Sooners, Mountaineers, Longhorns all vie for two spots in Big Twelve title game
Cyclones and Red Raiders still in the race too!
There is a three team race for the two spots that are available for the Big Twelve Championship game in Jerry’s World in early December. With the upset of the Texas Longhorns Saturday night in Stillwater by Oklahoma State, the Horns, along with Oklahoma and West Virginia are all supporting 4-1 conference records. Iowa State and Texas Tech bring up the next two in the standings with 3-2 records and a slight outside change of playing the title game. OSU’s win was Texas’s first conference loss.
Significant games upcoming Saturday, with West Virginia going to Austin this Saturday to play the Horns in DKR; and OU to Lubbock to play Tech in the other primary game of the weekend, the Big Twelve is an open race for the title game.
Recap of the weekend games:
Oklahoma destroyed Kansas State 52-14 as the defense showed up for Lincoln Riley and defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeil. McNeil has had a positive influence on the defense the past two games and playing some of the youthful defenders is proving effective. As usual, Kyler Murray was flawless as the offense had a plus 700 yard game as both the running and passing was overpowering to the Wildcats. OU continues to look the part as a Top team nationally. As for KSU’s 79 year old head coach, Bill Snyder, the clock is ticking and how much longer will the old man stay in his position?
Oklahoma State got out of it’s funk with a surprising 38-35 win over Texas. The Cowboys quarterback Taylor Cornelius accounted for five scores, three touchdown passes and two running scores as Texas played a terrible first half. It was a loss that tells the world that UT is not a world beater.
Texas Tech’s trip to Ames to play the Cyclones was not good for the Red Raiders. Iowa State held on to win a turnover, mistake prone game by both sides, 40-31. Another nice game for Iowa State and a tough loss for Kliff Kingsbury and the men from the South Planes.
TCU folded in a shocking loss to Kansas in Lawrence, 27-26. KU has three wins this season and their first Big Twelve win since the Texas game two years ago.
West Virginia looked sharp in 58-14 win over Baylor, getting back on the rails after their loss to Iowa State just a week ago.
Big Twelve rankings
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Oklahoma
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West Virginia
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Texas
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Iowa State
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Texas Tech
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Oklahoma State
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Kansas State
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Baylor
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Kansas
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TCU
Big Twelve predictions (Last week 3-2, Season 36-18)
Oklahoma 56 at Texas Tech 35-Do not see Tech slowing down the Kyler Murray train. It will be a rowdy atmosphere and if Tech can have great success on defense in the first quarter they might make it a fourth quarter shootout. Even if that happens, OU still has the bigger and more numerous guns.
West Virginia will beat Texas in DKR. Look for much success for the Mountaineers as Will Grier will light the Horns secondary up. It will not be close. West Virginia 42 and Texas 24.
Kansas comes back to earth as Iowa State finally gets a game against inferior competition. Cyclones 49 and Kansas 14.
Baylor hosts Oklahoma State and the Pokes have their grove back. OSU wins here 41 to 28. “Corndog” and his running backs will chew up that Baylor defense. Not close.
Kansas State and TCU play in Fort Worth in a game that both teams need to recover from bad loses. I like KSU here as TCU will not turn out much of a crowd in this home game. Look for KSU to run the ball. Wildcats win 28-17.
Fred’s Top Twenty Five
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Alabama
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Notre Dame
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Clemson
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Oklahoma
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LSU
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Georgia
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Michigan
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West Virginia
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Washington State
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Ohio State
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Kentucky
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Univ. of Central Florida
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Houston
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Utah State
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Fresno State
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Florida
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Penn State
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Utah
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Texas
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Iowa
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Iowa State
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Mississippi State
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Northwestern
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Washington
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Michigan State
My Final Four
Alabama vs Oklahoma
Clemson vs Notre Dame
Title Game: Alabama vs Clemson
Alabama and Notre Dame to lose this weekend
National Predictions
Thursday, Nov. 1
Univ. of Central Florida 37 and Temple 14
Friday, Nov. 2
Virginia 31 and Pittsburgh18
Arizona 27 and Colorado 24
Saturday, Nov. 3
Clemson 46 and Louisville 12
Ohio State 48 and Nebraska 14
Syracuse 31 at Wake Forest 29
Auburn 27 and Texas Aggies 21
Ole Miss 21 and South Carolina 20
Wisconsin 56 and Rutgers 6
Michigan State 28 at Maryland 23
Army 33 and Air Force 29
Georgia 23 at Kentucky 18
Purdue 31 and Iowa 17
Cincinnati 27 ad Navy 19
NC State 31 and Florida State 17
Minnesota 36 and Illinois 29
Michigan 23 and Penn State 20
Virginia Tech 24 and Boston College 21
Florida 29 and Missouri 25
Utah 34 at Arizona 28
Tennessee 21 and Charlotte 18
Houston 34 at SMU 21
Tulsa 49 and UConn22
Miami (Fla) 26 and Duke 21
Northwestern 25 and Notre Dame 23
Mississippi State 35 and La. Tech 7
Oregon 42 an UCLA 24
LSU 20 and Alabama 19
Washington 38 and Stanford 19
USC 37 at Oregon State 17
Fresno State 38 at UNLV 28
California 36 at Washington State 28
Utah State 32 at Hawaii 27
Photos: Matt Lunsford, Manhattan Mercury
The real rankings:
1. Alabama
2. Alabama
3. Alabama
4. Alabama
5. All others as they’re playing for runner-up.
Fanatic or nut? SL you are really something. But thank you for reading my blog. Appreciated.
OU still needs a signature win against a serious opponent to stand out among the one-loss teams before it can be a credible candidate for playoffs this year. Dropping the loss to Texas was a major stumble, and may not be recoverable unless the Sooners can “right the ship” with a dominant victory over Texas in a rematch at the Big XII title game. That opportunity means that Texas needs to beat WV (they beat OU, so it could happen…), and OU needs to win out, including Bedlam and WV. Assuming that we take care of business and make it into the playoffs, I see ‘Bama remaining #1 on the polls through the end of the season and I like the way that OU matches up. Sooner NC could happen, but the defense has to continue improving and we have to believe that Sooner Magic is real. BOOMER!
First, the polls have nothing to do with the committee rankings….I suspect that Notre Dame will be ranked number one on the first ranking and if Bama beats LSU it might move ahead of the Irish. OU needs to win out, that agreed. Signature win for OU? Might not be one….body of work is what they will go on, only one loss, and a conference title. I suspect the committee would like to see OU and Bama in a semi=final as OU might be the only team that could outscore the Tide. But if Bama loses this week and does not make the SEC title game, LSU and Georgia plus Bama would take two spots in the Final Four. That will happen and if Clemson and Notre Dame say undefeated, there is your Final Four….