Big 12 Light

The Cornhuskers get harvested by the Texas defense. If there was any doubt last year about the controversial one second, the Horns left plenty of time on the clock Saturday to squash critics. This win is all the more impressive when you consider Nebraska fans were literally seeing red and Texas had to travel into their heartland.

North

Baylor 31, Colorado 25
The Bears overcame a 15-10 halftime deficit, taking the lead late in the third quarter and holding on for dear life during Colorado’s late surge. The Buffs scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, and on the 19 yard line with five seconds on the clock, Colorado’s potentially game-winning pass was batted down. Baylor gets out of Boulder with only a few cuts and bruises to its ego but no major war wounds, and the Bears live to fight another day.

Kansas State 59, Kansas 7
The only good news for the Jayhawks was that they didn’t give up a special teams’ touchdown. The low point for Kansas: Just when it looked like the Jayhawks were going to get on the board for the first time in the third, Kansas RB James Sims fumbled the ball only to be recovered by Wildcat Stephen Harrison, who ran the ball 85 yards for a touchdown. Kansas finally got its touchdown in the fourth quarter, driving the ball 44 yards in 4 minutes. But alas, Kansas State rubbed salt in the wound by taking only 53 seconds and two plays to score another touchdown before the clock mercifully wound down to 0:00.

Texas 20, No. 5 Nebraska 13
Eric Hagg will be the talk of the town in Lincoln for his amazing 95-yard punt return for a touchdown. You know who won’t be talked about, at least not kindly, this week? Taylor Martinez. While he averaged around 150 rushing yards per game pre-Texas, Martinez only managed to get 21 yards on 11 carries against the Longhorns. While neither quarterback made much of the pass game, Garrett Gilbert got his feet moving a bit. He ran for 71 yards on 11 carries, which doesn’t seem impressive until you hear that his average per game in the first five of this season was a whopping three yards.

The real stars of this show were the Longhorn defensive players. The Horns dominated on this front, holding the nation’s second-best rushing team (averaging 338 yards per game) to only 125 yards and cutting their total offensive yardage from a game average of 494 to only 202. Throughout the Big 12 era, Texas has dominated this series, winning nine of the last 10 meetings and going 3-0 against top-10 ranked Husker squads. Nebraska will ride off into the sunset with the Big Ten a little bruised and definitely beaten.

South

No. 6 Oklahoma 52, Iowa State 0
After this rout of the Cyclones, Oklahoma looks for a big jump in the polls, especially since two of the top five teams fell this week (No. 18 Wisconsin ambushed No. 1 Ohio State, and unranked Texas bounced No. 5 Nebraska). And with the announcement of the BCS rankings tonight, the Sooners could be looking at a No. 2 ranking, since the polls favor BCS conferences. Sorry, TCU and Boise. The game wasn’t too remarkable; OU dominates in Sooner-fashion, blowing out opponents and smothering them with over 600 total offensive yards. The small headlines: DeMarco Murray became the school’s leading TD scorer with 58 career TDs, and Landry Jones had his best game in pass efficiency, completing 30 of 34 attempts.

No. 21 Missouri 30, Texas A&M 9
At first, I thought the Aggies just had a tough game against Oklahoma State. Then, I thought Jerrod Johnson just had a bad game against Arkansas. But after three straight losses, I’m seeing a pattern. A&M is not good against competitive teams. At the beginning of the season, Johnson was hailed as a possible Heisman candidate who was going to lead this dark horse team to challenge the Big 12 heavyweights, but now they are looking like the lame horse limping around the track. The Aggies are 0-2 in Big 12 play and still have to face Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Texas.

No. 20 Oklahoma State 34, Texas Tech 17
The Cowboys broke a 66-year streak this weekend. That’s right, it’s been almost seven decades since Oklahoma State has won against the Red Raiders in Lubbock. And this time it wasn’t even close. This season, the Cowboys have a prolific offense, averaging 49.5 points per game and 361 passing yards per game. On the other hand, new head coach Tommy Tuberville and Texas Tech is still trying to find its groove. The Red Raiders are 1-3 in Big 12 play and still have A&M, Missouri and Oklahoma to face. Tough first season for Tubs.