This week the Big 12 has what you’d call two marquee games and a third that defies explanation. Let’s start with the later.
Two weeks ago, how many people were betting that the Colorado-Kansas State matchup was going to be for first place in the north division? Be honest now. No one did. K-State had just given up 66 points in a loss and were facing a Texas A&M team that was playing fairly well.
Colorado was starting a new quarterback and had just one win in their first five games and were taking on unbeaten Kansas. Now one of these two teams will have a leg up in the north race if they can win. Hard to believe.
After the way they responded last week, I have to put my money on the Wildcats and Bill Snyder. He knows how to win big games in this conference and right now this one is huge.
Over in Columbia, the Missouri Tigers are trying to stop the bleeding after two straight losses with third ranked Texas coming to town. Blaine Gabbert has struggled the last two weeks with his passing and it appears he’s going to have to continue to battle through his ankle injury the rest of the season.
Colt McCoy has recovered from the flu, but is coming off a terrible passing day for the Longhorns after suffering a bruised thumb that is costing him his thumbnail. We’ll see how he handles the ball this week.
The Texas defense is just too fast for Missouri, particularly if Gabbert is still not completely mobile and I don’t see how the Tigers defense is going to contain the Horns. They can’t afford to be put in bad position by turnovers and I just don’t see the Mizzou offense performing mistake free football right now. Plus, they still haven’t shown they can run the ball.
Earlier in the afternoon in Lawrence, the Jayhawks will be taking on an OU team that is reeling from three losses by just 5 points. The Jayhawks have their own demons to exorcise after seeing their unbeaten season go down in Boulder thanks to self inflicted wounds.
The Kansas coaches keep moving players over from offense to plug holes defensively and this week freshman D.J. Beshears will start at a corner spot, redshirt freshman Lubbock Smith will take the lead at free safety and freshman Bradley McDougald will see time on both sides of the ball at safety and wide receiver. While that may help the secondary, the Hawks need their defensive front to put pressure on freshman QB Landry Jones and force mistakes. He’s no Sam Bradford.
The Sooners will be putting their outstanding defense up against one of the best offenses in the country. If Kansas can rediscover their running game which was lost in the mountains last week, I think the Jayhawks will pull off a much needed win.
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