Big XII Roundup: Week 11

After the Kansas Jayhawks rallied heroically but came up just short, the Big XII decided to get even stranger. We had a near upset, a gigantic upset, plenty of blowouts, and a first conference win among other things in a jam-packed afternoon and evening of football. If you missed any of the action, we’ve got you covered below.

Texas scraped by TCU 29-26 but there were many bright sides for the Longhorns despite the closer than anticipated encounter with the Horned Frogs. For one, quarterback Quinn Ewers returned for Texas, completing 22 of 33 passes for 317 yards and a touchdown. Jonathon Brooks ran for 104 yards and two TD for the Longhorns but was also carted off the field with what appeared to be a serious injury. TCU furiously rallied, scoring 20 in the final quarter but after cutting the lead to three with just over two minutes remaining, the Horned Frogs were unable to get the ball back. Texas travels to Iowa State next weekend while TCU hosts Baylor.

Speaking of Baylor, their woes continued as they went to Manhattan and got drubbed by K-State 59-25. Wildcat quarterback became the all-time leader in touchdown passes thrown, passing Josh Freeman. Howard threw for three touchdowns in the rout and now has 45 for his career at K-State. The Wildcats improve to 5-2 in the conference and travel to Lawrence to take on the Jayhawks next week.

West Virginia got a huge dose of reality when they traveled to Norman to take on Oklahoma and got properly smashed 59-20. The Mountaineers had won two in a row, albeit against expansion teams, and had become bowl eligible, but were never able to put anything together against OU. Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel had a monster game, completing 23 of 36 passes for 423 yards and five touchdowns. Gavin Sawchuck added 135 on the ground in the romp. The win puts the Sooners in a four way toe for second place at 5-2 in the league with an away date at BYU next weekend. West Virginia hosts Cincinnati.

The feel good game of the weekend came in Houston as Cincinnati got their first ever Big XII conference win, 24-14 over the Cougars. Cory Kiner ran for 129 yards and two scores while Emory Jones tossed a touchdown in addition to his 131 yards through the air for the Bearcats. After losing their first six games in conference action, Cincy finally got that elusive first W. Stopping Houston by snatching three interceptions certainly helped the Bearcats as well. The Cougars host Oklahoma State next weekend

And speaking of Oklahoma State, who saw this coming? The Cowboys were one of the hottest teams in the country, winning five straight games (three over ranked opponents) including their biggest rivals. But the wheels fell off in Orlando as UCF pummeled the Cowboys 45-3. Knights running back RJ Harvey went wild in the rout, running for 206 yards and three touchdowns, including a 92 yard run for a score. John Rys Plumlee also had a great night for UCF, throwing for 299 yards and three touchdowns. UCF will try to keep up the momentum when they travel to Texas Tech next weekend.

In the weekend’s fourth blowout Iowa State hammered BYU 45-13. ISU quarterback Rocco Becht threw for 206 yards and two touchdowns while freshman running back Abu Sama III scampered for 110 yards and two scores on the ground. Iowa State is back in the running for the Big XII title game with a record of 5-2 and they have a massive game next weekend when the Texas Longhorns come to Ames. BYU hosts Oklahoma in their penultimate game of the year.

Big XII Standings:

Texas, 9-1, 6-1
Oklahoma 8-2, 5-2
Oklahoma State 7-3, 5-2
K-State, 7-3, 5-2
Iowa State 6-4, 5-2
Kansas 7-3, 4-3
West Virginia 6-4, 4-3
Texas Tech 5-5, 4-3
BYU 5-5, 2-5
UCF 5-5, 2-5
TCU, 4-6, 2-5
Houston 4-6, 2-5
Baylor 3-7, 2-5
Cincinnati 3-7, 1-6

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