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.
Neal Brown, West Virginia – The Mountaineers (2-3, 0-2) play host to Baylor: The Mountaineers will be missing several for the game against the Bears. Along with RB C.J. Donaldson (concussion), defensive back Charles Woods (knee) is out for “at least a week” Brown said. Tight end Mike O’Laughlin appears to have a knee injury and may be a gametime decision. Donaldson is this team’s leading rusher at 389 yards and 6.9 yards per carry. O’Laughlin is the leading pass catcher among tight ends.
Lance Leipold, Kansas – The No. 19 Jayhawks (5-0, 2-0) play at Oklahoma: The status of starting QB Jalon Daniels is up in the air for Saturday. He injured his shoulder Saturday against TCU in the 38-31. "It's a shoulder it’s still under evaluation. I'm sure the next whatever 48 hours will help us to go from there." Backup Jason Bean threw for 262 yards and two touchdowns. "Very, very impressed but again, not surprised. Because you're here all the time and we've talked about how well he's played. So that's exactly what I told him right before we went back out. I said you've played well, you've prepared well, you've handled the situation extremely well. Now go out and play. I didn’t see his numbers yet. But yeah, I thought he did a nice job."
Brent Venables, Oklahoma – The Sooners (3-2, 0-3): The Sooners play host to Kansas: While QB Dillon Gabriel is still in the concussion protocol and his status for Kansas is unclear, Venables assessed the historic 49-0 rout to Texas. "I think you hit it on the head. When you are a competitor and you are used to success, whether it is this game or any game, there is a standard of performance that you are used to fighting and competing for every day. When you come up short as a coach or team, it is incredibly disappointing as you would expect. Shocked? Nothing shocks me. This game will punish you when you don't do all kinds of different things."
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State – The No. 8 Cowboys (5-0, 2-0) play at TCU: Gundy assessed facing TCU’s explosive offense. “Well, this team’s good on offense. I mean, they’re throwing the deep ball really well. The quarterback has come into this own in the last three or four weeks. He’s experienced now, I think this is what, his third year maybe? He’s been around a while. Playing well. You know, they’re averaging 6.6 (yards per) rush. The running backs are averaging over eight yards a carry and then he’s throwing the deep ball really well. And he can run. I don’t know that we have maybe one or two guys on the field on defense that can catch him.
Chris Klieman, Kansas State – The No. 17 Wildcats (5-1, 3-0) have a bye: The Wildcats have won Big 12 games by scoring 41 and 10 points. Klieman is good with either. "It's fun to be able to have these team wins. Whether it's your offense, one week, defense, one week, a special teams play. And those kids care for each other and love each other in that locker room. And it's fun to be around those guys because it's a special group and they know that they have a chance to have a special season with the expectations that we have but we also know how hard it is. This could have come down and could have lost it same as the week before. It's just that's the way the Big 12 is right now."
Matt Campbell, Iowa State – The Cyclones (3-3, 0-3) play at Texas: Trying to find the right way to play is something that is escaping this team. “More inconsistency, I mean, of the whole operation,’’ Campbell said. “You’ve got some false starts in critical moments. Just young players that are playing inconsistently at times, and when all those things come together they create an inconsistent offense and that is what we are seeing. You still see some ‘A’ players making ‘A’ plays, but we are not as consistent as we need to be to win football games right now.”
Joey McGuire, Texas Tech – The Red Raiders (3-3, 1-2) have a bye: The QB situation for Oct. 22 against West Virginia is a bit clouded. Behren Morton played most of the game. Donovan Smith has had some success. Tyler Shough appears to be ready to return. "Well, I hope we get to play all three of them against West Virginia," McGuire said. "We've played all three quarterbacks this year. There's only been one game that we haven't played two quarterbacks."
Sonny Dykes, TCU – The No. 13 Horned Frogs (5-0, 2-0) play host to Oklahoma State: Wide receiver Quinton Johnston is having an All-Big 12 season. He caught 14 passes for 206 including the game winner against Kansas. "We had a plan from the end of the last game until now and that was to play fast," Johnston said. "As receivers, we've got to get the ball and get as many yards up the field. I wouldn't say that was the best of our ability, but we did enough to win.
"It's all a mindset. If you love football, you're going to go get it every single day."
Steve Sarkisian, Texas – The No. 22 Longhorns (4-2, 2-1) play host to Iowa State: While the 49-0 rout of Oklahoma felt great, the Longhorns know they will face a better defense in Iowa State. One that shut them down last year in Ames, 30-7 and is playing very well despite the 0-3 league record. But there is some confidence with the offense now that Quinn Ewers has returned. “From a team perspective, I think our players have a little better understanding of what we're trying to do and why we're trying to do what we're doing,” Sarkisian said. “Ultimately, I think it's lending itself to a little better execution, but those two things tied together, hopefully, we perform better than we did a year ago, and we need to. These guys are a very good defensive football team.''
