Where: Razorback Stadium,. Fayetteville ... their opener, with Arkansas handling ... Hill. Solomon. 6x3 ad position. STA
this week in the INSIDE ONE OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL’S PREMIER CONFERENCES | COMPILED BY PATRICK STEVENS, SPECIAL TO GATEHOUSE MEDIA BY THE NUMBERS
game of the week No. 5 OKLAHOMA (1-0) at No. 2 OHIO STATE (1-0)
POWER RANKINGS
STANDINGS
When: 7:30 p.m. EDT Saturday Where: Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio TV: ABC
Breaking down the Big 12
(Through Sept. 4) Team Iowa State Kansas Kansas State Oklahoma Oklahoma State Texas Tech TCU Texas Baylor West Virginia
1. Oklahoma (1-0): Sooners will put their 11-game winning streak on the line this week against Ohio State — the last team they stumbled against. (Last week: 1)
Conf. All T25 0-0 1-0 0-0 0-0 1-0 0-0 0-0 1-0 0-0 0-0 1-0 0-0 0-0 1-0 0-0 0-0 1-0 0-0 0-0 1-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-1
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS (Through Sept. 4) PASSING YARDS Player Yds. 1. Nic Shimonek, TTU 384 2. Shane Buechele, TEX 375 3. Will Grier, WVU 371 4. Peyton Bender, KU 364 5. Jesse Ertz, KSU 333
SOONER THAN LATER
PASSING TOUCHDOWNS Player No. 1. Kenny Hill, TCU 4 1. Jesse Ertz, KSU 4 1. Peyton Bender, KU 4 2. Several tied at ... 3 RUSHING YARDS Player Yds. 1. Justice Hill, OKST 132 2. Justin Crawford, WVU 106 3. Anu Solomon, BAY 97 4. J.D. King, OKST 95 5. La’Darren Brown, OKST 92 RECEIVING YARDS Player Yds. 1. Gary Jennings, WVU 189 2. James Washington, OKST 145 3. Steven Sims Jr., KU 142 4. Mark Andrews, OKLA 134 5. Derrick Willies, TTU 126 SCORING Player Pts. 1. Matthew McCrane, PK, KSU 13 Several tied at ... 12
TEAM STATISTICS (Through Sept. 4) PASSING OFFENSE Team Oklahoma Texas Tech Texas West Virginia Kansas Kansas State Oklahoma State TCU Baylor Iowa State
Yds. Yds./G 496 496.0 449 449.0 375 375.0 371 371.0 364 364.0 333 333.0 308 308.0 300 300.0 278 278.0 271 271.0
RUSHING OFFENSE Team Oklahoma State Baylor TCU West Virginia Kansas State Oklahoma Texas Tech Iowa State Texas Kansas
Yds. Yds./G 332 332.0 254 254.0 242 242.0 221 221.0 186 186.0 180 180.0 177 177.0 134 134.0 98 98.0 73 73.0
STARS OF THE WEEK • QB Peyton Bender, Kansas: Connected for 364 passing yards and four TDs to help the Jayhawks turn back Southeast Missouri State. • WR Gary Jennings, Jr., West Virginia: Created problems for the vaunted Virginia Tech defense, hauling in 13 passes for 189 yards and a TD. • QB Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma: Completed 19 of 20 for 329 yards and three TDs in the Sooners’ opening rout of Texas-El Paso. • WR James Washington, Oklahoma State: Caught six passes for 145 yards and two TDs as the Cowboys pummeled Tulsa.
STAT OF THE WEEK
3
Non-offensive touchdowns for Texas in its 51-41 loss to Maryland, the first time it had that many since Oct. 10, 2009. The Longhorns returned an interception, a punt and a blocked field goal for scores in their opener.
BUCKEYES HOST FELLOW CFP CONTENDER IN MAYFIELD, OKLAHOMA
[Darron Cummings/the associated press]
KEYS FOR OKLAHOMA Contain the run. As if it wasn’t obvious enough, Ohio State made clear in its opener against Indiana that it can deploy as many quality backs as it needs. Mike Weber’s injured? Big deal. J.K. Dobbins can step in to rush for 181 yards on 29 carries, breaking Maurice Clarett’s 15-year-old Buckeye rushing record for a debut. Oh, and QB J.T. Barrett is a capable rusher, too. Avoid turnovers. Go back to last year’s game, a 45-24 Ohio State victory in Norman, and it’s easy to point to turnovers (notably an interception brought back for a touchdown in the first quarter) that helped swing things toward the Buckeyes. In the return game at the Horseshoe, Oklahoma can
ill-afford similar missteps if it is to knock off the Big Ten favorites on the road. KEYS FOR OHIO STATE Fluster Mayfield. The Buckeyes did exactly that last season, creating early havoc for Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield. This year, Ohio State has three new starters in the secondary, including a pair of sophomores. Of course, Mayfield doesn’t have the benefit of star WR Dede Westbrook, though Mark Andrews (seven catches, 134 yards, 1 TD) turned in a decent impression in the Sooners’ opener. Mayfield is plenty capable of a big day against even the best teams. No slow start. Ohio State didn’t take the lead for good against Indiana in its opener until the final 20 minutes. It
was not a dominant showing, and against a better opponent the Buckeyes would have needed its four unanswered TDs at the end not to ice the game but to rally from a double-digit deficit. PREDICTION Ohio State 31-27. At the very least, it should be a better game last year. At the most, it could be the best game of a loaded schedule of evening games this weekend (along with Georgia-Notre Dame, Auburn-Clemson and Stanford-Southern Cal). Both programs are good bets to remain in playoff contention deep into the season, and the winner in this one walks away with a valuable triumph. The nod goes to the Buckeyes at home.
