Big 12: Week 9

Notre Dame 7-0 @ Oklahoma 5-1 / 3-1: This is ESPN’s Game Day location and the biggest battle of week nine; this meeting between the Irish & Sooners is loaded with historical interest and BCS implication!  Surprisingly,  the Irish have dominated the series …. winning 8 of the 9 games. The Sooner’s last win was in 1956, a 40-0 ‘tail whippin’ of the Irish in South Bend.  Notre Dame’s last visit to Norman was in 1966, a 38-0, spanking of Sooners! The teams last played in 1999, a 35-31 ND victory… after OU had built a 30-14 lead early in the 3rd quarter… back came the Irish. The most famous game played between the teams was on November 16,1957 …. when the Irish ended the longest winning streak in college football history (47), with a 7-0 victory over Oklahoma! While ND has a slight edge on the defensive side of the ball, OU is clearly the superior team on offense. ND better … Wake up the echoes, suit up Rudy, seance the Gipper, and play a Rockne locker-room pregame “fire-up the boys clip … All Hands needed on Deck for this one to be close!

Texas 5-2 / 2-2 @ Kansas 1-6 / 0-4: The biggest question of the day is…  will Texas’ defense bother to tackle anyone in Lawrence. They certainly didn’t in Dallas … losing to OU 63-21 … shameful …when you consider the great history of Texas football. Mack better remind these guys that a quality of effort is required when you put on that “burnt orange” uniform. If these ‘Texas want-to-be’s’ do not show-up ready to play old time Longhorn football @ Jayhawk Memorial Stadium  … well … then this game will be the biggest story in Kansas since that house fell on that witch!

TCU 5-2 / 2-2 @ Oklahoma State 4-2 / 2-1: These teams have not met since 1993, an OSU victory, 27-23, in Stillwater. The Pokes are coming off an impressive win over Iowa State, 31-10, while the Frogs are trying to put behind them a tough, 3 overtime, 56-53 loss, to Texas Tech. The visitor is 1-5-1 in this series in the last 7 games. TCU is an impressive 47-5 in the last four years ….. but are no longer in the Mountain West and being in the Big 12 means a quality opponent almost every week! Five losses in four years … vs two already this year in the Big 12!

Texas Tech 6-1 / 3-1 @ Kansas State 7-0 / 4-0: Going into last year’s game, TT had won five in a row against K-State and led in the 3rd Quarter, 34-27, before the Wildcats scored 14 unanswered points and beat the Red Raiders, 41-34, to end their 5 game slide! Tech is 2-2 in its last four trips to “The Little Apple” but has won the last two times they were in town! Both teams are coming off impressive wins (Texas Tech’s mentioned above) while Kansas State annihilated West Virginia, 55-14, in Morgantown!

Baylor 3-3 / 0-3 @ Iowa State 4-3 / 1-3: Both these teams need to stop the bleeding, and do so on Saturday! While neither team has a shot at the conference title, both are still in the hunt to become bowl eligible. The home team has not been a welcoming host in the last three contests, shooing the visitor out of the stadium door with a loss by @ least 14 points. ISU has Texas, Oklahoma, West Virginia, & Kansas left to play and need two wins to get to the magical six (the # required number to go bowling) & Baylor’s situation is more challenging, needing three wins and with Ok State, Oklahoma, K-State, Texas Tech, & Kansas left on the schedule … while both teams need a win on Saturday … the Bayler Bears have the greater need!

West Virginia 5-2 / 2-2: Bye Week  Next up … TCU @ Home