1. Kliff Kingsbury may be an offensive genius, but part of being a great head coach is improving things like discipline. After 16 penalties in Stillwater on Thursday night, the Red Raiders have committed 46 penalties on the season. That’s tied for 3rd in the FBS. No other Big 12 team is in the top 20 in penalties in the FBS.
2. Oklahoma State QB Daxx Garman’s deep ball is tremendously accurate. Now if he could just improve his accuracy on the short and intermediate routes … he’s the long-term guy in Stillwater; not J.W. Walsh.
3. It will be difficult for any Big 12 team to have success running against Kansas State. A week after the Wildcats held Auburn to 128 yards rushing (an impressive feat for one of the best rushing teams in the country), K-State held UTEP to just 7 rushing yards in the first half. The Miners had rushed for at least 277 yards in each of their first three games.
4. It’s amazing to me TCU is not being talked about yet as a serious threat in the Big 12. The Horned Frogs were a few breaks away from a winning record last season. Now, with a new offense, and possibly the best defense they’ve had under Gary Patterson, look for TCU to give Oklahoma, Baylor, and the rest of the Big 12 plenty of fits … and likely a loss to one of the conference favorites.
5. Charlie Weis had to go. His expertise is supposed to be offense, and it’s been the offense that has been horrendous during his tenure in Lawrence. The defense has, often times, held it’s own the past couple years. But, Weis has shown zero improvement into his third season, and the offense is as bad as ever (once again evident in yesterday’s 23-0 loss to Texas).
6. … that being said: Charlie Weis is now getting about $25 million to NOT coach Kansas and Notre Dame. Maybe that is the genius behind Weis… flash your Super Bowl rings with the Patriots, kill the interview, then suck, get fired, make millions. Beautiful formula.
7. Kansas isn’t an easy place to win. That being said, it has been proven (Mangino era), to be a place that a coach CAN win, and win big. Yes, it will always be a basketball school first, but there is a passionate fan base and plenty of conference money rolling in to be more competitive than they have been under Gill/Weis.
8. Why does Texas even bother working the run game between the tackles? Everything should be on the edge. The offensive line is so horrendous, they made the Jayhawks front seven look like the Seattle Seahawks.
9. Where is Iowa State’s run game? Aaron Wimberly and DeVondrick Nealy were supposed to help take the pressure off QB Sam Richardson. As a team, ISU has averaged 3.4 yards per carry.
10. Joey Harrington is clueless. As the color man during the ISU-Baylor game he went on about how the Big 12 is “down this season” and questioned whether or not an undefeated Baylor would get into the CFB playoff. Huh? Yes, Baylor’s non-conference is week. But this week there are 5 teams in the Coaches Poll. With the round robin schedule, Baylor will have to beat the other four to go undefeated. I believe Oklahoma, Baylor, K-State and TCU could compete with almost anyone in the country. Harrington must’ve taken one too many hits during his brutal tenure with the Lions.
11. Here is this week’s anti-SEC/pro Big-12 tweet of the week. And I love it:
12. The picks went 3-1-1 this week. I was hoping Baylor might punch it in, in the final minute, but ended up with a push. That’s OK … winners are still rolling strong. 3 weeks in, it’s safe to get aboard.
