Around the Big 12 – Week of September 28

Playing with a running clock since 2003

[colored_box color=yellow]Last Week: 4-1 Straight Up (4-1 vs. Spread)

Season: 24-6 / 17-13[/colored_box]

Hopefully you’ve all awoken from your hibernation after last week’s snooze-fest of Big 12/College Football offerings. Fortunately for us all Week 5 offers some much more attractive contests, including 4 “show-me” games in the Big 12. The Big 12 is a big, murky mess and a lot of teams enter the last weekend of September with something to prove. I want to see what Oklahoma State is really made of during a conference road trip. I want to see if Iowa State can win a football game. I want to see if TCU can kill the sloppiness. And I want to understand what the hell Bob Stoops has at OU this season.

Since I don’t have much faith in Big 12 teams yet this year, I also don’t have much faith in these picks. But I didn’t have faith in last week’s picks, either, and I finished 4-1. So I’ve got that going for me, which is nice.

Let’s go Around the Big 12.

Iowa State at Tulsa (-3), 6:30pm [FS1] – In these tumultuous times, if there’s one thing the NCAA and college football needs, it’s MORE Iowa State-Tulsa showdowns, am I right? The Cyclones and Golden Hurricane meet for the 3^rd time in the last 56 weeks, and you didn’t know this because you didn’t care about the first two Iowa State-Tulsa meetings, either. Thursday’s game is the rubber match, as ISU won in Ames last September and Tulsa returned the favor in the 2012 Liberty Bowl. These are two bad, desperate teams (ISU: 0-2, Tulsa: 1-2) playing in an off-schedule TV slot (Thursday night), which should make this game completely unpredictable. But we’ll try anyway. The key to the game is the health (specifically the right ankle) of Iowa State QB Sam Richardson. Richardson’s right ankle hasn’t been, uh, right since the first half of the week 1 loss to N. Iowa, and the Clones are still desperate for Richardson to return to full health — despite some concerns that the injury may linger all season. If he’s ready by Thursday, a porous Tulsa defense awaits. This Tulsa team is not the same team that’s been moderately successful the past few years. I’m no doctor, but Richardson’s ankle HAS to be healed by now…right? Give me the Cyclones to pull off a huge road win, generating a small bit of momentum headed into the conference opener versus Texas.  I hereby reserve the right to retract / reverse this prediction if I see even the slightest hitch in Sam’s giddy-up.

CYCLONES – 31  Golden Hurricane – 27

Oklahoma State (-18) at West Virginia, 11:00am [ESPN] – Last week in Baltimore, West Virginia pulled off an impressive feat of offensive ineptitude. The Mountaineers tallied as many turnovers (six) as first downs. 175 yards of total offense. Zero points. A 37-0 loss to ACC also-ran Maryland. Woof. Through four full games, WVU has now scored 72 total points, and we all remember that last year’s team racked up 70 in just one game versus Baylor. The failures of the Mountaineer offense have led at least one member of the WVU Twitterverse to call for the departure of Dana Holgorsen…and to pine for the return of RichRod. Yikes! They’ve finally gone from pissed to crazy. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I’m concerned about the psyche of the Mountaineer fan base, and now I’m not sure they’re going to make it through 2013. A promising start to the Ok State game will help soothe the pain, but then the Pokes will roll in the second half. And then what? Troubled times on the Monongahela.

COWBOYS – 42 Mountaineers – 20

SMU at TCU (-20), 11:00am [FS1] – The Battle for the Iron Skillet returns to Ft Worth this weekend as TCU attempts to solve whatever the hell it is that’s wrong with their team lately. TCU has yet to play even a good game in 2013. The LSU opener was a respectable loss, but the score was aided by a kickoff return for touchdown and a turnover/short field touchdown. Take those away and it was a Tiger romp. The Frogs slept through a 38-17 win over SELA, and then there was the debacle on the Plains, a 20-10 loss to Tech. SMU is no beauty queen either. The highlight of SMU’s season to date was a last second touchdown in Week 2 to defeat Montana State 31-30. Wait…MONTANA STATE? The even bigger eye opening number to me is 6. That’s how many points the Ponies could muster against Texas A&M’s extremely polite defense, until a late garbage-time touchdown made it 42-13. After a bye week, I suspect that the last 16 days around the TCU campus have been no fun for the Horned Frog players, and I expect – finally – a complete performance by TCU this weekend. Especially on defense. And quick change guys like BJ Catalon on kick returns have the chance to turn this into a full-fledged rout. Fans attending Saturday’s game are encouraged to stop by The Varsity and pick up your CJK5H t-shirt. Because internet memes never die. And also because, seriously, screw that guy.

HORNED FROGS – 38  Mustangs 7

Oklahoma (-3.5) at Notre Dame, 2:30pm [NBC] – Is Oklahoma’s defense for real? That’s perhaps the question that has been most asked around Big 12 Land during the first four weeks of the season. OU has had the help of playing some garbage offenses to start the season, and Notre Dame may prove to simply be more of the same. Notre Dame and Michigan State conspired last week to set back the college football movement 50 years. The Irish and Spartans combined for 474 total yards, an average of 3.4 yards per play. This is why I’m taking Oklahoma to win and cover on the road. Although I’m not a card-carrying member of the Blake Bell Fan Club, I have more faith in the Belldozer than I have in the offense of the Leprechauns.

SOONERS – 26  Irish – 20