Tramel's ScissorTales: Why TCU ranks No. 1 in Big 12 football after a meager opening week
How meager were the Big 12 opponents in college football’s Week 1? Pittsburgh obviously was the best of the bunch, and after that, who knows? A bunch of bad teams.
Colorado might be next in line, and Colorado stinks. Texas Christian whacked the Buffaloes 38-13 last Friday.
That all changes this week, of course. Texas plays Alabama. Iowa State plays Iowa. Baylor plays Brigham Young. Texas Tech plays Houston. OSU plays Arizona State. Kansas State plays Missouri. West Virginia and Kansas play each other.
So OU (Kent State) and TCU (Tarleton State) are the only Big 12 teams playing non-Power Five Conference opponents Saturday.
Which means next week, we’ll have a much better gauge of the prowess of Big 12 football. But for now, we’ll have to use limited data.
When I rank teams, I don’t project. I use history and tradition and previous-season success only as a small element. In other words, I assume Colorado is better than Central Michigan and Central Michigan is better than Texas-El Paso, but I don’t know. And I’ll use that even less next week.
So for now, here’s how the Big 12 teams rank, based on what they’ve done this season.
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1. Texas Christian 1-0: The Horned Frogs did what they should have done to Colorado – dominate the Pac-12 opponent. TCU fooled around with the Buffaloes early, leading just 7-6 at halftime, courtesy of Derius Davis’ 60-yard punt return. But quarterback Chandler Morris led the Frogs to scoring drives on the first two possessions of the second half, then when Morris left the game with a knee injury, veteran starter Max Duggan came on and kept the Frogs humming.
2. Oklahoma 1-0: OU gets the nod because of a combination of dominance and playing a Division I-A opponent. The Sooners beat UTEP 45-13.
3. Oklahoma State 1-0: The Cowboys beat Central Michigan 58-44. OSU was up 51-15 in the third quarter but allowed the Chippewas to make things a little tight in the fourth quarter. CMU probably is better than UTEP, but for now, OU’s dominance lifts the Sooners above the Cowboys.
4. Texas 1-0: The Longhorns routed Louisiana-Monroe 46-10. The Warhawks have been down for a long time. Both UTEP and Central Michigan were bowl teams a year ago.
5. West Virgnia 0-1: The Mountaineers were in position to beat Pitt, a victory which would have made WVU a top-20 team and invigorated the Mountaineers with a huge dose of confidence. Then WVU blew a late lead and lost 38-31.
6. Kansas State 1-0: The Wildcats beat Division I-AA South Dakota 34-0. Most I-AA teams are created equal when it comes to how they match up with the Big 12, but any team with “Dakota” in its name carries a little extra weight.
7. Texas Tech 1-0: The Red Raiders waxed I-AA Murray State 63-10,but it cost the services of quarterback Tyler Shough, who has an injured shoulder and will miss at least a couple of weeks. Tech has a capable backup in Donovan Smith, who completed 14 of 16 passes against the Racers.
8. Baylor 1-0: The Bears beat I-AA Albany 69-10. The Great Danes play football in the Colonial Athletic Conference, so a Big 12 team should roll. And Baylor did.
9. Kansas 1-0: The Jayhawks beat I-AA Tennessee Tech 56-10. That’s major progress for KU football.
10. Iowa State 1-0: The Cyclones beat I-AA Southeast Missouri State 42-10 but led just 28-10 in the fourth quarter.
More:Why Oklahoma State's Kendal Daniels was 'right' about big day vs. Central Michigan
Arizona State’s Edwards recalls 9/11
Sunday is the 21st anniversary of 9/11. Arizona State football coach Herm Edwards, whose Sun Devils play in Stillwater on Saturday night, was head coach of the New York Jets 21 years ago.
“I’ll never forget that day the rest of my life,” Edwards said Monday while discussing the Sun Devils’ game against OSU. “You think about it, it just seems like it was yesterday, but it wasn’t.”
Memories flooded Edwards’ mind as he recalled September 11, 2011.
“I think my proudest moment as a football coach was that the New York Jets went down down there, to the site, and helped the first responders,” Edwards said. “We brought in water and supplies. All those people down there.
“The rebuilding (of New York). I’ve been back since, but you don’t forget, you don’t forget that day. It’s something in the history books, people will read about it 30 years from now. I witnessed, saw it.”
Back then, the Jets trained in Hempstead, in suburban Nassau County, New York. About 28 miles from Lower Manhattan, where the hijacked airplanes flew into the Twin Towers.
