By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
Each week, Big 12 coaches have their weekly meetings with the media at their press conferences during the college football season. Baylor head coach Dave Aranda’s comments have already been posted. Rankings are from the AP Poll. Here are some highlights elsewhere in the league. Quotes and notes are taken from those pressers if not specified elsewhere. All games are Saturday unless otherwise noted.
Brent Venables, Oklahoma (5-3, 2-3) – The Sooners play host to Baylor: The Sooners maligned defense made progress in the win at Iowa State. “It's not an easy thing. You know, but our guys are smart,’’ Venables said. “They've got a lot of video evidence. What we've been able to do on the practice field, again, the improvements that they've made. I think that's where you can continue to have confidence in our belief, in our coaches, and our schemes. And good things will happen to those that attack, and that's what we've been trying to get our guys, is pulling through the knot hole when it comes to having the attack mindset all the time. Trust, and again [Iowa State] was just another step forward.”
Lance Leipold, Kansas (5-3, 2-3) – The Jayhawks play host to Oklahoma State: The Jayhawks started back in preparation for the Cowboys. “We practiced last night and moved around well you could see that,” Leipold said. “They're anxious to get back at it. So, all in all, I thought it was productive. But you'll never know until you kind of see how it plays out here the next month.’ QB Jalon Daniels, who missed the last two games with a shoulder injury, practiced as well.
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State (6-2, 3-2) – The No. 18 Cowboys play at Kansas: Gundy summed up the emotions following the stunning 48-0 loss at Kansas State. "You know, all these questions are good and they're fair, but guys, I've been doing this 18 years. We've won as many games as anybody in college football over the last 10 or 12 years at a very, very high level. We didn't play good. We didn't coach good. And they played really well for what they were trying to accomplish. Chris (Klieman) is a good guy, the coach. And like he said after the game to me, he said, 'I don't know we could have played a more perfect game against you all.' And I said, 'Well, you picked a shitty day to do it.'’
Chris Klieman, Kansas State (6-2, 4-1) – The No. 13 Wildcats play host to Texas: The evolvement of QB Will Howard since Adrian Martinez went down to injury has kept this team playing at a high level. He threw for 296 yards and four TDs in the 48-0 whitewashing of Oklahoma State. “Just his vision downfield, his pre-snap looks on things,’’ Klieman said. He sees the field. It's this, all that stuff has slowed down for him. And so he knows what he's getting at, trusting his reading and trusting his eyes. And then he just goes and plays fast and that's where I've seen the most growth is just how well he sees the field. And he's seen a lot of football. What's crazy is I don't know if you guys consider him a young kid or an old kid but he's seen a lot of football. And you can tell it's starting to slow down for him.”
Neal Brown, West Virginia (3-5, 1-4) – The Mountaineers play at Iowa State: The heat continues to be turned up following the 41-31 loss to TCU. “I’m proud of how they played,’’ Brown said. “We’re based on outcomes, and I get that. The outcome wasn’t what we wanted, but I’m proud of how they played. People can be upset with me, but they can’t question how those guys played today. People can be frustrated with me and it’s fine, but there shouldn’t be any ill-will with those kids today. They competed and they played."
Joey McGuire, Texas Tech (4-4, 2-3) – The Red Raiders play at TCU: With his QB situation in flux following a nightmare against Baylor (three QBs threw five INTS), McGuire still might be leaning to his freshman Behren Morton. “I think we started today and it’s probably going to be the same tomorrow that Behren [Morton] would take the [first-team] reps; you know, walk on the field first,” McGuire started. “One of his big strengths is how we can run our tempo. It fits him. He gets the ball out fast and he’s done that.
“I think [QBs] already know this… you can’t be the brand and have [being] competitive as part of your brand and who you are and whenever you come out of a game and different people struggle, not have other people competing for that job.”
Matt, Campbell, Iowa State (3-5, 0-5) – The Cyclones play host to West Virginia: The running game is really struggling. It averaged just 2.7 yards per game, while the offense is relying on the passing game too much. ISU has become predictable.
"Right now, it is not where we need it to be," Campbell said. "And it needs to be there for us to be successful offensively."
Sonny Dykes, TCU (8-0, 5-0) – The No. 7 Horned Frogs play host to Texas Tech: Following their 41-31 win over West Virginia, Dykes became the first coach in Big 12 history to begin his season 8-0. Since 2019, his teams at SMU and TCU have gone 29-2 through September and October. In November, his SMU teams went 4-8. Will the trend continue in Fort Worth. Time will tell.
Steve Sarkisian, Texas (5-3, 3-2) – The Longhorns play at Kansas State: Sark gave his assessment as his team enters the stretch run. “I feel good about our team. Like I said, I think that we played a lot of good football,’’ he said. “I feel like we've been a little unfortunate. When we haven't been at our best, it's become magnified to some degree and it’s hurt us. But I think that we played good football. I think that we've got a team that's committed for this final month of the season, but we have to be cautious not to look down the road. We got to focus on this game and we got to handle our business this week and it's going to be a heck of a game.”
