be 28-10, it felt more like 50-0 if you truly watched this game. At no point was Colorado competitive and I could see it from the first snap of the game. Shedeur Sanders was sacked six times, and the crazy part is that Nebraska didn’t even have to rush more than four to get to him. The offensive line struggled to not only protect him, but they also couldn’t create any holes in the run game as the offense finished the day averaging 0.7 yards per rush.

Cincinnati’s Blown Lead

I have seen some blown leads in my day, but Cincinnati took it to another level against Pitt. The Bearcats had a 27 to 6 lead with less than five minutes left in the third quarter and then allowed the Panthers to score 22 unanswered points. Their defense gave up four consecutive scoring drives to end the game and the offense failed to produce a single drive that lasted longer than five plays. That is a recipe for disaster.

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