“Everytime I get to this day, I think about it,” Edwards said. “I think about all the lives that were lost. And all the people that were the heroes, true heroes, that went in those buildings, trying to get people out.
“It’s one thing, when you’re couple of states away, you’re American, how Americans came together, the red, white and blue was what it was all about. But when you’re there and really see it, it was a sight, it was like a movie. I thought I was watching a movie. But it was real. God bless all that were involved in the rescue and all those that have perished. We continue to pray for those families. It affected a lot of people, more than people imagine. It still affects a lot of those people today.”
Among those affected was Pat Tillman, an Arizona Cardinals safety who played at Arizona State. Tillman left the Cardinals in May 2002 to join the U.S. Army. He died April 22, 2004, in Afghanistan, the result of friendly fire.
“That’s the ultimate sacrifice and should, in my opinion, be rewarded with the ultimate respect,” Mike Gundy said Monday. “He gives up an NFL career and says, ‘I’m gonna go fight for my country.’
“I’m a big military guy. I’ve always said this: first responders and military guys, where there’s fires and buildings blowing up and people shooting guns, they run in and stop them. I run the other way. I don’t want to run into something like that. I’m not tough enough to do that. Those guys do it.”
Gundy was asked why he’s a “big military guy.”
“That’s the way I was raised,” Gundy said. “My dad had some military experience, and I was raised from ‘that tall’ of things that we respect. You respect authority. You respect teachers. You respect coaches. You respect grandparents. You respect adults. You respect the flag. You respect this country. And you respect the military. That’s the way I was raised.”
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The List: OU first-touch touchdowns
OU freshman Gavin Freeman took a reverse pitch Saturday and dashed to a 46-yard touchdown against Texas-El Paso, on his first carry or catch as a Sooner.
Dennis “Stats” Kelly, who is part of the OU radio broadcast crew, produced a list of 13 Sooners who scored on their first rush for the crimson and cream:
1. Dale Crawford, 1950: 66-yard run vs. Kansas State. The El Reno High School graduate played rarely as a Sooner.
2. Mike Thomas, 1972: 90-yard run vs. Oregon. Thomas, from Greenville, Texas, soon enough transferred to Nevada-Las Vegas and eventually became a National Football League star with Washington.
3. Darrell Shepard, 1979: 60-yard run vs. Kansas. Shepard, a transfer from Houston, eventually became OU’s 1981 starting quarterback. Shepard was one of three brothers (Woodie, Derrick) from Odessa, Texas, who were impact OU players.
4. Doug Switzer, 1992: 1-yard run vs. Missouri. Quite a monumental moment. Barry Switzer’s son scored a touchdown on Owen Field. Soon enough, Bob Stoops’ son Drake did the same, though not on his first touch. Doug Switzer, who played at Little Rock (Arkansas) Central High School, eventually transferred to Missouri Southern.
5. Tim Duncan, 2001: 10-yard run vs. Texas A&M. The kicker from Clinton scored on a fake field goal, taking a pitch from holder Matt McCoy, in a 31-10 victory.
6. Lacoltan Bester, 2013: 35-yard run vs. Texas Tech. Bester, a receiver from Scooba, Mississippi, had some catches previous, but his first run, on a reverse, scored on Tech.
7. Devin Montgomery, 2016: 10-yard run vs Kansas. All five of Montgomery’s career carries came in that game against KU. Montgomery was a non-scholarship player from Leonardtown, Maryland.
8. Jaxson Uhles, 2017: 1-yard run vs. UTEP. Fullback from Norman North had one carry and one catch as a Sooner.
9. Seth McGowan, 2020: 1-yard run vs. Missouri State. The freshman from Mesquite, Texas, also turned his first OU reception into a touchdown – in the same game.
10. Mikey Henderson, 2020: 1-yard run vs. Texas Tech. Henderson, a freshman from St. Louis, was dismissed from the team in July 2021 after armed robbery charges that also cost McGowan his Sooner career.
11. Caleb Williams, 2021: 1-yard run vs. Tulane. Yes, Williams played in the season opener, won 40-35 by OU, as a short-yardage quarterback.
12. Dillon Gabriel, 2022: 12-yard run vs. UTEP. Surprise, surprise. Gabriel’s 12-yard option run in the first quarter was his first run as a Sooner, beating Freeman to this list.
13. Gavin Freeman, 2022: 46-yard run vs. UTEP. Quite a debut for the Heritage Hall product. First time two Sooners did it in the same game.