BEST OF THE REST this week’s other top games
IOWA (1-0) at IOWA STATE (1-0)
No. 23 TCU (1-0) at ARKANSAS (1-0)
TEXAS-SAN ANTONIO (0-0) at BAYLOR (0-1)
When: 11 a.m. CDT Saturday Where: Jack Trice Stadium, Ames, Iowa TV: ESPN2 Notes: Iowa leads series 42-22 and routed the Cyclones 42-3 last year. Iowa State avoided losing to an FCS team for the fourth time Park in five years, defeating Northern Iowa 42-24 as QB Jacob Park threw for 271 yards and two TDs. The Hawkeyes got 116 yards on the ground from TB Akrum Wadley, but more importantly they kept Wyoming out of the red zone the entire game.
When: 2:30 p.m. CDT Saturday Where: Razorback Stadium, Fayetteville, Ark. TV: CBS Notes: Both teams have veteran QBs with the potential to lift their program’s fortunes, with Austin Allen at Arkansas and Kenny Hill at Hill TCU. Neither team was severely tested in their opener, with Arkansas handling Florida A&M as TB Chase Hayden rushed for 120 yards and a TD. Meanwhile, TCU blasted Jackson State behind Hill’s four TD passes.
When: 7 p.m. CDT Saturday Where: McLane Stadium, Waco, Texas TV: FSN Notes: A setback against an FCS school is hardly a great first impression on the field for Matt Rhule, whose team allowed Solomon 585 total yards, including 447 through the air. QB Anu Solomon, a graduate transfer from Arizona, completed 14 of 29 for 278 yards and three TDs in his Baylor debut while also rushing for a team-best 97 yards on six carries.
ROUNDING IT OUT THE REST OF THE MATCHUPS
Time (CDT) FRIDAY 7 p.m.
Matchup
TV
No. 11 Okla. St. at S. Alabama ESPN2
Saturday 11 a.m. 11 a.m. 2:30 p.m. 3 p.m.
Charlotte at No. 19 Kansas St. East Carolina at West Virginia San Jose State at Texas Central Michigan at Kansas
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FSN FS2 LHN FSN
2. Oklahoma State (1-0): On paper, it looked like the Cowboys had a potentially tricky opener against Tulsa. Instead, the Cowboys were mighty impressive while blasting the Golden Hurricane. (LW: 2) 3. Kansas State (1-0): Wildcats opened with a name-the-score game against Central Arkansas. They settled for 55-19. Expect more of the same Saturday against Charlotte. (LW: 3) 4. West Virginia (0-1): Didn’t win the Black Diamond Trophy game against Virginia Tech on a neutral field, but did get a sense QB Will Grier has a chance to put up some great numbers this year. (LW: 4) 5. Texas Christian (1-0): Demolished Jackson State, but there really wasn’t a whole lot to learn from that. This week’s date with Arkansas is a great barometer for the Horned Frogs. (LW: 5) 6. Texas Tech (1-0): The Red Raiders began a crucial season for Kliff Kingsbury with a blowout of Eastern Washington. They’ll have two weeks to get ready for what should be a shootout with Arizona State. (LW: 8) 7. Texas (0-1): The Longhorns were mauled up front by Maryland, a startling development for those who believed Tom Herman could immediately solve all that ailed Texas. (LW: 6) 8. Iowa State (1-0): Beat Northern Iowa, which is better than the Cyclones could manage last year. The Cy-Hawk Trophy game against Iowa should be more competitive than 2016, too. (LW: 9) 9. Kansas (1-0): There should never, ever be complaints in Lawrence when the Jayhawks win a football game. They did just that in upending Southeast Missouri State. (LW: 10) 10. Baylor (0-1): Lost to an FCS team, which ensures the Bears a place at the bottom in this exercise for the timing being. Baylor’s defense was particularly poor in the loss to Liberty. (LW: 7)
