Catching up with old and new friends
With the first year of the new mega-Big 12, we’re getting a look at a lot of new faces mixing in with old friends and a jumbled mess of a season. Is anyone good? A few weeks ago, that question might have prompted a few fanbases to raise their hands and claim to be worthy of a playoff spot. However, Kansas has turned into a wrecking ball that won’t end up ruining everyone at the top’s season but has certainly caused chaos and concern. Eventually somebody is going to have to win the conference and will represent the conference in the 12 team playoff,
Lets swing through the conference (parts of it at least) and see where everything stands going into Thanksgiving weekend.
Kansas Jayhawks: 5-6 overall, 4-4 in Big 12
What’s there to say that we don’t already know? Kansas entered the season feeling good with Leipold in charge and Jalon Daniels returning as QB #1 along with a strong backfield in Neal and Hishaw. Sure, there was some concern about losing Andy Kotelnicki to Penn State last offseason but Leipold was still in charge. A huge win against Lindenwood to kick off the season seemed to signal things were still in good shape but a dreadful 4th quarter at Illinois was concerning as it lead to a 23-17 loss on the road. Illinois is still an 8 win team, so this loss doesn’t look bad in retrospect but the fact that it could have been a win hurt. The way the rest of the early season games went mirrored this one, Jayhawks get out to a lead and then a combination of lackluster 4th quarter offense with a little too much break and not enough bend on defense left KU at 1-5 with losses to UNLV by 3, West Virginia by 4, TCU by 9, and newcomer and conference leader Arizona State by 4.
Heading into the 2nd half of the schedule, KU had a get-right game against Houston pounding them 42-14 with Daniels throwing for 247 yards and Neal running for 108 with 2 touchdowns. Heading into the Sunflower Showdown, the pessimism was still high among KU fans for some odd reason. Old habits I guess. A competitive 1st half saw the Jayhawks trailing by 2, 16-14 with K-State getting the ball coming out of halftime. 4 plays and 75 yards later, K-State was up 23-14 and the angst was turned up to 11. However, two 3rd quarter touchdowns for the Jayhawks had them leading again heading to the 4th 27-23. Once again, a fourth quarter that featured punt, punt, and a fumble left them just short of breaking a 15 game losing streak against K-State. Heartbreaker.
In the 3 weeks following the K-State game, KU beat #17 Iowa State for their 2nd conference loss. Then, they went to #6 BYU and won a close game in a tough atmosphere giving the Cougars their first loss of the season. The wheels have been wobbly for BYU all year and Kansas finally took advantage of it. To top off this run, KU smacks Colorado in Arrowhead to keep their bowl hopes alive.
At least KU football turned fun again because there were some fans losing their ever loving mind in the 1st half of the season. Sure, it would have been nice to win those early season games which would have set the program up for a legitimate claim of belonging in the playoff. But this is KU football, lets enjoy what we’re getting because we can go back to any year from 2010-2021 and see what incompetence looks like. This was never that and those of you that freaked out should write those years on your bathroom mirror to remind you of that.
Top of the Conference
Nine teams are still alive to reach the Big 12 Championship Game with one week left in the regular season: Arizona State, Iowa State, BYU, Colorado, Baylor, Kansas State, TCU, Texas Tech and West Virginia.
For better or worse, KU will end up playing 8 of those 9 teams this year. I think that tells us we can go ahead and eliminate Baylor because the wrecking ball is still going and the Jayhawks get bowl eligible this week. The stupid thing about this conference is the current top teams Arizona State, BYU, and Colorado will play 3 of those teams. Iowa State sees 4. With the current setup, the scenarios are a mess and based on this season and the programs in the conference I think it’s safe to assume we’re likely to see a jumbled mess way more often than not in the future.
Arizona State has rival Arizona (4-7) this week and looks to be in good shape with a win. Arizona’s best win is either Houston or Utah, two teams in the bottom ¼ of the conference standings. BYU gets Houston while Iowa State has Farmageddon with K-State at home. On paper, I’d rather be in BYU or Arizona State’s position. However, according to the link above, tie-breakers involving common opponents may throw a wrench in it all:
In a four-way tie where all the top four teams win, most likely Arizona State plays Iowa State. That is a tiebreaker broken by common opponents.
Yuck.
Looking West
K-State has continued to do K-State things this season. Avery Johnson has been a solid, if not spectacular QB for the Wildcats. If he continues to improve with his decision making and accuracy, K-State’s going to be a contender in the next few years. If he stalls out, expect them to be like they are now and have been. A tough out but can be out-athleted and limited offensively.
Point and Laugh Time
Oklahoma State is currently 0-8 in conference play and 3-8 overall with wins against South Dakota State, Arkansas (?), and Tulsa. Maybe there’s something in the water down south as Tulsa has fired their head coach and the Sooners are also experiencing a rather poor inaugural season in the SEC. However, this being a team coached by Mike Gundy you better believe Gundy’s got it figured out. And that problem is people just aren’t tough enough and don’t want it enough. It’s the damn fans and naysayers that are screwing everything up combined with the portal. One thing Mike Gundy is sure of is that it’s not his fault. He has nothing to do with any of this. Just ask him.
Speaking of cry babies, Utah and their fans couldn’t wait to tell everyone how great they were going to be this year. Picked as a preseason favorite, they find themselves above only the Cowboys, who they beat 22-19 in their first Big 12 game of the season. Since that game, it has been nothing but bad news for the Utes. Multiple quarterbacks, a change in offensive coordinator, the AD getting fined by the conference, and there’s still a question about whether head coach Kyle Whittingham is going to return for another season. Utah has named their defensive coordinator as the successor for when Whittingham does decide to hang it up.
Those decisions never come with regret. I’m sure we’ll see the beast that is Utah again in no time.