It has been a wild week in the local sports world, from Charlie Weis getting fired to the Royals making it to and advancing in the playoffs.
Will any of Saturday’s games live up to those standards? Probably not. But our staffers are here to predict this week’s Big 12 games, including Clint Bowen’s head-coaching debut for Kansas at West Virginia, and share their memories of the craziest games they have attended.
WEEK 5 MATCHUPS
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Kansas at West Virginia
Iowa State at Oklahoma State
Baylor at Texas
Oklahoma at TCU
Texas Tech at Kansas State
Alabama at Ole Miss
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
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The Kansas City Royals somehow came back from a four-run, late-inning deficit to beat the Oakland Athletics 9-8 in 12 innings and with the American League Wild Card on Tuesday. What is the craziest game (any sport) you have ever attended in some capacity — as a fan or sports writer?
*Overall: 19-5 Last week: 5-1*
**West Virginia 42**, Kansas 14
**Oklahoma State 40**, Iowa State 31
**Baylor 35**, Texas 17
**Oklahoma 45**, TCU 42
**Kansas State 38**, Texas Tech 28
**Ole Miss 24**, Alabama 21
**Answer:** Basketball, James Madison at Navy, Feb. 5, 1987: James Madison hits a shot to go up 71-70 with 2 second left. After a timeout, Navy inbounds the ball to 7-foot-1 David Robinson near half court. Robinson turns and banks in a 40-foot 3-pointer. Navy wins 73-71. Best finish to a game I’ve ever seen live.
*Overall: 19-5 Last week: 5-1*
**West Virginia 49**, Kansas 10
**Oklahoma State 38**, Iowa State 28
**Baylor 42**, Texas 21
**Oklahoma 24**, TCU 21
**Kansas State 45**, Texas Tech 42
**Alabama 21**, Ole Miss 13
**Answer**: The craziest game I have ever attended was Iowa State vs. Kansas on Feb. 19, 2005, when Cyclones guard Curtis Stinson hit a game-winner in overtime to hand the Jayhawks a rare loss in Allen Fieldhouse. The Cyclones looked to have the game in hand when they had a nine-point lead with less than four minutes to play in regulation, but Keith Langford hit a runner in the lane with six seconds left to force overtime. What made that day more memorable was that I probably should have never went to the game in the first place since I had a 102-degree fever. There haven’t been many more times that I’ve heard Allen Fieldhouse as loud as it was when Langford tied it. While I was happy to see more basketball, I was sweating buckets and felt like my head was about to explode. However, as hot as I felt, J.R. Giddens was equally as cold, shooting 1-for-11 from 3-point range.
*Overall: 18-6 Last week: 5-1*
**West Virginia 42**, Kansas 10
**Oklahoma State 38**, Iowa State 17
**Baylor 31**, Texas 13
**Oklahoma 38**, TCU 21
**Kansas State 35**, Texas Tech 21
**Alabama 31**, Ole Miss 21
**Answer**: The Los Angeles Dodgers and Montreal Expos played a 21-inning game in Montreal. We had an a.m. paper and a p.m. paper at the Orange County Register so I filed the story, went straight to the airport to fly to New York and took a cab from LaGuardia Airport to Manhattan to cover the Bart Giamatti press conference announcing the lifetime ban of Pete Rose. As far as a crazy moment, it would be Kirk Gibson’s pinch-hit home run in the 1988 World Series. When he arrived at the ballpark, he could barely walk. The only question when he left was whether he could walk on water.
*Overall: 18-6 Last week: 6-0*
**West Virginia 28**, Kansas 21
**Oklahoma State 45,** Iowa State 3
**Baylor 45**, Texas 28
**Oklahoma 102**, TCU 14
**Kansas State 35**, Texas Tech 28
**Alabama 55**, Ole Miss 52
**Answer**: The 1993 Kansas Class 6A state championship football game between Lawrence High and Derby. LHS was manhandled, 23-0, in the first half and held under 30 total yards before rallying — behind the likes of Brad Romme and Jason Thoren — for a 27-23 victory to run their consecutive-state-title streak to five years and their overall winning streak to a mind-boggling 34 games.
