By KEVIN LONNQUIST
Publisher
Each Week, the Big 12 coaches meet with the media either through the Big 12 Conference Call or their own press conferences. Information is compiled through the Big 12 call or through the identified publications.
Charlie Strong, Texas: The Longhorns (1-4, 0-1) play Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl Saturday - The Austin American-Statesman’s Brian Davis reported Monday that Texas players have been feuding with each other over the last couple of weeks. Offensive lineman Sedrick Flowers went after a teammate. That was followed by junior safety Dylan Haines expressing displeasure with the way freshmen were preparing for games. “They just want to go out and play the game on Saturday,” Haines said. “They don’t want to put in the work on Sunday and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. You can just kind of go through the motions in practice, or you can go out there and practice. We’re trying to get where everyone — 100 percent of the people — on the team are just going out there stealing reps in practice. Just get as much done as you can.”….by now you’re aware that Texas freshman defensive back Kris Boyd has apologized for his tweet about wanting to transfer at the half of Saturday’s 50-7 loss at TCU.
Bob Stoops, Oklahoma: The No. 9/10 Sooners (4-0, 1-0) play Texas at the Cotton Bowl Saturday - At his weekly presser, Stoops addressed the number of hits quarterback Baker Mayfield has taken this year. "It's always a concern. You don't want your quarterback to ever be hit. When [West Virginia] blitzed as much as they did the other day, two things; a couple instances he [Mayfield] knows we don't have enough people there to block them. He's got to get rid of the ball. Some of it is on him. The other part, with him scrambling and moving around, it's going to happen on occasion. You just gotta try and limit it."…in light of the Kris Boyd incident, Stoops said he doesn’t mind his player using social media as long as it doesn’t including anything sensitive regarding the program.
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State: The No. 19/21 Cowboys (5-0, 2-0) play at West Virginia Saturday - Oklahoma State’s beleaguered running game should get a boost on Saturday. Gundy said both running backs Rennie Childs and Chris Carson, who missed last week’s game against Kansas State, should return. But quarterback Mason Rudolph’s 55 attempts were the fifth most in a game in school history. “I’m not comfortable with that thought with our personnel right now,” Gundy said as told by the Tulsa World. “If we have seven experienced offensive linemen up front and a two-year veteran at quarterback that had 20 games under his belt, with this group of receivers, I’d say ‘Just fire away.’ But we’re not really there.”
Bill Snyder, Kansas State: The Wildcats (3-1, 0-1) play host to TCU Saturday - When quarterback Joe Hubener went down to injury against Oklahoma State, wide receiver Kody Cook stepped in. Because there has been so much roster chaos to backups, Cooks took snaps during the week. He threw for 122 yards and rushed for 87 yards. He will continue to work out at wide receiver and quarterback but has his own injuries, Snyder said. “He adapted so very well,” Snyder said Monday on the Big 12 coaches conference call. “I was awfully proud of him. He had a short week of practice in that capacity. He has great recall and I thought he did a marvelous job of picking things up. He’s experienced a little bit of it in the past but it’s the recall that was impressive to me, the fact he could bring so many of those things back to reality and do it from a little different position.’’…Hubener could be back this week against the Horned Frogs.
Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia: The Mountaineers (3-1, 0-1) play host to Oklahoma State Saturday - Mountaineers quarterback Skyler Howard was his own worst enemy last Saturday at Oklahoma when he committed five turnovers. He threw three interceptions and committed two fumbles. That enabled the Sooners to pull away, 44-24. The Mountaineers face a pretty solid defensive front in the Cowboys. “We gave up seven sacks, two of them were on Skyler with the run-pass stuff,” Holgorsen told the Pittsburgh Tribune. “We did OK in the run game. The pass game's got to be a little better up front.’’
Kliff Kingsbury, Texas Tech: The Red Raiders (3-2, 0-2) play host to Iowa State Saturday - The Red Raiders went through a stretch of Arkansas, TCU and Baylor and went 1-2. Of course, they were a tipped pass away from being 2-1. That said, Kingsbury took some positives away from this brutal stretch. "If you were going to ask a lot of people outside of that building if we had a chance to be 4 and 2 with a win this week, most people would have probably not thought that possible. And so, had a tough game the week before. Baylor got after us, and so now let's worry about us and try to get things going for these last seven."…QB Patrick Mahomes (knee) is still playing through the injury. Kingsbury believes Mahomes should be close to 100 percent Saturday.
Paul Rhoads, Iowa State: The Cyclones (2-2, 1-0) play at Texas Tech Saturday – The game against the Red Raiders marks the first of three consecutive games against three of the game’s top offenses. They next play TCU and Baylor. “Every coach, every player likes a challenge and this will be a great one Saturday afternoon,” Rhoads told the Ames Tribune. The Cyclones have rushed for 200 yards in each of the last two games against Toledo and Kansas. Rhoads didn’t want to proclaim that a trend has started for his program. He was encouraged. There could be an opportunity to make it three consecutive games with big rushing numbers as Texas Tech has struggled stopping the run.
Gary Patterson, TCU: The No. 2/2 Horned Frogs (5-0, 2-0) play at Kansas State Saturday – TCU has played 13 different players who have made their first career start this year. And despite the lack of resistance Texas showed, head coach Gary Patterson understands there’s a learning curve. “They’ve played more snaps, so obviously they understand a little bit more what’s going on,” Patterson said Monday during the Big 12 coaches conference call. “Young guys are always deep into it. It always takes them a while to get out of all the fog. I think we’re better now than we were.”….WR Kolby Listenbee did not play against Texas marking the second consecutive game he has missed. It’s unclear if he will play at Kansas State.
