Big 12 ranks 1-2-3 on QB rating list
Quarterback rating is an ESPN formula that evaluates a player’s overall performance — passing, running, production on down-and-distance. It’s hard to explain. But it’s quite favorable to the Big 12. OU’s Baker Mayfield ranks No. 1 this week in QB rating. OSU’s Mason Rudolph ranks No. 2. And Texas Tech’s Nic Shimonek ranks third.
The Red Raiders’ fifthyear senior is making the most of his one chance to lead a team.
“He’s improving every day,” Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury said Monday on the Big 12 coaches teleconference. “He’s on track. He can get a lot better, but I like where he’s at. I like his mentality. He knows he has only one year to show people how good he is, and he’s trying to take full advantage of it.”
Tech has a history of one-year starting quarterbacks having big years. Sonny Cumbie, Cody Hodges, B.J. Symonds. Maybe the Red Raiders are back on that cycle. In Tech’s 52-45 victory over Arizona State on Saturday, Shimonek completed 37 of 50 passes for 543 yards and six touchdowns.
“We’ve got some pretty good quarterbacks in the Big 12, looks like,” Kingsbury said.
TCU’s Kenny Hill Jr. is eighth on the QB rating list. That gives the Big 12 half of the top eight.
Texas running game lacks
In 2016, Texas ranked 14th in rushing offense among the 128 teams in major-college football, averaging 240.2 yards per game. Among Power-5 conference teams, the Longhorns ranked fifth, behind only Auburn, Alabama, Georgia Tech and Ohio State.
Saturday in the Los Angeles Coliseum, Texas ran for all of 68 yards in a 27-24, double-overtime loss to Southern Cal. UT’s two tailbacks, Chris Warren III and Kyle Porter, combined for 24 yards on nine carries.
“We’ve got to find a way to run the football, I can tell you that,” Texas coach Tom Herman said.
In UT’s 51-41 loss to Maryland on Sept. 2, the Longhorn tailbacks combined for 52 yards on 14 carries.
Texas has had some success with wide receiver sweeps and reverses, and freshman quarterback Sam Ehlinger scrambled for some positive gains against USC. But the UT running game is broken.
Part of it is the offensive line. The Longhorns lost star offensive tackle Connor Williams to a knee injury, and Herman says Texas now has five offensive linemen total ready to play.
Part of it is scheme. Herman said the ‘Horns will simplify their schemes and find a couple of plays that can be productive.
Either way, UT’s failure to run prevented the Longhorns from posting a big upset on a night when their defense held up and Ehlinger showed he’s a gamer.
“Psychologically ... yeah, we want to win,” Herman said. “We don’t accept moral victories. Losing hurts. It stinks. It’s awful. Especially losing in that fashion. However, you can also take a lot of lessons from how we played and the level of intensity and passion and how we prepared throughout the week. We played that way against San Jose State as well. The Maryland game was a gigantic wake-up call for our guys.”
Receivers draw Snyder’s ire
Kansas State quarterback Jesse Ertz had a miserable game in the Wildcats’ 14-7 loss to Vanderbilt on Saturday night. Ertz rushed for 126 yards on 24 carries but completed just 10 of 28 passes for 76 yards, with two interceptions.
But K-State coach Bill Snyder doesn’t seem particularly displeased with Ertz. Snyder was not happy with his Ertz’s receivers.
“Lot of dropped passes,” Snyder said, tossing out six as an exact number. “Dropped passes that had a dramatic impact on the game. That’s a matter of focus.
“Jesse wasn’t without his faults throwing the ball. There were some throws that weren’t as accurate as he needed to be. But we had six drops.”
KSU has veteran receivers in Isaiah Zuber, Byron Pringle, Dominique Heath and Isaiah Harris, but playmakers were in short supply in Nashville.
“Puts us back at square one, really,” Snyder said. “Our receivers both in the running game and the passing game in Week 1 and Week 2 had very fine performances. To move in the totally opposite direction Saturday was really quite a setback.”
Does Thanksgiving schedule need tweaked?
The Big 12 has five games scheduled on Thanksgiving weekend. Four involve at least one team with seemingly little chance of making the conference championship game — Kansas at OSU, Baylor at TCU, Texas Tech at Texas and Iowa State at Kansas State.
But the other game is West Virginia at OU. And with the revived
Big 12 championship game now matching the top two teams in the league standings, and a Sooners-Mountaineers rematch a week later in Arlington doesn’t seem so far-fetched.
So with that in mind, should the Big 12 look at scheduling nonconference games on Thanksgiving Saturday? The final Big 12 nonconference game in 2017 comes this week, when Texas Tech plays at Houston.
“That’s kind of an interesting suggestion,” WVU coach Dana Holgorsen said. “Never really thought of that. I think it’s positive the Big 12 is having a championship game. I felt like we’ve needed one. That Championship Saturday needs to be a championship game.”
Holgorsen said the main concern from coaches is a quick rematch.
“The biggest thing would be is if you knew you were playing that team, and that game didn’t count, so to speak,” Holgorsen said.
The SEC, in particular, has scheduled lesser nonconference opponents in November. But not necessarily on Thanksgiving weekend, which is a big viewing window for the networks. Television would not be happy with a rash of rumdum games from the Big 12.