Big 12 Struggles Through First Weekend of College Football
STILLWATER -- Saturday was a rather slow day in Stillwater with not much going on other than watching Cowgirl soccer beat Kansas State 3-0 to open the season and watching the Big 12 get beat by the Sun Belt.
The Big 12 went 4-3 to kick off the 2020 season and the four wins weren't really all that impressive considering they were games played against Eastern Kentucky, Houston Baptist, Missouri State and UTEP.
Oklahoma State, Baylor and TCU were all set to play, but their games got postponed earlier in the week due to COVID-19 precautions.
We'll start off with the two most shocking losses from Saturday and that's No. 23 Iowa State getting ran off their own field in Ames, 31-14, by Louisiana and Kansas State getting beat at home 35-31 by Arkansas State.
Arkansas State entered Saturday's game against K-State down nine starters, players that were sidelined either to COVID-19 or various other injuries and they were 14-point underdogs.
But they were alright with that because they were getting paid $550,000 to play up in Manhattan. Made it that much more sweeter.
Kansas State entered halftime with a 21-14 lead and I'm sure they expected to come out in the second half and pull away. Well, Arkansas State came out and scored seven points to tie the game at 21 and held K-State scoreless in the third quarter.
With less than a minute to go in the game, K-State held a 31-28 lead and things look pretty good. That is until Arkansas State quarterback Layne Hatcher hit wide receiver Jonathan Adams with a 17-yard touchdown pass following a 7-play, 65-yard drive to win 35-31.
Kansas State managed to put up 374 yards of total offense, 115 yards less than Arkansas State. They did see good play out of true freshman running back Deuce Vaughn who carried the ball 12 times for 47 yards and one touchdown. As for quarterback Skylar Thompson, he went 17-of-29 for 259 yards and two touchdowns.
Kansas State has a tough next outing as well as they travel to Norman for an 11 a.m. kick on Sept. 26.
As for the 31-14 Iowa State loss, this was the first time in program history for Louisiana that they beat a top-25 opponent. They had previously gone 0-26 against ranked opponents. To add insult to injury, Louisiana also returned a kick off and punt back to the house for scores.
Quarterback Brock Purdy struggled mightily as he went just 16-of-35 for 145 yards and no touchdowns. That was the fewest passing yards in a game for Iowa State in two seasons. The Cyclones were, however, without one of their top offensive weapons in Charlie Kolar who sat out with a lower body injury.
To make things worse for Iowa State, they payed Louisiana $350,000 to make the trip up to Ames.
Iowa State travels to Fort Worth for a showdown with TCU on Sept. 26. Game time has yet to be announced.
Kansas was the other loss in the conference last night as they got beat by Coastal Carolina for the second-straight year in Lawrence, though last year's loss was much closer, 12-7. To make matters worse, KU payed Coastal Carolina $200,000 to make the trip to Lawrence.
Kansas lost last night to the Chanticleers 38-23 and it really wasn't even that close. Coastal Carolina would convert three Kansas first-half turnovers into 21 points and went into halftime with a 28-3 score.
Kansas would find some rhythm in the second half, but it just wasn't enough. The Jayhawks did, however, put up more yards than Coastal Carolina as they tallied 367 total yards to just 318 from Coastal Carolina.
Both Miles Kendrick and Thomas MacVittie saw action, but it was the junior Kendrick who saw most of the action. He went 15-of-24 for 156 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. As for MacVittie, it was a rough night for him as he went 5-of-9 for 20 yards and one interception and to make matters worse, the equipment staff spelled his name wrong on his jersey.
Kansas will travel to Waco to face Baylor on Sept. 26. The game time has yet to be announced.
Texas Tech barely squeaked by FCS opponent Houston Baptist as they had to stop the Huskies on a two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter to hang on to a 35-33 win.
It was definitely an offensive game, really no surprise, as Alan Bowman threw for 430 yards and two touchdowns. What's more impressive is Houston Baptist quarterback Bailey Zappe throwing for 567 yards and four touchdowns against the Tech defense. Yikes.
The Red Raiders will host Texas on Sept. 26 for a 2:30 kick on FOX.
West Virginia opened the 2020 season off with a bang as they put a beat down on Eastern Kentucky. That's even with 11 players, three of which were starters, receiver TJ Simmons, left tackle Junior Uzebu and center Chase Behrndt, being suspended for the opening game of the season due to violation of team rules.
Jarret Doege got the start for the Mountaineers and had a great first half as he went 19-of-25 for 228 yards and three touchdowns. In a not-so-shocking move, Doege sat out the entire second half.
As for their running game, WVU is much improved this season as they racked up 329 yards on the ground. I understand it was against an FCS opponent, but that's still good. Junior Leddie Brown led the way with 10 carries for 123 yards and touchdowns, while redshirt junior Alec Sinkfield carried the ball 15 times for 123 yards and two touchdowns.
On the day, WVU amassed an impressive 624 yards of total offense while holding Eastern Kentucky to just 206.
WVU will travel to Stillwater to face the Pokes on Sept. 26. Game time has yet to be announced.
Texas took care of business against UTEP on Saturday as they beat the Miners 59-3 in Austin.
UTEP's three points came late in the second quarter with kicker Gavin Baechle knocked home a 47-yard field goal to make the score 38-3.
UT would end the day with 689 yards of total offense, 481-yards coming through the air as quarterback Sam Ehlinger went 25-of-33 for 426 yards and five touchdowns.
An interesting tidbit to come out of the game came from OrangeBloods.com's Anwar Richardson as he reported on Twitter that Texas five-star safety B.J. Foster quit in the middle of the game.
As written above, Texas will travel to Lubbock on Sept. 26 for a 2:30 showdown with Texas Tech on FOX.
OU beat FCS opponent Missouri State handily, as they should have, 48-0. Starting quarterback Spencer Rattler went 14-of-17 for 290 yards and four touchdowns in his debut against the Bears. He was also sacked three times.
As for the running game, the Sooners totaled 149 yards and 35 carries with freshman Seth McGowan getting the brunt of the load with nine carries for 61 yards and one touchdown.
OU will face Kansas State in Norman on Sept. 26 for an 11 a.m. kick on FOX.