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.
Neal Brown, West Virginia – The Mountaineers (2-3, 0-2) play host to Baylor: The Mountaineers will be missing several for the game against the Bears. Along with RB C.J. Donaldson (concussion), defensive back Charles Woods (knee) is out for “at least a week” Brown said. Tight end Mike O’Laughlin appears to have a knee injury and may be a gametime decision. Donaldson is this team’s leading rusher at 389 yards and 6.9 yards per carry. O’Laughlin is the leading pass catcher among tight ends.
Lance Leipold, Kansas – The No. 19 Jayhawks (5-0, 2-0) play at Oklahoma: The status of starting QB Jalon Daniels is up in the air for Saturday. He injured his shoulder Saturday against TCU in the 38-31. "It's a shoulder it’s still under evaluation. I'm sure the next whatever 48 hours will help us to go from there." Backup Jason Bean threw for 262 yards and two touchdowns. "Very, very impressed but again, not surprised. Because you're here all the time and we've talked about how well he's played. So that's exactly what I told him right before we went back out. I said you've played well, you've prepared well, you've handled the situation extremely well. Now go out and play. I didn’t see his numbers yet. But yeah, I thought he did a nice job."
Brent Venables, Oklahoma – The Sooners (3-2, 0-3): The Sooners play host to Kansas: While QB Dillon Gabriel is still in the concussion protocol and his status for Kansas is unclear, Venables assessed the historic 49-0 rout to Texas. "I think you hit it on the head. When you are a competitor and you are used to success, whether it is this game or any game, there is a standard of performance that you are used to fighting and competing for every day. When you come up short as a coach or team, it is incredibly disappointing as you would expect. Shocked? Nothing shocks me. This game will punish you when you don't do all kinds of different things."
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State – The No. 8 Cowboys (5-0, 2-0) play at TCU: Gundy assessed facing TCU’s explosive offense. “Well, this team’s good on offense. I mean, they’re throwing the deep ball really well. The quarterback has come into this own in the last three or four weeks. He’s experienced now, I think this is what, his third year maybe? He’s been around a while. Playing well. You know, they’re averaging 6.6 (yards per) rush. The running backs are averaging over eight yards a carry and then he’s throwing the deep ball really well. And he can run. I don’t know that we have maybe one or two guys on the field on defense that can catch him.
Chris Klieman, Kansas State – The No. 17 Wildcats (5-1, 3-0) have a bye: The Wildcats have won Big 12 games by scoring 41 and 10 points. Klieman is good with either. "It's fun to be able to have these team wins. Whether it's your offense, one week, defense, one week, a special teams play. And those kids care for each other and love each other in that locker room. And it's fun to be around those guys because it's a special group and they know that they have a chance to have a special season with the expectations that we have but we also know how hard it is. This could have come down and could have lost it same as the week before. It's just that's the way the Big 12 is right now."
Matt Campbell, Iowa State – The Cyclones (3-3, 0-3) play at Texas: Trying to find the right way to play is something that is escaping this team. “More inconsistency, I mean, of the whole operation,’’ Campbell said. “You’ve got some false starts in critical moments. Just young players that are playing inconsistently at times, and when all those things come together they create an inconsistent offense and that is what we are seeing. You still see some ‘A’ players making ‘A’ plays, but we are not as consistent as we need to be to win football games right now.”
Joey McGuire, Texas Tech – The Red Raiders (3-3, 1-2) have a bye: The QB situation for Oct. 22 against West Virginia is a bit clouded. Behren Morton played most of the game. Donovan Smith has had some success. Tyler Shough appears to be ready to return. "Well, I hope we get to play all three of them against West Virginia," McGuire said. "We've played all three quarterbacks this year. There's only been one game that we haven't played two quarterbacks."
Sonny Dykes, TCU – The No. 13 Horned Frogs (5-0, 2-0) play host to Oklahoma State: Wide receiver Quinton Johnston is having an All-Big 12 season. He caught 14 passes for 206 including the game winner against Kansas. "We had a plan from the end of the last game until now and that was to play fast," Johnston said. "As receivers, we've got to get the ball and get as many yards up the field. I wouldn't say that was the best of our ability, but we did enough to win.
"It's all a mindset. If you love football, you're going to go get it every single day."
Steve Sarkisian, Texas – The No. 22 Longhorns (4-2, 2-1) play host to Iowa State: While the 49-0 rout of Oklahoma felt great, the Longhorns know they will face a better defense in Iowa State. One that shut them down last year in Ames, 30-7 and is playing very well despite the 0-3 league record. But there is some confidence with the offense now that Quinn Ewers has returned. “From a team perspective, I think our players have a little better understanding of what we're trying to do and why we're trying to do what we're doing,” Sarkisian said. “Ultimately, I think it's lending itself to a little better execution, but those two things tied together, hopefully, we perform better than we did a year ago, and we need to. These guys are a very good defensive football team.''
