Big 12 teams see early losses going into conference play

Daily Nebraskan

After an already topsy-turvy month of college football, some big-time football programs find themselves reeling from early losses.

For many teams in the Big 12 Conference, the time for playing warm-up games has come and gone, and conference play is right around the corner.

The Big 12 was able to showcase two of its better-known programs Saturday as Texas Tech tried to make it two-in-a-row against No. 2 Texas in front of a packed house at Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin. Highly touted as a potential shoot-out similar to the two teams' thrilling matchup last Halloween, the two offenses combined for just 13 points in the first half.

"It was one of the more physical games I've seen, so it was a really fun game to coach," said UT head coach Mack Brown during Monday's Big 12 teleconference.

But the second half brought more firepower as Tech quarterback Taylor Potts piled up yardage through the air. But his 420-yard, three-touchdown effort wasn't enough, and the Longhorns found themselves ahead 34-24 as the clock ran out on the Red Raiders' hopes of another upset.

"We're still inconsistent on offense, but we played a great second half," Brown said.

"We were really good on defense in the first half and didn't play as well in the second half, so we still haven't played near to the standard we want to," he said. "We still haven't played a whole game as a team yet, but the exciting thing is we're 3-0 and unhappy about where we need to be as a team."

Texas Tech isn't the only Big 12 team trying to bounce back from a tough weekend loss. In all, four schools dropped games on Saturday, including Tech's conference-opening loss. Kansas State, Baylor and Nebraska all lost to non-conference opponents, and only Baylor's was on its own turf.

Following an eight-point defeat to Connecticut at home, Baylor coach Art Briles hopes his Bears can bounce back against FCS foe Northwestern State before traveling to Ames, Iowa, to take on Iowa State for their first Big 12 game.

"You know, we better react with a lot of determination and will because that's the way we've got to play," Briles said. "We do understand that we played a good football team last Saturday, and it was just a situation where we didn't take care of business, and they got out of there with a ‘W.'"

In the Big 12 North, two teams found themselves in unfamiliar territory.

Colorado, trying to rebound from two bad losses against Colorado State and at Toledo in which they allowed a combined 77 points and more than 1,000 yards of total offense, was able to keep Wyoming off the board, defeating their neighbors to the north 24-0.

After taking care of business in the first two weeks of the season, Kansas quickly found their backs against a wall as Duke needed only two offensive plays to score the game's first touchdown.

"I thought our kids responded very well," said KU head coach Mark Mangino.

"They just stayed focused; no signs of panicking or worrying," Mangino said. "It's going to happen. You're going to get behind in games, and how you react to that is going to make a world of difference whether you have a chance to win or not, and I thought our kids handled it well."

Although the Jayhawks were able to turn the tide and eventually run away with the game, Mangino said his team still has plenty of work to do in order to play better football moving forward.

"I think on offense it is a very smart football team, and on defense we're becoming a smart football team," Mangino said. "I think you need to be a smart football team to have a chance to be a good football team, and we're moving in the right direction."

For Missouri coach Gary Pinkel, whose Tigers will visit Nevada this Friday in a nationally televised night game, playing smart is a must. This week begins an unorthodox stretch for Missouri, which, after Friday, will have an entire week off before hosting another ESPN-televised night game the following Thursday against Nebraska.

"You lose more games because of mental errors than any other reason," Pinkel said. "Those things happen for two reasons: One is you didn't prepare well enough, or two, you're not disciplined to maintain your focus under many different types of circumstances."

evancotten@dailynebraskan.com