This is not a drill! We finally had a full slate of Big 12 sports this weekend and it was beautiful. Here’s this week’s Roundup:
Baylor
With a 47-14 victory over his former boss, Dave Aranda became the first full-time head coach since Chick Reedy in 1993 to win in his debut game. On four touchdowns from Trestan Ebener, and two more from John Lovett and Craig “Sqwirl” Williams, the Bears obliterated Kansas in their season opener. Ebner earned Special Teams Players of the Week after two spectacular kickoff return touchdowns. Lariat Sports has you covered with a game recap by sports editor DJ Ramirez and a feature on Aranda’s first win by Will Chamblee.
Volleyball is back! In a shocking turn of events, the reigning co-Big 12 champions dropped their season opener to Kansas on Friday but were able to come back with the sweep on Saturday. The Bears will play at home with a limited crowd against TCU this weekend.
Baylor soccer, however, was not so lucky to grab a win this weekend, falling 2-1 to Iowa State on the road. Chloe Japic became the first freshman to score the Bears’ first goal of the season since Maddy Algya in 2018.
Iowa State
Iowa State football edged past TCU Saturday with a 37-34 win in Fort Worth. The Cyclones have had a rough start to their season on the offensive side, with junior QB Brock Purdy struggling to find his groove early in against the Horned frogs. Luckily Breece Hall was there to save the Cyclones from themselves.
Let’s not forget JaQuan Bailey and the defensive line. Bailey the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, and the defense went to town on TCU. Matt Belinson from the Iowa State Daily has the major takeaways and what you need to know from the Cyclone’s win.
Iowa State volleyball also started out the season 1-1 against Kansas State in Manhattan, Kan., taking match one 3-2 in five sets and dropping match two 3-1. Megan Teske from the ISD has your takeaways on the Cyclones’ season opening series.
What will add an extra sting to Baylor’s 2-1 loss to the ISU soccer team on Friday? The fact that the Cyclones hadn’t won a conference matchup since 2018, maybe. The Daily’s James Powell has ISU’s side of the story.
Kansas
We all know what happened to Kansas on Saturday. The University Daily Kansan takes the cake for my favorite headlines of the week with their recap by Sam Lance and sports editor Emerson Peavey’s feature on freshman QB Jalon Daniels.
Nathan Swaffar and Jack McGarr have the KU perspective on the split series between Baylor and the Jayhawks while Hunter Schwegman has the scoop on soccer’s win over Texas Tech.
Kansas State
The whole state of Texas has a crush on the Wildcats! For the second straight season K-State has upset a top ranked Oklahoma team, this time 38-35. The Wildcats trailed 21-7 at halftime. It seemed like the Sooners would come out with yet another win. Down 35-14, K-State found life in the fourth quarter and completed the comeback. The K-State Collegian’s Glenn Kinley has all you need to know.
You heard ISU’s take on the Big 12 volleyball opener, but the Collegian’s Marshall Sunner has the K-State side of the split series with the Cyclones. Meanwhile, the Wildcats’ soccer squad took the weekend off after the postponement of its match against TCU.
Oklahoma
It was definitely not Oklahoma’s week. Not only was Lincoln Riley’s team unable to finish against the Wildcats, but OU volleyball and OU soccer also had trouble against Texas in their season openers.
Sooners volleyball got swept by the co-Big 12 champions on Thursday and fell 3-1 on Friday. OU will have a bye week to figure things out before coming to Waco to face the Bears.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, it took Oklahoma soccer two weeks to hit the pitch, traveling to Austin to face the Longhorns on Friday. The Sooners played aggressively but still came out with a 1-0 loss.
Oklahoma State
The Cowboys grabbed a 27-13 win over West Virginia despite starting slow offensively. OSU’s ground game and timely defense got the job done in the Big 12 opener. O’Colly digital editor Chris Becker has the takeaways here.
Apparently, Oklahoma State does not have a women’s volleyball team. So, yeah there’s that.
But they do have a really good soccer team. In a battle of women’s soccer titans, a sixth-ranked OK State team snuck in a late overtime goal to take the win over fourth-ranked West Virginia on Friday night. O’Colly staff reporter Ben Hutchens has what you need to know on how a split second decision got the Cowgirls the win.
Texas
While the rest of the league continues in its belief that Texas is not back, Sam Ehlinger continues in his quest to prove them wrong. Muffed punts, dropped passes and shaky defensive plays had the Longhorns losing to Texas Tech in the fourth quarter, but Ehlinger and company managed to tie things up and then take a 63-56 victory in overtime. Daily Texan editor Myah Taylor has the Longhorns’ reactions to their win over the Red Raiders.
Meanwhile, Texas volleyball and soccer were grabbing wins in the “Red River Rivalry” as the Longhorns took back-to-back wins over OU on the court in Norman, Okla., and edged past the Sooners with a 1-0 win on the pitch in Austin.
Texas Tech
If you read above, you know Tech was unable to complete the upset of the Longhorns. Daily Toreador sports editor Zack Richards has the Red Raiders’ side of the story here.
Tech volleyball split its opening series with a sweep of West Virginia on Thursday and a 3-1 loss on Friday. Texas Tech also took a loss on the soccer pitch, falling 1-0 to ninth-ranked K-State on Friday.
TCU
Baylor fans rejoice. TCU lost to Iowa State on Saturday despite Brock Purdy literally giving them the ball in a freshman moment. TCU 360’s Colin Post has an in depth look at the Horned Frogs’ 37-34 loss to the Cyclones.
TCU volleyball will get the pleasure of opening its season in Waco against the Bears this weekend and after postponing its match against K-State on Friday, TCU soccer will head to Iowa State this week for its next match.
West Virginia
Well at this point you probably already know that the Mountaineers lost 27-13 on the football field, 2-1 on the soccer pitch and split the opening series on the volleyball court. WVU’s Daily Athenaeum has all you need to know thanks to Charles Montgomery, Liam Belan, Danny Kuhn and Matthew Digby.
