Saturday Tailgate

Without a representative in the 2020 College Football Playoff, the Big 12 is in a tough spot. It’s becoming increasingly clear that there is only one available slot in the postseason every year, with Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State solidifying themselves as perennial contenders, regardless of how well they actually play.

Iowa State and Oklahoma met up for the second time this season over the weekend. While the first meeting was important to both programs and how their seasons progressed. This second meeting had a lot more riding on it, including the Big 12 Championship trophy and a chance to be included in the College Football Playoff discussion. The game lived up to the billing with the Sooners pulling out a 27-21 win for their sixth-straight Big 12 Championship.

Of the 10 teams that make up the Big 12 conference, I’d say that a majority of them didn’t meet pre-season expectations. If you go through life searching for moral wins, then playing out this season counts. But even in that case, not every team played the same amount of games. When you really think about it, two or three teams met or exceeded their pre-season expectations. I’ll give you my thoughts on how each squad did on the gridiron, with the Championship yet to be played.

Iowa State has made a lot of noise during this wacky college football season. They made headlines weak one as the first ranked team to fall to a non Power Five conference. Being the optimist I am, I figured that their loss would serve as a wake-up call and kick them in the right direction. It’s difficult to say how much that game impacted this season for the better, but Iowa State has rolled off eight wins in nine game since.

The Iowa State Cyclones have done something few programs in the nation have. A season where every conference has been affected by COVID, the Cyclones have yet to have a game postponed. They came close two games ago when Kansas State came to town, but the game went on as scheduled.

The TCU basketball team is off to a great start this season after winning its first three games, including the final of the Hall of Fame Classic tournament. Both games of the tournament, against Tulsa and Liberty, respectively, came down to the wire, but the Horned Frogs managed to hold off their opponents’ late charges and secure the victories.

Despite the fact that TCU’s 59-23 victory over Kansas was one of the least competitive games in the Big 12 this season, it was a fun watch for the Horned Frogs’ faithful. TCU completely dominated on the ground, rushing for 337 yards and punching in two scores as well. Three...

The record of a team doesn’t always indicate how good or bad they are. There are multiple factors at play every week and one play could differentiate winning from losing. The Baylor Bears have only won two games this season, but they’ve been playing much better than their record shows. It’s easy to note after the fact how good a team could and should be. There’s three reasons why the Bears should be considered the most underrated team this season.

The Big 12 is known for it’s wildly high-scoring games throughout the conference. You truly don’t know what to expect, unless you’re watching Kansas play. Saturday’s game between Oklahoma State and Texas Tech is a prime example of this. The Cowboys entered with a 5-2 record and ranked 23rd in the country. On the other sideline, Texas Tech was one of the worst in the conference, sporting a record of 3-5. Logic would say the Cowboys would crush the Red Raiders, but that’s not what happened.

For a year where nothing is guaranteed, Iowa State has just about sealed their spot in the Big 12 title game. They didn’t NEED to beat Texas, but by doing so they have a 99% chance of playing on December 19th. The Longhorns are on the opposite side of the scale, as they truly needed to win this game to have a chance at making it to the Title game. As of now, it looks like Oklahoma and Iowa State will duel again, as well they should being the two best teams in the conference.

College hoops are back! COVID has impacted many teams across the college landscape, including some of the Big 12. West Virginia has played the most games, by way of tournament, and won all three contests. Half the conference are ranked inside the top-20 which has led to a combined 7-1 record. Arguably the best team in the conference, the Baylor Bears, have yet to play this season.

Oklahoma has been the most recent Big 12 program to be hit by COVID. Positive tests shut down their athletic facilities, impacting their football and basketball programs. For the football team, this is a difficult blow. They’re coming off an emotional win after beating up Oklahoma State 41-13 and had momentum. They were set to play West Virginia this weekend in another big game. Now they have that game rescheduled for December 12. When the season began, that weekend was completely empty. Now there are three games scheduled, with two weeks left in the regular season. Oklahoma will face Baylor next weekend before wrapping up their regular season against West Virginia.

Let us give thanks for the fact that the road has been bumpy, but we’ve almost made it through the season. There have been some setbacks, including several rescheduled games. But, nobody in the Big 12 has suffered as Wisconsin has in the Big 10, with nearly half their games canceled. At least when COVID hits our teams, we’ve been able to re-schedule. Even with one game this week getting postponed (looking at you Oklahoma/West Virginia), there are still four games to be played! Before getting there though, let’s recap how my predictions fared last week.

If you’re an Iowa State fan, such as myself, this has been an exciting season. The Cyclones have accomplished things they’ve never done in program history, and have held the Big 12 lead for two weeks now. Even more so, they own the tie-break over Oklahoma, who sits in second place, one game back. The only way Iowa State falls out of the Title game chances are if they lose their last two games and Oklahoma State wins both. The Cowboys own the tie-break, which would force the Cyclones out, assuming Oklahoma also wins out. That’s a lot of “what ifs” for them to miss their chance at winning the conference, so it’s safe to say things are looking up.

The Oklahoma Sooners are looking like one of the best teams in the conference now. Their offense has never looked better, while their defense has stepped up in big games. Their latest win was their biggest yet, when they rolled over Oklahoma State in dominating fashion, moving up to the second spot in the standings.

With only two games set to be played this weekend there’s not much to look forward to. Unless you’re an Iowa State fan, Oklahoma (both teams) fan, Kansas State fan, or Big 12 fan in general. In all reality, while there are only two games, this is still supposed to be the best weekend of competition so far this season. Before we jump into this weeks’ bold predictions, let’s check and see how I fared last week:

The 2020 NBA Draft took place last night, and for four former Big 12 stars, their dreams came true. Iowa State, Kansas, TCU, and Texas Tech had one player selected, with three going in the first round. Tyrese Haliburton. Drafted 12th by the Sacramento Kings. I’m going to be honest...

We’ve been waiting for a weekend like this all season. With COVID throwing wrenches in scheduling across the country each week, we’ve earned this. And yet, there are only two Big 12 games on the docket this weekend. Among the four teams playing, three are ranked and one has been ranked at times this season. We know which game is the pinnacle of the three, so we’ll start off with the biggest mismatch.

Texas’ game against Kansas, originally scheduled for 2:30 on Saturday, is postponed. Kansas Football announced that they were not able to meet the minimum position requirement established by the Big 12. KU Athletics said this is due to, “injuries and contact tracing.”. The Big 12 set the minimum number of...

Believe it or not, basketball season is right around the corner. There’s still a lot of fluidity for what may or may not happen in the next few months. COVID has already impacted the season before it’s even begun. Iowa State was supposed to play in the Emerald Coast Classic, which was called off. That tourney was going to include teams like Oregon, Illinois, and Florida. To say that’s a big blow to the schedule would be an understatement. There’s still plenty of non-conference games throughout the Big 12. Tyler Masur (@TRMasur) and I (@Mr_B93) take a deeper dive into those games below.