Big 12 Power Grid heading into last weekend.

— By Dave Weekley

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — We now have our matchup in the Big 12 championship on December 19th, as Iowa State and Oklahoma will square off at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Two early losses by both of these teams have likely locked them out of this year’s College Football Playoffs, but a second win by Iowa State over the Sooners, coupled by a Notre Dame win against Clemson in the ACC Championship, some mayhem in the SEC Championship and a Big Ten title game minus Ohio State could potentially keep the Cyclones in the conversation for at least a few more days.

Barring anymore covid-19 surprises, here’s a look at our Big 12 Snapshot heading into the final regular season Saturday. Just a quick note for those you are newcomers to this column, our weekly Big 12 Snapshot uses a fantasy football-style tier format, not conference standings or traditional power ratings.


TIER ONE — (Serious Big 12 title contenders.)

IOWA STATE

Iowa State is seemingly making school history every week at this point and their total domination of WVU in Ames was a fitting sendoff to a group of seniors who have experienced the total gut-check range of first failure followed by success for Matt Campbell. The Cyclones are red hot at the moment and carry a ton of momentum into this weekend’s off week that will precede their date with Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game. Against West Virginia, Brock Purdy threw for 247 yards and three touchdowns. Xavier Hutchinson rebounded from a quiet game at Texas to grab a career-high eight receptions for 89 yards. Big 12 rushing leader Breece Hall had 153 all purpose yards and a pair of scores. Despite rushing only three for most of the afternoon against WVU, Will McDonald had a pair of sacks as ISU held the Mountaineers to just 263 yards of total offense.

OKLAHOMA

Speaking of total offense, Oklahoma managed just six more total yards (269) in their 27-14 home win over Baylor, that WVU put up in its 42-6 loss at Iowa State. But the Sooners, unlike the Mountaineers, made the most of their opportunities. The victory for OU however, was very un-Sooner-like, as Oklahoma was held under 28 points for the first time in 60 games. Spencer Rattler was 20-of-28 for 193 yards, two scores and one interception. If you are looking for potential positives for WVU next Saturday, the OU offensive line had a lot of trouble getting a push against the Baylor defensive front and Rhamondre Stevenson was held to just 49 yards (1 TD) on 15 carries. With their berth in the Big 12 title game against Iowa State now clinched, the Sooners come to Morgantown riding an eight-game winning streak against WVU, including last year’s 52-14 blowout in Norman.
TIER TWO —- (A handful of likely bowl teams, but all are no longer involved in the race to make the conference title game.)

TEXAS

Even as rumors of an imminent coaching change in Austin run rampant, Texas had little trouble dispatching Kansas State, 69-31 in Manhattan. But after falling short of making the Big 12 title game, did hanging nearly 70 points on the team that beat Oklahoma early in the season change the minds of how Longhorn fans are currently feeling about Tom Herman? Probably not. Despite that, UT showed that no matter who is coaching this group next season, there’s plenty of talent. Freshman running back Bijan Robinson went off for 172 yards and three touchdown on just nine carries. Texas rolled up 608 total yards, 334 of it on the ground. UT is now 6-3 overall, 5-3 in Big 12 and end the regular season with a name-the-score visit to Kansas this week. Question; will Tom Herman still be on the sidelines for the Longhorns’ bowl game?

OKLAHOMA STATE

While Tom Herman’s days at Texas are seemingly numbed, Mike Gundy appears safe at Oklahoma State, despite the fact that both Texas and Oklahoma State have been relatively disappointing this year and both failed to achieve the first of their primary goals — reaching the Big 12 title game. The OSU Cowboys lost 29-22 at TCU this week, in a game in which the defense had its moments, but the Pokes’ offense for the most part, was missing in action. The Oklahoma State defense created five turnovers, but the OSU offense only turned them into six points. Chuba Hubbard didn’t play, Tylan Wallace was forced out by injury during the game and OSU missed a pair of field goals and a PAT in a seven-point loss. OSU ends the regular season at Baylor this week.

