Texas Bowl Weekend Games November 14th

Congratulations to The Naval Academy who accepted an invitation to The Texas Bowl last Sunday. Navy defeated Notre Dame 23-21 to earn their 7th win of the season. As for Navy’s Big 12 opposition in The Texas Bowl, that’s anyone’s guess at this point.

Big 12 This Week November 14th

(9-0) #3 Texas @ (4-5) Baylor

The second-ranked Texas Longhorns enter the homestretch of the 2009 regular season by heading to Waco this Saturday to tangle with the Baylor Bears in Big 12 Conference action.
Mack Brown's Texas club is 9-0 and in the driver's seat with respect to the Big 12 South Division, checking in at 5-0 with Oklahoma State right behind at 4-1. The Longhorns are coming off a 35-3 pasting of UCF, marking the third time this season they have allowed fewer than 10 points in a game. Going a bit deeper, Texas has held seven of its nine opponents to 14 points or less, including each of the last six. Win out, which includes the Big 12 title tilt, and the 'Horns will likely meet the SEC champ (either Florida or Alabama) in the BCS National Championship Game.

Baylor is a game below .500 on the year at 4-5, and the Bears have won just one of their five leagues games thus far. Coach Art Briles' team did manage to pick up its biggest win of the year last week, however, knocking off Missouri in Columbia, 40-32. The victory put the brakes on a four-game slide and leaves the Bears just two games shy of earning bowl eligibility. It was BU's first win over Missouri as Big 12 foes, and it also snapped the Bears' 11-game losing streak in conference road games.

This is the 99th meeting between these two Lone Star State institutions, with Texas leading the series, 72-22-4. The Longhorns won last year's clash, 45-21, and have won 11 in a row over the Bears. Baylor's last win in the series was a 23-21 decision in Waco on November 1, 1997.

(5-4) Missouri @ (6-4) Kansas State

The Kansas State Wildcats will try to wrap up a perfect home campaign and in the process remain atop the North Division standings, as they host the Missouri Tigers in Big 12 play this weekend at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

The Wildcats were an afterthought in the North Division title race, but coming down the stretch they hold a half-game lead over Nebraska at 4-2. KSU faces Nebraska in its regular season finale next weekend, making this game versus Missouri all that much more important. The Wildcats ran their home mark to 5-0 last weekend, as they picked up a 17-10 victory over rival Kansas. It was the third win in the last four games for KSU, which is now bowl eligible at 6-4.

As for Missouri, they won the last two North Division titles, but a three- peat is now out of the question with a 1-4 league ledger. The Tigers may have hit rock bottom last weekend, when the team suffered a shocking 40-32 loss to a struggling Baylor club. The Tigers are fading away themselves, losing four of their last five games, and their postseason aspirations are hanging by a thread.

Missouri had a big letdown on the defensive side of the ball last weekend, as it surrendered 465 total yards and five touchdowns to a struggling Baylor offense. The defense was exploited for 427 yards and three scores on 32-of-43 pass attempts and failed to come up with a single turnover.

Missouri leads the head-to-head series with KSU, 58-31-5, and it has won the past three encounters, including a 41-24 victory in Columbia last season.

(3-6) Colorado @ (5-5) Iowa State

The Iowa State Cyclones will try to make themselves eligible for the postseason with a win this weekend, as they entertain the Colorado Buffaloes in a Big 12 matchup at Jack Trice Stadium.
The Cyclones have already overachieved this season, as their five wins are the program's most since going 7-5 in 2005. That was also the last time ISU participated in a bowl game and it now has a chance to get back to the postseason with a victory in one of its final two games. The Cyclones have failed in their two prior attempts to secure the all important sixth win of a campaign, as they were defeated by Texas A&M (35-10) and most recently nationally-ranked Oklahoma State (34-8) this past weekend.

As for the Buffs, they kept their slim postseason hopes alive with a narrow 35-34 win over Texas A&M this past weekend. The win snapped a two-game slide and pushed Colorado to 3-6 overall, meaning it would have to win its last three games in order to become eligible for a bowl. Two of the team's final three games are on the road and that is a problem for the Buffs, who are 0-4 on foreign soil this season.

Colorado holds a commanding 48-14-1 advantage in the all-time rivalry with ISU and that takes into account a 28-24 victory in last season's meeting in Boulder.