Publisher
Each week, Big 12 coaches have their weekly meetings with the media at their press conferences during the college football season. Baylor head coach Dave Aranda’s comments have already been posted. Rankings are from the AP Poll. Here are some highlights elsewhere in the league. Quotes and notes are taken from those pressers if not specified elsewhere. All games are Saturday unless otherwise noted.
Brent Venables, Oklahoma (5-3, 2-3) – The Sooners play host to Baylor: The Sooners maligned defense made progress in the win at Iowa State. “It's not an easy thing. You know, but our guys are smart,’’ Venables said. “They've got a lot of video evidence. What we've been able to do on the practice field, again, the improvements that they've made. I think that's where you can continue to have confidence in our belief, in our coaches, and our schemes. And good things will happen to those that attack, and that's what we've been trying to get our guys, is pulling through the knot hole when it comes to having the attack mindset all the time. Trust, and again [Iowa State] was just another step forward.”
Lance Leipold, Kansas (5-3, 2-3) – The Jayhawks play host to Oklahoma State: The Jayhawks started back in preparation for the Cowboys. “We practiced last night and moved around well you could see that,” Leipold said. “They're anxious to get back at it. So, all in all, I thought it was productive. But you'll never know until you kind of see how it plays out here the next month.’ QB Jalon Daniels, who missed the last two games with a shoulder injury, practiced as well.
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State (6-2, 3-2) – The No. 18 Cowboys play at Kansas: Gundy summed up the emotions following the stunning 48-0 loss at Kansas State. "You know, all these questions are good and they're fair, but guys, I've been doing this 18 years. We've won as many games as anybody in college football over the last 10 or 12 years at a very, very high level. We didn't play good. We didn't coach good. And they played really well for what they were trying to accomplish. Chris (Klieman) is a good guy, the coach. And like he said after the game to me, he said, 'I don't know we could have played a more perfect game against you all.' And I said, 'Well, you picked a shitty day to do it.'’
Chris Klieman, Kansas State (6-2, 4-1) – The No. 13 Wildcats play host to Texas: The evolvement of QB Will Howard since Adrian Martinez went down to injury has kept this team playing at a high level. He threw for 296 yards and four TDs in the 48-0 whitewashing of Oklahoma State. “Just his vision downfield, his pre-snap looks on things,’’ Klieman said. He sees the field. It's this, all that stuff has slowed down for him. And so he knows what he's getting at, trusting his reading and trusting his eyes. And then he just goes and plays fast and that's where I've seen the most growth is just how well he sees the field. And he's seen a lot of football. What's crazy is I don't know if you guys consider him a young kid or an old kid but he's seen a lot of football. And you can tell it's starting to slow down for him.”
Neal Brown, West Virginia (3-5, 1-4) – The Mountaineers play at Iowa State: The heat continues to be turned up following the 41-31 loss to TCU. “I’m proud of how they played,’’ Brown said. “We’re based on outcomes, and I get that. The outcome wasn’t what we wanted, but I’m proud of how they played. People can be upset with me, but they can’t question how those guys played today. People can be frustrated with me and it’s fine, but there shouldn’t be any ill-will with those kids today. They competed and they played."
Joey McGuire, Texas Tech (4-4, 2-3) – The Red Raiders play at TCU: With his QB situation in flux following a nightmare against Baylor (three QBs threw five INTS), McGuire still might be leaning to his freshman Behren Morton. “I think we started today and it’s probably going to be the same tomorrow that Behren [Morton] would take the [first-team] reps; you know, walk on the field first,” McGuire started. “One of his big strengths is how we can run our tempo. It fits him. He gets the ball out fast and he’s done that.
“I think [QBs] already know this… you can’t be the brand and have [being] competitive as part of your brand and who you are and whenever you come out of a game and different people struggle, not have other people competing for that job.”
Matt, Campbell, Iowa State (3-5, 0-5) – The Cyclones play host to West Virginia: The running game is really struggling. It averaged just 2.7 yards per game, while the offense is relying on the passing game too much. ISU has become predictable.
"Right now, it is not where we need it to be," Campbell said. "And it needs to be there for us to be successful offensively."
Sonny Dykes, TCU (8-0, 5-0) – The No. 7 Horned Frogs play host to Texas Tech: Following their 41-31 win over West Virginia, Dykes became the first coach in Big 12 history to begin his season 8-0. Since 2019, his teams at SMU and TCU have gone 29-2 through September and October. In November, his SMU teams went 4-8. Will the trend continue in Fort Worth. Time will tell.
Steve Sarkisian, Texas (5-3, 3-2) – The Longhorns play at Kansas State: Sark gave his assessment as his team enters the stretch run. “I feel good about our team. Like I said, I think that we played a lot of good football,’’ he said. “I feel like we've been a little unfortunate. When we haven't been at our best, it's become magnified to some degree and it’s hurt us. But I think that we played good football. I think that we've got a team that's committed for this final month of the season, but we have to be cautious not to look down the road. We got to focus on this game and we got to handle our business this week and it's going to be a heck of a game.”