Publisher
Each Week, the Big 12 coaches meet with the media either through the Big 12 Conference Call or their own press conferences. Information is compiled through the Big 12 call or through the identified publications.
Charlie Strong, Texas: The Longhorns (1-4, 0-1) play Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl Saturday - The Austin American-Statesman’s Brian Davis reported Monday that Texas players have been feuding with each other over the last couple of weeks. Offensive lineman Sedrick Flowers went after a teammate. That was followed by junior safety Dylan Haines expressing displeasure with the way freshmen were preparing for games. “They just want to go out and play the game on Saturday,” Haines said. “They don’t want to put in the work on Sunday and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. You can just kind of go through the motions in practice, or you can go out there and practice. We’re trying to get where everyone — 100 percent of the people — on the team are just going out there stealing reps in practice. Just get as much done as you can.”….by now you’re aware that Texas freshman defensive back Kris Boyd has apologized for his tweet about wanting to transfer at the half of Saturday’s 50-7 loss at TCU.
Bob Stoops, Oklahoma: The No. 9/10 Sooners (4-0, 1-0) play Texas at the Cotton Bowl Saturday - At his weekly presser, Stoops addressed the number of hits quarterback Baker Mayfield has taken this year. "It's always a concern. You don't want your quarterback to ever be hit. When [West Virginia] blitzed as much as they did the other day, two things; a couple instances he [Mayfield] knows we don't have enough people there to block them. He's got to get rid of the ball. Some of it is on him. The other part, with him scrambling and moving around, it's going to happen on occasion. You just gotta try and limit it."…in light of the Kris Boyd incident, Stoops said he doesn’t mind his player using social media as long as it doesn’t including anything sensitive regarding the program.
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State: The No. 19/21 Cowboys (5-0, 2-0) play at West Virginia Saturday - Oklahoma State’s beleaguered running game should get a boost on Saturday. Gundy said both running backs Rennie Childs and Chris Carson, who missed last week’s game against Kansas State, should return. But quarterback Mason Rudolph’s 55 attempts were the fifth most in a game in school history. “I’m not comfortable with that thought with our personnel right now,” Gundy said as told by the Tulsa World. “If we have seven experienced offensive linemen up front and a two-year veteran at quarterback that had 20 games under his belt, with this group of receivers, I’d say ‘Just fire away.’ But we’re not really there.”
Bill Snyder, Kansas State: The Wildcats (3-1, 0-1) play host to TCU Saturday - When quarterback Joe Hubener went down to injury against Oklahoma State, wide receiver Kody Cook stepped in. Because there has been so much roster chaos to backups, Cooks took snaps during the week. He threw for 122 yards and rushed for 87 yards. He will continue to work out at wide receiver and quarterback but has his own injuries, Snyder said. “He adapted so very well,” Snyder said Monday on the Big 12 coaches conference call. “I was awfully proud of him. He had a short week of practice in that capacity. He has great recall and I thought he did a marvelous job of picking things up. He’s experienced a little bit of it in the past but it’s the recall that was impressive to me, the fact he could bring so many of those things back to reality and do it from a little different position.’’…Hubener could be back this week against the Horned Frogs.
Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia: The Mountaineers (3-1, 0-1) play host to Oklahoma State Saturday - Mountaineers quarterback Skyler Howard was his own worst enemy last Saturday at Oklahoma when he committed five turnovers. He threw three interceptions and committed two fumbles. That enabled the Sooners to pull away, 44-24. The Mountaineers face a pretty solid defensive front in the Cowboys. “We gave up seven sacks, two of them were on Skyler with the run-pass stuff,” Holgorsen told the Pittsburgh Tribune. “We did OK in the run game. The pass game's got to be a little better up front.’’
Kliff Kingsbury, Texas Tech: The Red Raiders (3-2, 0-2) play host to Iowa State Saturday - The Red Raiders went through a stretch of Arkansas, TCU and Baylor and went 1-2. Of course, they were a tipped pass away from being 2-1. That said, Kingsbury took some positives away from this brutal stretch. "If you were going to ask a lot of people outside of that building if we had a chance to be 4 and 2 with a win this week, most people would have probably not thought that possible. And so, had a tough game the week before. Baylor got after us, and so now let's worry about us and try to get things going for these last seven."…QB Patrick Mahomes (knee) is still playing through the injury. Kingsbury believes Mahomes should be close to 100 percent Saturday.
Paul Rhoads, Iowa State: The Cyclones (2-2, 1-0) play at Texas Tech Saturday – The game against the Red Raiders marks the first of three consecutive games against three of the game’s top offenses. They next play TCU and Baylor. “Every coach, every player likes a challenge and this will be a great one Saturday afternoon,” Rhoads told the Ames Tribune. The Cyclones have rushed for 200 yards in each of the last two games against Toledo and Kansas. Rhoads didn’t want to proclaim that a trend has started for his program. He was encouraged. There could be an opportunity to make it three consecutive games with big rushing numbers as Texas Tech has struggled stopping the run.
Gary Patterson, TCU: The No. 2/2 Horned Frogs (5-0, 2-0) play at Kansas State Saturday – TCU has played 13 different players who have made their first career start this year. And despite the lack of resistance Texas showed, head coach Gary Patterson understands there’s a learning curve. “They’ve played more snaps, so obviously they understand a little bit more what’s going on,” Patterson said Monday during the Big 12 coaches conference call. “Young guys are always deep into it. It always takes them a while to get out of all the fog. I think we’re better now than we were.”….WR Kolby Listenbee did not play against Texas marking the second consecutive game he has missed. It’s unclear if he will play at Kansas State.