More:What to know about the Oklahoma Sooners' 2022 schedule, roster and more
Southeastern State prevents Arkansas sweep
The Arkansas schools’ domination of Great American Conference football continues. But it could have been worse for the Oklahoma schools.
With 1:10 left in the game last Thursday night at Paul Laird Field in Durant, Southeastern State trailed Arkansas Tech by three points and was 97 yards from the Wonder Boys’ goal line.
The first week of GAC play matched each of the six Oklahoma schools against a fellow conference member from Arkansas.
In the other five games, the Arkansas teams won. An 0-6 start would have been a discouraging development on the Oklahoma side of the league, which for a decade has been dominated by the Arkansans.
But Southeastern’s veteran quarterback, Daulton Hatley completed seven of nine passes in that final 1:15, plus running for a first down, before Trey Keatts made a 21-yard field goal to tie the game with one second left.
The Savage Storm won 41-34 in two overtimes.
Optimism is high in Durant after a 2021 season in which the Storm went 8-3, good for fourth place in the GAC. Southeastern beat Harding, the eventual league champion, and Ouachita Baptist, which tied for second.
And that optimism remains, courtesy of the late rally and clutch overtime play.
Each team traded field goals in the first overtime. Then Southeastern scored a touchdown on Caleb High’s two-yard run.
Arkansas Tech seemed on the verge of answering, reaching the 1-yard line. But Jaiveon Gardner met Jordan Edington at the line of scrimmage to force a fumble, Conner Swope recovered and the Savage Storm had a victory.
Hatley completed 34 of 46 passes for 379 yards, one TD and one interception. Marquis Gray had 13 catches for 169 yards and a touchdown, and Katrell Blakely had 10 catches for 100 yards. Tailback Deundre Wheeler rushed for 100 yards on 14 carries, including a 61-yard touchdown run.
Elsewhere in the GAC:
➤ Ninth-ranked Harding beat East Central 29-12. ECU has high hopes after a 7-4 season in 2021.
➤ Arkansas-Monticello beat Southern Nazarene 40-26. The Crimson Storm lost to Monticello 30-23 a year ago en route to a 1-10 season.
➤ Henderson State, a traditional power, beat Southwestern Oklahoma State 30-13. The Bulldogs lost 31-13 to Henderson State a year ago.
➤ Southern Arkansas beat Northwestern Oklahoma State 21-9. The Rangers lost to Southern 32-13 a year ago.
➤ Ouachita Baptist, ranked 19th, beat Oklahoma Baptist 42-32. The Bison, 8-4 a year ago, lost 38-31 in the Baptist battle of 2021.
The news wasn’t much better in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
Central Oklahoma lost 35-0 at Missouri Western in Adam Dorrel’s Broncho coaching debut, and Northeastern State lost 42-17 at Emporia State.
In NAIA, Langston waxed Panhandle State 48-13.
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Mailbag: Sooner optimism
OU fans were quite excited over the Brent Venables Era, and the 45-13 rout of UTEP did nothing to change that.
David: “I was just reading your article where you mention Switzer inheriting a ‘virtual constellation’ in 1973. However, nobody saw the success of that 1973 team coming. There was an upheaval in the program, the young star of a head coach had just left for greener pastures, the quarterback unproven. The preseason magazines were all predicting a downturn in Sooner football that year. Sound familiar? This preseason has taken me back to August of 1973. The world is different, the situations different (turned out the talent in 1973 was off the charts), and it's such a crazy analogy I doubt I should hit the ‘send’ button. And yet, the feeling of deja vu is there for me. Isn't the giddiness that a new season brings intoxicating? I am so excited for the new season I can barely stand it.”
Tramel: It’s a fun comparison. But most of the skepticism over 1973 was quarterback-based.
Switzer inherited Joe Washington; Rod Shoate, a sophomore all-American in 1972; Lucious Selmon, a veteran nose guard star, and his two little brothers; Randy Hughes, an accomplished safety headed for two all-American seasons; and an assortment of good offensive linemen.
Everyone knew all about that talent. But QB was a major concern. If Kerry Jackson hadn't been ruled ineligible for the 1973 season, OU might have been a preseason No. 1.
But the point is, you never know. Maybe the Sooners will surprise. By the way. The 2022 Sooners were ranked ninth in the preseason Associated Press poll. The 1973 Sooners were ranked 11th.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Big 12 football power rankings 2022: TCU passes OU, OSU in Week 1