TCU

On the surface, it seems odd to move TCU ahead of WVU in our Snapshot this week, but thanks to covid-19 postponements and the Horns’ win over Oklahoma State and the Mountaineers’ meltdown at Iowa State, it is what it is. Against Oklahoma State, the Frogs got their groove back. Max Duggan, who struggled to complete the simplest of passes in Morgantown just a few weeks ago, in a 24-6 loss to West Virginia, was the best quarterback on the field in this game, outplaying Spencer Sanders. Duggan was 12-of-26 for 265 yards and a touchdown, while rushing for 104 more yards against Oklahoma State. Suddenly, 5-4 overall and finished with Big 12 play, TCU closes out the regular season with a just-scheduled game with Louisiana Tech this Saturday and a very good chance of heading into the bowl season winners of five of their last six games, with the only loss in that stretch to WVU.

WEST VIRGINIA

WVU got a sharp dose of reality in Ames from Iowa State. At least at the moment, West Virginia still has a ways to go when it comes to challenging the elite of the Big 12. There is plenty of content here on the site to describe in detail all of the lowlights from the loss at Iowa State; but to recap it succinctly, the Mountaineers were unable to stop the Iowa State offense until the game was already decided, while the WVU offense made too many critical mistakes (dropped passes, missed blocking assignments, penalties at key moments, etc.) to stay in the game with the Cyclones. West Virginia gets another test this Saturday with Oklahoma to measure its improvement against the team that’s been the best in the Big 12 since WVU joined the conference.

KANSAS STATE

Senior day at Iowa State was cause for a celebration, but at Kansas State — not so much. K-State was on the wrong end of a serious beatdown from Texas, losing 69-31 and ending their season at 4-6. A season that started so positively with four straight Big 12 wins, including a huge upset against Oklahoma, but ended with five straight league losses. The KSU defense has been awful since this five-game losing streak began at WVU. On the bright side, K-State found a running back this season; Deuce Vaughn ended the year with 221 all-purpose yards in the loss to Texas.

BAYLOR

I might be out on an island to even suggest this; but Baylor is actually showing some positive signs at the end of this season. The Bears were 27-14 losers at Oklahoma, but the 27 points and 269 total yards on 59 offensive plays, were both lows for Lincoln Riley at OU. New Baylor head coach Dave Aranda’s stock in trade is defense, so that effort is certainly something to build on. In fact, Baylor actually outgained OU in this game, 288 to 269 in total yards. Look at it this way — over the last three weeks; Baylor should have beaten TTU, did upset K-State and just gave Oklahoma fits with their defense most of the night. The Bears end the season by hosting Oklahoma State on Saturday night.

TEXAS TECH

When is a win really a loss? In the Big 12, it’s when that “victory” comes against Kansas, of course. Texas Tech had to sweat out a sloppy 16-13 win over KU in Lubbock to finish the season at 4-6, winners of two of their final three games of the year. For TTU fans, this nail-biter felt more like surviving their season opener with FCS Houston Baptist rather than their rally past WVU in October. The Texas Tech brand is offense, but Matt Wells’ unit only scored 16 points against a Kansas’ defense that had been giving up 49.8 points per game. The Red Raiders have arguably more questions heading into next season than any other team in the Big 12.

TIER THREE —- (Where the worst Big 12 teams dwell.)

KANSAS

Kansas had easily their best shot to win a game this season at Texas Tech, but just couldn’t close the deal and are still winless on the year. Consider, in their 16-13 loss to TTU in Lubbock, the Red Raiders were without head coach Matt Wells (covid-19), the Kansas defense created four turnovers while committing none and Texas Tech missed three field goals. This game was tied at 13-all with just over eleven minutes left before TTU knocked in the eventual game-winning field goal with five and a half minutes to play. It was the first time Kansas had been in a game in which the outcome was truly in doubt all season. Mercifully, the season ends for Kansas after they host Texas on Saturday.

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