Big 12 focus shifts to Norman for TCU vs. OU
After a night of pacing the sideline, yelling instructions to his defense, pulling on his khaki pants and wiping the sweat off his brow during a 24-7 victory over Texas on Saturday, TCU coach Gary Patterson tried to simplify the road ahead for his Horned Frogs.
“This is a four-game season, so we are 1-0 right now,” he said. ‘It’s a tough four games. We have to go to Norman, to Lubbock and then we have to beat Baylor in the last week. We have a lot of work to do.”
Patterson can be excused for not including a fifth game — the Big 12’s new championship game Dec. 2 at Arlington — but more on that later.
TCU, which found just enough offense to beat UT, will take its rugged defense to Norman for Saturday’s game against Oklahoma.
The Sooners, who were ranked fifth in the first College Football Playoff poll, are coming off a 65-62 victory over Oklahoma State. The Horned Frogs, ranked eighth, are expected to move up after losses by No. 6 Ohio State and No. 7 Penn State.
The contrast in styles between OU and TCU is jarring. The Sooners (8-1, 5-1 Big 12) put up crazy numbers in their all-offense win over the Cowboys, although Oklahoma will point out it made a key stop in the final minutes.
“We win ballgames,” said Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield, who passed for 598 yards and five touchdowns. “No matter how you put it, we win ballgames.”
The Horned Frogs (8-1, 5-1) win with defense but will need more.
“Next week, we’re going to have to move the football, and we’re going to have to get stops if we want to win,” Patterson said. “It will be interesting to see how it all turns out.”
The winner of Saturday’s game will have a good shot at one of the spots in the College Football final four.
But there is a good chance the teams could play again in the Big 12 title game three weeks later.
If the winner sweeps, that will be a plus for the Big 12. But if not, then the conference would have a two-loss champion and could be out of the final four for the third time in the playoff ’s four years.
Texas offense has work to do
Texas hasn’t been to a bowl since a 2014 Texas Bowl appearance vs. Arkansas in Charlie Strong’s first season.
Consecutive 5-7 seasons after that led to Strong’s ouster and the arrival of Tom Herman.
Now, the Longhorns (45) have to find two wins in their final three games (vs. Kansas, at West Virginia, vs. Texas Tech) to reach a bowl.
The story from Saturday’s 24-7 loss to TCU was similar to Texas’ games against other ranked teams this season — good to great defense and average to awful offense.
“Our defense every week plays great,” said UT quarterback Shane Buechele, who got the start because Sam Ehlinger (inner ear) was out. “That is frustrating, and I’m sure it’s extremely frustrating for them, too, just seeing what we do on offense. On offense we just have to get a lot better and put together drives and stop shooting ourselves in the foot.”
The locker room sounds united.
“You can’t point fingers,” linebacker Malik Jefferson said. “It only makes them feel worse. It’s important that those guys understand and embrace the challenges we’re putting at their feet. It’s going to be very important that we have these guys energized for the next three weeks.”
Passing game again costs LSU
The story was the same for LSU, which lost to No. 2 Alabama for a seventh consecutive game.
The Tigers featured a capable defense but an offense that couldn’t connect through the air when it needed to.
Quarterback Danny Etling missed more than a half-dozen open receivers on deep attempts, and wideouts dropped at least two critical passes in the 24-10 loss.
“We knew we could beat these guys,” receiver Russell Gage told the (Baton Rouge) Advocate. “I’m not going to sit here and praise them. They’re a good football team, but we hit those deep balls and make those plays, we could beat these guys.”
Miami’s résumé gets a boost
Miami, 10th in the first College Football Playoff rankings, made a case for moving up when the new ones are unveiled Tuesday.
The Hurricanes, who didn’t have a signature win (beating a down Florida State team doesn’t count), got one with a 28-10 victory over Virginia Tech, which was ranked 13th.
“When you take this job, you dream of these games, you dream of these nights, you dream of these types of season,” said Miami coach Mark Richt, who is in his second year with the Hurricanes after 15 at Georgia.
The dream could get better if Miami beats No. 3 Notre Dame on Saturday.
Wisconsin holds Big Ten hopes
The Big Ten might be pinning its College Football Playoff hopes on Wisconsin after losses by Ohio State and Penn State.
The No. 9 Badgers are 9-0 but don’t have any victories over ranked opponents. Wisconsin hosts Iowa, which upset Ohio State this week, and Michigan next week.
Michigan State (7-2, 5-1) is at Ohio State (7-2, 5-1) on Saturday in a match of the Big Ten East’s top two schools.