Weekend in Review: Baylor's woes continue while Texas picks up momentum

Another week, another round of topsy-turvy results. I will spare the pleasantries and dive right in. 

TCU 33, Baylor 23

Baylor looked as bad as you could for the entire first half. Falling down 30-0 to any team is bad, but one that is as uneven as TCU has been is even worse.

There are several issues dovetailing into what ails this Bears team, but the biggest one is the offensive line. And it’s not even close. I don’t understand what the strategy behind shuffling the line series to series was. Even continuity is your goal, then changing horses in mid-stream is not how to achieve it. Xavier Newman had a terrible game at two different positions. He was bad at LG and even worse at center. To me, this means that Dave Aranda, Larry Fedora and Joe Wickline don’t know what the best grouping of five players is along the line. This issue complicates everything else on offense.

With no faith in the men on the line, they have no faith in the running game, no faith in having time to stretch the field, and it has turned a very good reliable QB into a shell of himself. I am not dismissing Charlie Brewer’s role in all of this, but right now he is bringing a pillow to a gunfight because of the blocking. I think it would have behooved the staff to see what Gerry Bohanan had. Charlie was getting battered back there and might have just needed a break. The Bears did muscle up a bit in the second half, and maybe that woke them up. But their problems will not be solved until there are the same five players along the line on every snap and they are playing well. Everything else that comes after that SHOULD get better as long as the line does its job.

Texas 41, Oklahoma St 34 (OT) 

When Mike Gundy and his staff look back on this game, he may want to straight-up shave off his mullet. The turnovers and mistakes that the Pokes made in this game gave Texas the life it needed to win a game it probably had no business winning. Spencer Sanders was back and he looked exactly the same. Electric at times, disastrous at others. For his sake, I hope he puts it all together one day because that will be fun to watch, but Saturday was another entry in the “Tale of Two Spencers.” The Longhorns have new life because of their tw0-game winning streak, but this is still a team with a lot of problems. 

West Virginia 37, Kansas State 10

The Wildcats are not the same without Skylar Thompson and It showed against a surging Mountaineers team that is starting to find its identity under second-year head coach Neal Brown. This game showed how topsy-turvy the Big 12 really is. Kansas State has looked like the better team at times this season, but WVU has found a rhythm and looks like they could beat a few other Big 12 foes on the way out. 

Oklahoma 62, Texas Tech 28 

It appears as if the Sooners are finding themselves as well. They have now rattled off three wins in a row and are actually playing a little bit of defense. (Just a little bit. I am not saying they are ‘95 Nebraska all of a sudden.) OU is not going to let their streak go quietly. The conference goes through them and it looks like they have started to remember that. They still need help, but if they get it, watch out, they are not going away.  Texas Tech does not know who they are and Matt Wells has some work to do. 

Iowa State 52, Kansas 22

Did anyone on earth expect anything different from this game? If you did, please tell me. Also please leave the contact info of a family member so that we can arrange for you to get the help you need. The men in white coats are there to help you. Iowa State is good, Kansas is next level awful. To say they are a dumpster fire is an insult to dumpster fires and the purpose they serve. 

Final Thoughts:

• Baylor has many issues, but one of them controls all the others (THE OFFENSIVE LINE)
• Texas is breathing again, and the rest of the conference should be kicking themselves for letting them off the mat.
• Oklahoma State will need years of therapy to get over how badly they blew an opportunity on Saturday. (Maybe they weren’t rubber-stamped into the title game after all?)
• Oklahoma is awake. 
• West Virginia knows who they are now and that should make the league take them even more seriously.
• Texas Tech is a lost ship right now, but it’s early in Matt Wells tenure. Let’s see what he does to right it.
• Kansas State needs Will Howard to improve in a hurry.
• Iowa State is still good. 
• Kansas is still just awful.

Thank you very much and have a great week.