(6-3) Nebraska @ (5-4) Kansas

Nebraska has won its last two games to move to 6-3 overall, including 3-2 in league action. Last weekend's 10-3 triumph over Oklahoma was particularly impressive, as limiting the Sooners to three points in four quarters of football seems a near impossibility. The remaining schedule is quite favorable for head coach Bo Pelini and his Huskers, who have a chance to win nine games.

Nebraska has been one of the nation's premier defensive teams this season, and the effort against Oklahoma was tremendous. Sure, the Huskers did allow 325 total yards in the contest, including 245 yards through the air, but they came up with a staggering total of five interceptions and permitted fewer than half of the passes attempted by Oklahoma to be completed. The fact that opponents are only scoring 10.3 ppg against Nebraska is a telling statistic for a defense that permits only 274.0 total ypg. Stopping the run has clearly been a strength of the unit, as it yields a mere 94.4 ypg at a clip of 2.7 yards per rushing attempt. There have been 18 takeaways registered, including 12 interceptions, and 27 sacks have been posted. There are many standout performers on defense for Nebraska, but Jared Crick and Ndamukong Suh are the stars. Su may be the best defensive lineman in the nation, and he has 13 TFLs, five sacks, 17 hurries and three blocked kicks to his credit. As for Crick, who benefits from Su's presence, he leads the team in tackles (57), TFLs (14) and sacks (nine).

As for Kansas, it opened the season with five consecutive victories to generate excitement amongst its fan base. Unfortunately, four straight defeats since that point have silenced the buzz. The most recent setback occurred last weekend in a 17-10 final against rival Kansas State.

Nebraska beat Kansas, 45-35, last season to extend its dominant series advantage over the Jayhawks to 89-23-3.

(5-4) Texas A&M @ (5-4) Oklahoma

Unranked for the first time since 2005, the Oklahoma Sooners go in search of that elusive sixth win that would make them eligible for a bowl game. That quest continues this weekend when coach Bob Stoops' team plays host to the Aggies of Texas A&M at Memorial Stadium in Norman.

A season that started with so much promise has turned into a nightmare for the Sooners as they have dropped four of their nine games, including a 10-3 decision to rival Nebraska last Saturday. It was the first time since a 29-0 loss to Texas A&M back in 1998 that Oklahoma failed to score a touchdown.

The Aggies have had their ups and downs this season as well, opening the year with three straight wins before suffering through a three-game slide. The team rebounded to post back-to-back wins over Texas Tech and Iowa State, but a heartbreaking 35-34 loss to Colorado last Saturday saddled the team with its fourth loss of the campaign. Like Oklahoma, A&M also needs a win to gain bowl eligibility, and with bouts against the Sooners, Baylor and Texas left on the docket, it won't be easy.

Oklahoma owns a 17-10 lead in the all-time series with Texas A&M, and the Sooners have won six straight over the Aggies and nine of the last 10. Last year's encounter wound up in favor of OU, 66-28.

(6-3) Texas Tech @ (7-2) #19 Oklahoma State

Texas Tech has won four of its last five games to move to 6-3 overall and 3-2 in Big 12 play. The Red Raiders have been idle for two weeks, as they were last in action on Halloween when they knocked off Kansas by a 42-21 final. While Mike Leach and his Texas Tech squad are already eligible for a bowl game, they are just 1-2 on the road this season and need a victory over OSU to improve their postseason prospects.

Oklahoma State enters this contest with a 7-2 overall record, including a 4-1 mark against Big 12 foes. The Cowboys have won six of their last seven outings, including a 34-8 romp over Iowa State last weekend. In four of the seven wins thus far, Oklahoma State has allowed 10 or fewer points.

The Cowboys are coming off the first game in which they knew Bryant would not be back, running for a season-high 331 yards in a 34-8 win over Iowa State last Saturday.Oklahoma State has won the Big 12 rushing title the last three seasons, with Hunter gaining a league-best 1,555 yards in 2008, and they're first this year at 196.0 per game.

Texas Tech owns a 21-12-3 edge in the all-time series with Oklahoma State, including a 56-20 romp over the Cowboys last season.

Navy this Week

(6-3) Delaware @ (7-3) Navy

Two straight wins at Notre Dame for the Midshipmen means another winning season and a trip to Houston for the Texas Bowl. Navy always overachieves. This is the program that does more with less than any other Division One outfit. Ken Niumatalolo is proving to be just as good a coach as Paul Johnson, and the college football world knows just how good Georgia Tech’s coach is. Delaware is a 1-AA power. The Blue Hens produced a #1 draft pick at QB two years ago in Joe Flacco. This year they boast Penn State QB transfer Pat Devlin.