As an ISU fan this was a fun weekend. We got a conference win in the first time in 2 years, in a pretty fun game. Iowa got assblasted to the moon which was hilarious.

Northwestern defeated Minnesota 37-34

For those of you that enjoy ESPN win probability graphs, this was with just over 3 minutes left in the 4th quarter:

My Big XII Week 4 Recap. Sorry it’s late again! Had a busy weekend and still catching up on things, so these will be very cursory observations. I’ll be fairly busy next weekend as well – I may not be able to get to ranked matchup recaps until week 6.

The conference went 8-6 (and we’re getting into conference play, so I probably won’t include this stat moving forward).

Tier 1

Texas (4-0), 0U (4-0)

No movement at this tier from the outbound blue bloods.

Texas finally did what it couldn’t do for years: convincingly beat a P5 team they were expected to. Everything was clicking in this game (if we pretend special teams doesn’t exist).

I would have expected Oklahoma to beat up on Cinci more in their Big XII opener, but they still won convincingly despite early game miscues.

Tier 2

KU (4-0), K-State (3-1), TCU (3-1)

Welcome back to the 2nd rung, Kansas! I’m sure everyone’s heard this, but going 4-0 for consecutive seasons hasn’t happened at KU since 1915. And welcome back to being ranked in the AP poll – too bad you’re going to lose it this week!

I’m still a believer in this K-State squad and they held on in a nail-biter against UCF (don’t let the box score fool you – this was a close one and I had more eyes on this game than tOSU @ ND).

TCU keeps the iron skillet! And a spot in this tier. I didn’t get eyes on this game, but the box score looks good. Chandler Morris is still one of the QBs I’m a little worried about facing.

Tier 3

BYU (3-1), Cinci (2-2), UCF (3-1)

Welcome to the Big XII, BYU, where Kansas derails your hopes and dreams (in sports other than basketball, if you can believe it). In all seriousness, I think BYU is still pretty good and the fact that they held their own with now-ranked KU means they at least deserve this tier.

Did you enjoy the Big Nude Kickoff, Cinci? Looked like a great atmosphere! And the first bit of the game was great, too (I am morally obligated to switch the channel once 0U starts winning). I was torn about this, but decided to move Cinci up a tier despite the loss because they held 0U to only 20 points. They definitely need to prove they have a capable offense if they want to stay here.

I really wanted to place UCF higher with how they held up to K-State with an apparently very serviceable backup QB, but this game got away from them late so they stay in the mid-tier yet again.

Tier 4

Houston (2-2), Texas Tech (1-3), WVU (3-1)

Well I guess we learned which “Houston” is the real “Houston”. Although they are now in the FBS, beating up the Bearkats doesn’t tell us much about UH other than they can still win games (but can they do that against a P5 team???)

Welp, Texas Tech, looks like the wheels are coming off. I was high on Tech going into the season, but the pre-season was a bit of a disaster and now conference play doesn’t look like they’re trending in the right direction. They’ve still got enough talent and coaching chops to play spoiler though so they get to stay out of the basement.

I’m probably going to catch flack for keeping West Virginia in this tier. I was so close to moving them up, but I need to see just a little more from the Mountaineers to know they’re the real deal. Beat a P5 team on the road and then we’re cooking with gas. Speaking of heat, seems like the burner under Neal Brown’s seat is now turned off (probably a good thing, as the consensus seems to be there was no money for his buyout).

Tier 5

Baylor (1-3), Iowa State (2-2), Oklahoma State (2-2)

Normally losing to a highly ranked team doesn’t drop a team multiple tiers. And initially I had Baylor in Tier 4. But the more I thought about it, Baylor absolutely needs to move into the pit of despair. There was nothing redeeming about the home loss whatsoever. Even with Texas granting them amazing field position on 2 muffed punts, they could only muster 6 points. Ouch.

Someone had to win the Toilet Bowl. Congrats on picking up a win, Iowa State! But I’m keeping them here because I think everyone should be able to beat the Pokes and this was close (as it should be).

I was going to write “someone call an ambulance for Oklahoma State” but actually I think we need a mortician. Where is OSU’s identity? At least they’re scoring now.

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Now let me know how I got it all wrong!

Man, how bout them vols finally showing up literally a third of the way into the season. We finally made serious strides in terms of consistency, but we better hope that trend continues as we get into the conference portion of the season. SCAR is turning into a massive swing game for us heading into the by week. If we keep trending this way and alabama keeps not getting much better we have the ability to make that November matchup with the dogs a sec east title match. I was doing the wedding thing so I’ll be spending at least most of today rewatching the game. But from the highlights I saw/heard sounds like Milton is still doing alright despite how quickly we vols can sour on someone (makes it all the more incredible that we honest to god started Garuntano for 4? years). Receivers are maybe catching balls more, but it sounds like that time on jugs occupied time that should have been used learning routes. I think our running game is our bread and butter this year (and to be fair we are always a run first team with the veer and shoot). And I personally think that we aren’t really using our best runner from the back field, Cam Seldon. Secondary will continue to struggle against teams that can throw, I just hope they actually tackle when presented the opportunity. Dline continues to look pretty good, but boy does our Oline worry me. Sacks, bad running lanes and procedure/holds are absolutely stifling for this team and we keep getting in our own damn way.

Anyway GBO, looking forward to seeing if any of yall have thoughts about this one.