A Look Around The Big 12 - Final Non-Conference Games

Texas A&M 21, Army 17

Well, Stephen McGee manages to pass for a TD before becoming injured again. A&M's defense again struggles to stop an opponent's running game, albeit a triple-option attack we don't see often. Looks like it will be a long season ahead for A&M. They need to hope for some shootouts to make it interesting.

texas 52, Arkansas 10

texas prety much dominated Arkansas in every facet of the game. I thought Arkansas would keep this game close on pure hatred alone, but that didn't happen. Solid non-conference win for texas.

Oklahoma 35, TCU 10

TCU decided the key to stopping OU's offense was to shut down their running game, holding the Sooners to 25 yds rushing. That left the Sooner receivers in single coverage, though, and Sam Bradford had a career night, passing for 411 yds and 4 TDs, 3 of them going to Manuel Johnson, who set a school single game record with 206 yds receiving.

Oklahoma State 55, Troy 24

For the third straight game, Okie State scores 50-plus points. I don't think much of OSU's defense, but the way they're racking up yds (612 yds total offense against Troy) and points, it doesn't matter. A&M may be lucky to hold them under 60 next Saturday.

Kansas State 45, Lousiana-Lafayette 37

This game was a shootout, but at least K-State came out on the right end of it. U-La-La had 509 yds of total offense, 335 of it on the ground. This makes the second game in a row K-State has given up over 300 yds rushing. I guess they should be happy they don't play mighty Army's triple option attack.

Florida State 39, Colorado 21

Well, Colorado did a lot to validate my lack of faith in them. While they aren't quite at the K-State or A&M level of pathetic in run defense, they did give up 259 yds rushing at 5.6 yds per pop. You're not going to win too many games when you can't stop the run. After watching the Miami-A&M game last weekend and parts of the Colorado-Florida State game this weekend, I will say that while the ACC is a poor conference, and both Miami and FSU are rebuilding right now, they're both much better than Colorado in the third year under Hawkins, and A&M in Sherman's first year. There is still some serious talent on those two teams, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

Virginia Tech 35, Nebraska 30

It looks like Va Tech was able to run the ball just well enough to get past Nebraska. 3.7 yds per carry isn't impressive at all, but when it gets you into field goal range, and your kicker makes four of them, it works. It didn't help that Nebraska was completely shut down running the ball, gaining only 55 yds rushing on 25 attempts for the day. Tyrod Taylor was efficient, completing 9-15 passes for 172 yds and rushing for 1 TD. That was just enough to win. After a creampuff schedule to start non-conference play, Nebraska loses in their first real test. This doesn't bode well with Missouri looming.