Happy Halloween, everyone be safe tonight!
All the ingredients are in place for TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin to be a Heisman Trophy contender, writes Carlos Mendez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram. Gary Patterson, the Horned Frogs head coach, claims he's downplaying it to draw more attention to it but, quite frankly, Boykin will be the decider. His seven-touchdown game catapulted his name into the discussion, so if he continues to produce at a high level and TCU continues winning, he could emerge as a front runner for the award.
The lack of a championship game won't hurt the Big 12 when it comes to the College Football Playoff, writes Blair Kerkhoff of the Kansas City Star. It's been late losses by the Big 12's top team that has held the conference out of the national title conversation the past few seasons. I couldn't agree more with Kerkhoff. I just don't see a scenario where an undefeated Big 12 team gets left out of the top four, no matter what happens in other conferences.
Baylor's third down struggles have handicapped the Bears offense, writes John Werner of the Waco Tribune. As shocking as this seems, BU quarterback Bryce Petty is last in the Big 12 in third-down QBR at 26.4. Last season his 73.2 raw QBR on third down was fourth in the Big 12. It's another sign it's been a subpar senior season for Petty but the good news for Art Briles & Co. is Petty can rewrite the story of his senior season with a strong final stretch of the season.
Tom Keegan of KUsports.com has an under-the-radar candidate for Kansas' coaching vacancy in Georgia Southern coach Willie Fritz. A long-time coach at Central Missouri, Fritz has some Kansas ties and is in the midst of a solid season at Georgia Southern. While I still think Clint Bowen is the right choice to take over full time, add another name to the list of candidates to watch in Lawrence.
West Virginia's defensive turnaround has been built on good communication and trust, writes Mike Casazza of the Charleston Daily Mail. The Mountaineers' defense is much improved but we'll see how much it has improved against TCU, the nation's top scoring offense. I'm expecting a lot of points from both offenses on Saturday, so the key will be good defense in clutch moments (i.e. third down and red zone) and WVU defenders winning their share of the one-on-one battles on Saturday. If they win those battles, I like WVU's chances to win the game.