*Overall: 18-6 Last week: 3-3*
**West Virginia 36**, Kansas 7
**Oklahoma State 45**, Iowa State 24
**Baylor 39**, Texas 17
**TCU 31**, Oklahoma 28
**Kansas State 44**, Texas Tech 20
**Ole Miss 28**, Alabama 23
**Answer**: Game 4 of the 2013 ALDS between Detroit Tigers and Oakland A’s. On the brink of elimination, Max Scherzer got into and out of a no outs, bases loaded jam with a one-run lead in the 8th inning to keep the Tigers’ season alive. Unbelievable atmosphere.
*Overall: 17-7 Last week: 5-1*
**West Virginia 38**, Kansas 20
**Oklahoma State 31**, Iowa State 27
**Baylor 45**, Texas 27
**Oklahoma 24**, TCU 20
**Kansas State 27**, Texas Tech 26
**Alabama 31**, Ole Miss 28
**Answer**: I was lucky enough to be at Kauffman Stadium for the insanity. When Ventura came in for Shields and surrendered a three-run homer in the sixth the life got sucked out of the stadium. Then the A’s scored twice more before the Royals could even get out of the inning — a real kick to the extremities. That 7-3 score seemed insurmountable for a team that doesn’t exactly slug. Amazingly, the Royals revived the thousands of long-suffering supporters with a three-run eighth, and rode that wave of holy-crap-we’re-still-in-this to tie it in the ninth and win it in the 12th — after falling behind AGAIN. It was bonkers. Instant after-party in the stands. I seriously doubt I’ll ever see/experience anything like that again.
*Overall: 17-7 Last week: 5-1*
**West Virginia 35**, Kansas 21
**Iowa State 24**, Oklahoma State 23
**Baylor 40**, Texas 15
**Oklahoma 23**, TCU 21
**Kansas State 33**, Texas Tech 20
**Alabama 17**, Ole Miss 14
**Answer**: 2008 Border War football game: KU up 26-10 in the third after heroics by Stuckey and a safety in the first half. Mizzou storms back, takes lead with 6:52 left in the fourth. Touchdowns traded, then Reesing-to-Meier, THEN game-tying kick blocked. Whew.
*Overall: 16-8 Last week: 5-1*
**West Virginia 31**, Kansas 13
**Oklahoma State 38**, Iowa State 20
**Baylor 40**, Texas 20
**Oklahoma 33**, TCU 19
**Kansas State 35**, Texas Tech 24
**Alabama 31**, Ole Miss 23
**Answer**: I was there. And I can’t responsibly say another game. It was beyond incredible. But if I’m handing out an honorable mention nod I think I’d go with any of KU basketball’s final five games in their run to the title game in 2012. All very good games. All very memorable.
*Overall: 16-8 Last week: 5-1*
**West Virginia 51**, KU 14
**Oklahoma State 35**, Iowa State 20
**Baylor 31**, Texas 24
**Oklahoma 24**, TCU 21
**Kansas State 37**, Texas Tech 13
**Alabama 45**, Ole Miss 17
**Answer**: Craziest game I’ve attended: I’ll list a couple. The first is the 1988 NCAA championship basketball game in which KU beat Oklahoma 83-79. It was tied 50-50 at halftime in the 50th anniversary game in Kemper Arena. I remember walking off press row at halftime shaking my head in amazement. Also the 1983 baseball all star game in which Fred Lynn hit a grand slam in the third inning and the fans at Chicago’s Comiskey Park treated the AL team like their own White Sox, cheering wildly and shaking the old stadium. The AL used a crazy third inning to win, 13-3. You had to be there to appreciate how crazy it was in Comiskey. … Another was the KU-Missouri basketball game in which KU battled back from a 19-point deficit in Allen to win in overtime. That was the loudest I’ve ever heard an arena. It was an impossible comeback. It really was.
*Overall: 16-8 Last week: 5-1*
**West Virginia 42**, Kansas 7
**Oklahoma State 35**, Iowa State 24
**Baylor 41**, Texas 17
**Oklahoma 28**, TCU 17
**Kansas State 35**, Texas Tech 27
**Alabama 34**, Ole Miss 24
**Answer**: 1986 NCAA regional basketball semifinal at Kemper Arena. Kansas defeated Michigan State, 96-86 in overtime, in a game remembered in part because of a clock malfunction.
