It was a little bit of an usual weekend in the land of Big 12 football in that there were just five teams in action.
And considering Oklahoma State played Thursday and Missouri on Friday, that left just three games for Saturday.
Even though the schedule lacked a few games, it was more than made up for in with the excitement level . Every game with the exception of Oklahoma State’s 37-14 drubbing of Arizona went down to the wire. Here are a few of the highlights.
Missouri battled the 100 degree heat in the desert, not to mention the Sun Devils new all black uniforms, and took Arizona State to overtime before falling, 37-30. The Tigers trailed by 14 points early in the 4tth quarter as it appeared Dennis Erickson’s team might be taking control. Missouri’s first-year starting quarterback, James Franklin, was having none of it, however. He threw two fourth quarter touchdown passes, the second going to tight end Michael Egnew with 2:55 left in the regulation that tied the score at 30.
Even after the comeback, the Tigers couldn’t capitalize in overtime. The Sun Devils got on the board first with an 11 yard Brock Osweiler touchdown pass. Missouri didn’t respond running just four plays on their possession, the last being a Franklin pass that fell to the ground near the end zone with no Tiger receiver in sight.
The good news for Missouri is that is a was a bit of a coming out party for Franklin. There were many who doubted the sophomore prior to the season, but he answered the bell in a big way completing 26 of 42 passes for 319 yards and also ran for 84 more. Maybe the more important number, though, was his zero turnovers.
That game wasn’t an easy one to top but Iowa State and Iowa did just that on Saturday morning. The Cyclones knocked off their intra state rival, 44-41, in triple overtime. Just as James Franklin did on Saturday night, ISU quarterback Steele Jantz had a bit of a coming out party of his own Saturday in Ames. The City of San Francisco transfer threw four touchdowns, completed over 67% of his passes, and didn’t turn the ball over in the Cyclones’ win.
Jantz threw the game tying touchdown with just 1:26 remaining after scrambling across the field and finding Darius Dark in the back of the end zone for the score.
After trading scores in the first two overtimes, Iowa opened the third extra period with a field goal setting the stage for Jantz and company. The Iowa State quarterback completed two passes mixed in with three James White rushes, the final being a four yard touchdown run the sent Jack Trice Stadium into a frenzy with the Cyclone players hoisting the much talked about Cy-Hawk trophy as they left the field.
Kansas certainly didn’t want to be left out of the fun Saturday night. The Jayhawks trailed Northern Illinois, 42-38, in the final seconds facing a fourth down and goal from the six yard line. Quarterback Jordan Webb hit D.J. Beshears at the goal line and the referees ruled Beshears was across the goal line giving the Jayhawks the 45-42 win. The play wasn’t official, however, until a lengthy review showed Beshears was indeed in for the score.
There wasn’t much defense played in the game, overall. In total, the two teams racked up 996 yards of offense. Besides Webb’s 281 yards passing, running back James Sims was once again the star for the Kansas offense picking up another 103 yards on the ground after finishing with 104 the opening week.
Texas and BYU didn’t feature any late game heroics, but it was still went down to the wire with Texas taking a 17-16 lead with nine minutes remaining which also turned out to be the final score.
The game was not only significant because the Longhorns came away with victory number two, but also because the plug was finally pulled on Garrett Gilbert playing quarterback following his two first half interceptions. Case McCoy and David Ash piloted the Longhorn ship the rest of the way, leading Texas back from their early 13-0 deficit.
The Texas defense also came alive stone walling the BYU offense in the second half. Outside of a 12 play drive that resulted in a field goal (and BYU’s only second half points), Manny Diaz’ defense held BYU to 11 plays covering four drives that resulted in three punts and an interception. Impressive to say the least.
Coming up this week, the league returns to full strength with the highlight being number one Oklahoma’s trip to Tallahassee to take on Florida State. It’s only Tuesday, but it’s probably a good idea to go ahead and clear you calendar for this one Saturday night.
Texas also has to travel west to take on a UCLA team that started last season’s slide.
Buckle up. The fun is just getting started.
Jay Beck is a contributor to Bevo’s Corner, and is the founder of an outstanding Big 12 website called TurfBurner. Make sure to check it out here.
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