Posted: Monday, September 25, 2006 7:00 pm
Each week, Husker Extra's Curt McKeever takes an accounting of the Big 12 Conference.
BUY: Oklahoma
So much for the theory that the Sooners’ offense would sputter without Rhett Bomar. Paul Thompson, who not long ago was running routes at wide receiver, might be the MVP of the Big 12 for the way he’s handled an emergency call requesting him to get back behind center. He’s completed 61 of 98 passes for 930 yards and eight touchdowns. That kind of efficiency should make Texas think twice about loading up to stop Adrian Peterson. And by the way, the Sooners have an extra week to prepare for their bitter Red River rivals.
SELL: Baylor
The song the Bears were singing about things being in place for them to return to a bowl is fading fast and giving way to the growlings of coach Guy Morriss. “I’m mad at seeing the same things over and over and over,” Morriss told reporters in Waco after a 27-20 overtime loss to Army left his team 1-3. “For me and my money, it’s time to shut your yapping and go play. I’ll do the talking. Y’all go play.” If Baylor doesn’t beat Kansas State this week, Morriss’ money won’t make him feel so rich.
BLUECHIPPER: Riar Geer, Colorado
His names seems fitting for a Star Wars movie, and he arrived at CU last year having never played tight end. But after a seven-catch, 71-yard effort against Georgia on Saturday, Geer is now the Buffaloes’ leading receiver with 10 receptions and 111 yards. Can you hear Yoda chant his name?
INSIDER TRADING
North Division
Colorado: Dan Hawkins told reporters in Colorado that quarterback Bernard Jackson is the main reason CU is improving faster than any of his previous teams. Jackson’s 85 yards rushing at Georgia were the most by a CU quarterback since Kordell Stewart ran for 143 against Notre Dame in the 1995 Fiesta Bowl. Improvement or not, the Buffs haven’t won since beating Missouri last November, and in the eight games they’ve played since, have scored as many touchdowns (five) as they did in that win against Mizzou. And now, they’ll be without center Mark Fenton for a good spell. Fenton, who started his 30th straight game Saturday, broke a the fibula (small leg bone).
Iowa State: With Todd Blythe making his 100th career catch at Texas, the 2006 Cyclones are now the first team in school history to have two receivers with 100+ receptions. Blythe has 105, while Papillion-La Vista grad Jon Davis has 104.
Kansas: Quarterback Kerry Meier practiced Sunday after being held out of Saturday’s game against South Florida with a sore shoulder. In his place, Adam Barmann threw for 273 yards and had coach Mark Mangino proclaiming, “It’s going to be hard to ignore what Adam Barmann did. Kerry’s going to have to be 100 percent (to play at Nebraska). He’s got to be pain-free for me to put him out there.”
Kansas State: Wonder if Ron Prince will hear any groans from Wildcat fans for his play-calling against Louisville? Thirty-five of K-State’s 45 plays were passes. Never mind that the air attack resulted in just 14 completions.
Missouri: The Tigers and Florida are the only Division I-A teams to have both their offenses and defenses ranked in the top 10. Mizzou’s defense is yielding a nation-low average of 175.25 yards, while its offense ranks No. 8 at 471 yards per game.
Nebraska: Lance Brandenburgh, the No. 2 middle linebacker, played all three linebacker positions against Troy on Saturday because weakside backup Steve Octavien and strongside backup Clayton Sievers were dinged up and held out. Octavien and Sievers figure to be back in the mix for Kansas.
South Division
Baylor: While the Bears haven’t allowed a first-quarter score in their past five games, they’ve also squandered three halftime leads this year. Before this season, Baylor was 6-0 under coach Guy Morriss when leading at the half.
Oklahoma: Defensive back Reggie Smith has started at three positions in the past three weeks. After playing “field” corner the first two games, he moved to the “boundary” corner spot against Oregon and then to strong safety against Middle Tennessee State. Free safety Darien Williams is the only player in the Sooners’ secondary to start all four games in the same position.
Oklahoma State: Saturday’s loss to Houston was Oklahoma State’s seven straight in the state of Texas. And they’ve all occurred in different cities. The streak began in Dallas with the 2004 Cotton Bowl loss to Mississippi. Other defeats came to Ohio State in the Alamo Bowl (San Antonio), to Texas (Austin), Baylor (Waco), Texas A&M (College Station) and Texas Tech (Lubbock). It’s enough to make a Cowboy fan almost forget that quarterback Bobby Reid’s 366 yards of offense Saturday were the second-best in school history.
Texas: In the Longhorns’ last two games, Colt McCoy has completed 25 of 31 passes (80.6 percent). The redshirt freshman had guided UT to touchdowns in the final two minutes of the first half in all four of its games.
Texas A&M: Stephen McGee, coming off a career-best, 318-yard, three-touchdown game, has thrown 71 passes this season and 92 overall without being intercepted.
Texas Tech: The day after an NCAA panel approved a progress-toward-degree waiver for Jarrett Hicks, the All-Big 12 receiver made three catches for 59 yards and a touchdown against Southeast Louisiana in his 2006 debut. Hicks had been practicing, but without him in games, the Red Raiders were somewhat off-balance and having to lean heavily on flanker Joel Filani and inside receiver Robert Johnson.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Nebraska sophomore running back Marlon Lucky, Texas senior end Tim Crowder and Oklahoma sophomore punt returner Reggie Smith are the Big 12 co-offensive, defensive and special-teams players of the week, respectively.
Lucky ran for 156 yards and three touchdowns in the Huskers’ 56-0 win against Troy. Crowder made eight tackles (two of them sacks) and had four hurries in the Longhorns’ 37-14 victory against Iowa State. Smith scored on a 61-yard punt return in the Sooners’ 59-0 win against Middle Tennessee State.
MARKET QUOTE
“To come down here and lose by a point like that, you know that hurts your guts. That tears your guts out right there. But you know what? That's living and that makes you better. You can knock us down, but you can't knock us out." — Colorado’s Dan Hawkins, after his team couldn’t hang on to a 13-0 lead at Georgia and lost 14-13.
"Their front seven was the best I've ever seen." — Iowa State quarterback Brett Meyer, after being sacked seven times during the Cyclones’ loss to Texas.