THIS IS A WEEKLY COLUMN WHERE WE GIVE OUT AWARDS TO THE BEST (AND WORST) PERFORMANCES OF THE WEEK IN THE BIG 12.
Eric Taylor Coach of the Week – Dana Holgorsen (West Virginia)
West Virginia is good, you guys. After starting the year as an afterthought in the Big 12, West Virginia has quietly climbed their way into the AP top 10. The Mountaineers outplayed TCU in every aspect of Saturday’s 34-10 win in Morgantown. Holgorsen took advantage of TCU’s porous front seven dialing up the run 48 times for 158 yards. West Virginia will not have much time to celebrate the win as they travel to Stillwater to face an Oklahoma State team that is riding a three-game winning streak.
Mike Leach Offensive Player of the Week – Patrick Mahomes (QB- Texas Tech)
The nation’s leading passer was nothing less than spectacular this weekend. Mahomes set NCAA single-game records for passing yards (734) and total offensive yards (819) in the Red Raiders 66-59 loss to Oklahoma. He completed 52 of his 88 passes. To put this workload into perspective, Mahomes threw four more passes than Clayton Kershaw threw pitches in a seven-inning outing in game 2 of the NLCS. Mahomes did everything he could to put his team in a position to win, but unfortunately, his defense had other ideas.
Brian Bosworth Defensive Player of the Week – Fish Smithson (S-Kansas)
Smithson seemed to be in the right place at the right time every time his team needed him against Oklahoma State. He tallied 16 tackles (14 solo), a sack and a fumble recovery, and was a major reason why his team hung around as long as they did. It’s hard to stand out when you play on one of the worst teams in the country, but Smithson did just that on Saturday.
J.D. McCoy Freshman of the Week – Justice Hill (RB-Oklahoma State)
This is Hill’s second freshman of the week award this season. He carried the ball 22 times for 162 yards and a touchdown in the Pokes 44-20 win over Kansas. A consistent running gain is the one thing that has been missing from the Cowboys’ offensive arsenal the last few years, and it appears they have finally found their feature back.
Kentucky Deluxe Bottom Shelf Performance of the Week – Texas Tech Defense
Tech’s defense narrowly beat out Oklahoma’s defense for this award. The Red Raiders allowed 854 yards and 66 points while failing to force a single turnover. Oklahoma scored a touchdown on each of their last six possessions, including every single drive in the second half. Tech took a 24-23 lead with 37 seconds left in the first half. The Red Raiders defense responded by allowing Oklahoma to go 75 yards in 20 seconds for a touchdown. Joe Mixon caught 4 passes out of the backfield and scored touchdowns on 3 of them. They couldn’t bother to tackle him 50% of the time. I could keep going, but you get the point.
The Big 12 has been known for lackluster defense the last few years, but this Tech team has taken it to a whole new level. I was texting my cousin who graduated from Tech throughout the game and he summed up their defense pretty well, “This is a whole new level of terrible defense. Might as well just add 7 points for the other team and take 60 seconds off the clock every time they take the field.” Yup.
That wraps up this week’s awards. Tune in next week to see who brought home the hardware that weekend.