Big 12 Light

Best football Facebook status, concerning Missouri’s loss to Nebraska: “obviously it was because the other samantha didn't put her gold shirt on fast enough. or because the refs had corn in their eyes. or because the fans were wearing corn. probably the third one.”

Fans dressed as corn are distracting. They’re like a giant yellow footballs.

North

Iowa State 28, Kansas 16
What did head coach Paul Rhoads say to his Iowa State team during halftime? Whatever it was, it worked. The Cyclones scored 21 unanswered points in the third quarter. A stunned Kansas squad regained its wits in the fourth quarter, scoring a last-second touchdown to make it a more respectable loss. But the real headline here: After giving up 120 points in two consecutive blowout losses, Iowa State turned around its season with a win over No. 19 (at the time) Texas and now Kansas. One more win and the Cyclones can go bowling in December.

No. 17 Oklahoma State 24, Kansas State 14
Oklahoma State hardly missed Justin Blackmon. Yes, this is the lowest scoring game for the Cowboys, but Brandon Weedon still completed 22 of 39 attempts for nearly 300 yards and two touchdowns. Kendall Hunter became the leading national rusher with 1,174 yards, and he tied David Thompson for most career 100-yard rush games with 18 games, passing Barry Sanders. Not bad, but next, the Cowboys host a buoyed Baylor squad fresh off a win in Austin.

No. 14 Nebraska 31, No. 6 Missouri 17
All right, the Cornhuskers have finally earned my respect this season. I was hardly impressed with the first four wins of their season against Western Kentucky (now 1-7 in Sun Belt), Idaho (now 4-4 in WAC), Washington (3-5 in PAC-10) and South Dakota State (now 3-5 in MVC). It’s easy to put astronomical numbers against teams like that, but wins against No. 14 Oklahoma State and No. 6 Missouri shows this team has got chops (the loss at home against Texas seems to be a fluke, for both teams). This week, the Tigers couldn’t slow down the Cornhusker ground game, usually led by QB Taylor Martinez. But Roy Helu Jr. stepped up (and down the field), rushing for 307 of Nebraska’s 328 yards on the ground. The last four games in Nebraska’s regular season look only a little more difficult than their first four. The Cornhuskers' next challenge will come in the Big 12 Championship game.

South

No. 25 Baylor 30, Texas 22
Baylor hadn’t had a win in Austin since 1991, and the Bears had a 12-game losing streak to the Longhorns. Not anymore. Baylor handed Texas its third straight home loss this season, a first for the boys in burnt orange since 1997. Baylor QB Robert Griffin completed 16 of 24 attempts for 219 yards and two touchdowns. Griffin even ran one TD in himself to take the lead in the beginning of the fourth, a lead the Bears would hold for the win. MVP for Texas? Justin Tucker. The Longhorn kicker scored 15 of the team’s 22 points.

No. 9 Oklahoma 43, Colorado 10
The Sooners haven’t lost a game at home since Sept. 1, 2005. That’s 35 consecutive home wins. Colorado kept it close in the first quarter, holding OU to a single field goal, but then the Sooners kicked it to overdrive, scoring 26 points before halftime and another pair of touchdowns before the game would end. Oklahoma needed a strong showing after the loss against Missouri, and this confidence booster should carry them throughout November.

Texas A&M 45, Texas Tech 27
Both teams played a little quarterback shuffle, but did it matter? Steven Sheffield replaced Taylor Potts in the fourth quarter for Tech. Sheffield led two drives that ended in TDs, which matched Potts’s results for the other three quarters combined. The Aggies started their shuffle last week against Kansas, and this week, Johnson, who holds the school record for career yards passing, watched the whole game from the sideline. In his first career start, Ryan Tannehill set a school record for one-game passing yards (449) and threw for four touchdowns. I’d chalk both QB shuffles up to successes; Tech’s success just came too late.