Big 12 Conference Week 4 awards

By Staff     Sep 21, 2008

Week 4 has ended. The Big 12 Conference is 34-8 overall with one more weekend of games before conference play begins.It’s no secret the Big 12 is a passing conference, but looking at the national statistics paints a vivid picture of the elite class of the conference’s signal callers. Honestly, it’s rather comical when taking a look at the “passing offense” statistic for the entire nation, for example. Survey says?**1. Texas Tech (426.3 yards per game)** 2. Tulsa (416.7) **3. Missouri (404.3)** 4. Houston (399) **5. Kansas (354)** 6. BYU (340.5) **7. Oklahoma (339)** **8. Kansas State (307.7)**Five of the top eight – yikes.**On that note, Sam Houston, we have a problem**. Allowing plays like the below clip does nothing but help those statistics above. It made for a heck of a SportsCenter top play Saturday night. Golf clap (in the spirit of the United States finally winning the Ryder Cup) to Todd Reesing and Dezmon Briscoe for pulling off arguably the Big 12’s best play of the first four weeks.**Onto Big 12 Conference awards for Week 4**, followed by the Sorrentino Scale, which will rank each team in the conference.**Performer of the week: Colt McCoy, Texas** With four touchdowns against Rice, McCoy became the Longhorns’ all-time leader in TD passes with 62, passing current UT running backs coach Major Applewhite’s previous record of 60. On top of that, McCoy was also UT’s leading rusher with 83 yards and a separate score. He ended up with 412 total yards and five total scores.**Big 12 victory of the week: Colorado 17, No. 21 West Virginia 14 (OT)** Lot of talk surrounding these Big 12-Big East games. Don’t get me wrong, the match-ups are interesting, but let’s take a closer look:Then-No. 19 South Florida 37, Then-No. 13 Kansas 34 Connecticut 31, Baylor 28 Louisville 38, Kansas State 29South Florida (4-0), Connecticut (4-0) and Louisville (2-1) have the three best records in the Big East. If this were a true Big 12-Big East battle, you’d have Oklahoma at South Florida, Missouri at Connecticut, and Texas Tech at Louisville. Different outcomes? Likely.**Surprise of the week: The entire Missouri 42-21 victory over Buffalo** Chase Daniel passed for a career-high 439 yards and set a Big 12 record with 20 straight completions, while Jeremy Maclin hauled in 14 passes for 168 yards … and Buffalo somehow still hung around for three quarters.The reason: Missouri lost three fumbles and had two other special teams miscues, which led to two Buffalo touchdowns. If I’m MU coach Gary Pinkel, I’m irritated, but not livid. For the most part, fumbles and special teams screw-ups are easily correctable. That formula obviously won’t win many conference games, but expect the Tigers to correct those problems before Big 12 play.**Now onto the Sorrentino Scale**, typically a [Big 12 Spotlight][1] quick-hit feature of conference rankings, but it makes an appearance this week on Conference Chatter.1. Oklahoma (3-0): DeMarco Murray 46 rushes, 312, yards, 3 TD’s; Chris Brown 42-241-4. Ultra-balanced. 2. Missouri (4-0): Daniel a legitimate Heisman contender again. 3. Texas Tech (4-0): Red Raiders finally crack the Top 10 of the AP poll. 4. Texas (3-0): McCoy will need RB help once Big 12 play starts. 5. Kansas (3-1): Substitute McCoy’s name for Reesing in this spot. 6. Oklahoma State (3-0): Best ground game in conference, so far. 7. Colorado (3-0): Beating West Va. nice, but next three opponents: Vs. Florida State (in Jacksonville), vs. No. 7 Texas, then at No. 18 Kansas. 8. Nebraska (3-0): RB Marlon Lucky NFL-ready dual threat in backfield. 9. Baylor (2-2): Forced UConn to 13-for-23 passing for 125 yards and two INT’s. Backbreaker in 31-28 loss was 225 rushing yards and four TD’s allowed. 10. Kansas State (2-1): QB Josh Freeman needs to be team’s leader. 11. Iowa State (2-2): Need the bye week before facing Kansas. 12. Texas A&M (1-2): If can’t beat Army (0-3) next week, I give up.**Random shout-out of the week: NBC** Thank you for returning The Office for a fifth season. Can’t wait for the Season 5 opener on Thursday. The [promo looks hilarious][2].That’s all for now, friends. As always, discuss. [1]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/big_12/big_12_spotlight/ [2]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUrD7kjtBpI

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