College Confidential

OU's Thompson pins and punches TCU's Maponga

Oklahoma left tackle Tyrus Thompson drew a 15-yard penalty for a personal foul during the second quarter of today's TCU-Oklahoma game in Fort Worth. But he clearly deserved to be ejected, based on NCAA rules, for pinning and punching TCU defensive end Stansly Maponga. That is clear on this video, distributed by @sbnation. It will be interesting to see how the Big 12 addresses the situation going forward.

See the video here.

 

_ Jimmy Burch

Where is TCU going bowling? My guess is back to San Diego or Houston but final week could alter destination for many

So where is TCU headed bowling? Wish I could tell you. Too much is still riding on the outcome of the final week of games, especially the Horned Frogs’ regular-season finale against No. 11 Oklahoma at 11 a.m. Saturday at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
The outcome could affect where the Horned Frogs (7-4, 4-4 in the Big 12) are headed in the postseason. If TCU upsets the Sooners, and incidentally, wins its first Big 12 game at home, Oklahoma's hopes of earning a BCS bowl berth would be dashed. The Sooners (9-2, 7-1) could still win the Big 12 title and earn a Fiesta Bowl appearance with a win and a No. 6 Kansas State loss to No. 18 Texas. If Oklahoma loses, then they’ll likely play in the Cotton Bowl.
If the Frogs lose to Oklahoma, they appear headed to the Holiday Bowl in San Diego. That's if San Diego isn't sick of TCU. The Frogs have played in three Poinsettia Bowls, also in San Diego, since 2006, including last year. The Meineke Car Care Bowl in Houston would likely be attracted to TCU, expecting more Frogs fans to travel to Reliant Stadium for the Dec. 28 game against a Big 10 team. The Frogs have played three bowls in Houston since 2001, the last coming in 2007.
Of course, more than conference finish comes into play when bowl representatives are looking to fill the matchups. If TCU wins Saturday, then the Frogs would finish ahead of Texas Tech (7-5, 4-5) and would seem to be in line for the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl in Tempe, Arizona. And if Baylor wins its third consecutive game by beating Oklahoma State Saturday then the Bears would potentially finish in a four-way tie with TCU, Tech, and West Virginia at 4-5. If that happens, then all bets are off on bowl positioning, at least for the middle-tier bowls.
The bowl matchups will be announced Dec. 2.

Here’s how I project the Big 12 standings finishing, with the favored team (Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and West Virginia) winning Saturday, with bowl destinations and bowl payout (per team) for each bowl:

	Projected standings	Projected bowl	Payout per team (in millions)
Kansas State	11-1, 8-1	BCS Fiesta (Glendale, Ariz.)	$17
Oklahoma	10-2, 8-1	BCS Sugar (New Orleans)	$17
Oklahoma St.	8-4, 6-3	Cotton (Arlington, Tex.)	$3.625
Texas	8-4, 5-4	Alamo (San Antonio, Tex.)	$3.175
Texas Tech	7-5, 4-5	Buffalo Wild Wings (Tempe, Ariz.)	$3.350
TCU	7-5, 4-5	Holiday (San Diego, Calif.)	$2.075
West Virginia	7-5, 4-5	Pinstripe (New York City)	$1.8
Iowa State	6-6, 3-6	Heart of Dallas (Cotton Bowl)	$1.1
Baylor	6-6, 3-6	Meineke Car Care (Houston)	$1.7
Kansas	1-11, 0-9

-- Stefan Stevenson
@FollowtheFrogs 

TCU's 2013 football schedule released

The Big 12 Conference released its 2013 football schedule Tuesday.
TCU opens against LSU in the Cowboys Stadium Classic in Arlington at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 31 on ESPN. The rest of the times have not been set. The Horned Frogs will play six games at Amon G. Carter, including the home opener against Southeastern Louisiana Sept. 7. TCU opens Big 12 play at Texas Tech the following week. The Frogs must travel to Oklahoma State for the second consecutive season because of a previous agreement with Texas A&M before the Aggies left for the Southeastern Conference.

Here’s TCU's 2013 schedule:
Aug. 31 LSU#
Sept. 7 Southeastern Louisiana
Sept. 14 at Texas Tech*
Sept. 21 Bye
Sept. 28 SMU
Oct. 5 at Oklahoma*
Oct. 12 Kansas*
Oct. 19 at Oklahoma State*
Oct. 26 Texas*
Nov. 2 West Virginia*
Nov. 9 at Iowa State*
Nov. 16 at Kansas State*
Nov. 23 Bye
Nov. 30 Baylor*
* -- Big 12 game
# -- Cowboys Stadium in Arlington

Air Force accepts bid to 2012 Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth

Air Force has accepted a bid to play in the 2012 Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl, Dec. 29 at Amon Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, bowl officials announced Saturday.

The Falcons (6-5) became bowl-eligible with Friday night’s 21-7 victory over Hawaii in Colorado Springs, Colo.

It will mark the fourth time in the last six seasons for the Falcons to play in the Armed Forces Bowl, which has invited a service academy to compete in the contest five times since 2006. Air Force, a member of the Mountain West Conference, will play an opponent from Conference USA in the contest that will kick off at 10:45 a.m. and will be televised by ESPN.

“We are thrilled to have the Air Force Academy,” said Brant B. Ringler, executive director of the Armed Forces Bowl. “What better way to honor our armed forces than with a service academy competing in our game. With the Falcons and military fans numerous at the 2007, 2008 and 2009 games, we established record attendances figures each time.”

Because of renovations to Amon Carter Stadium the past two seasons, it will mark the first Armed Forces Bowl played in Fort Worth since Air Force defeated Houston, 47-20, in the 2009 game. The contest, in its 10^th season, was played at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas the past two years.

Dr. Hans Mueh, Air Force athletic director, said his school is “very excited to be going back to Fort Worth” for the contest.

“This is a great opportunity for the Air Force Academy,” Mueh said. “We are very honored to take part in the 10^th anniversary of such a prestigious, well-run bowl game.”

Air Force will be playing in its sixth consecutive bowl game under coach Troy Calhoun. School officials accepted the bid after Friday night’s victory over Hawaii (1-9) in which Air Force did not attempt a pass. The Falcons’ ground-oriented, option offense came into the game ranked second nationally among FBS schools in rushing, averaging 335.5 yards per game.

Air Force quarterback Connor Dietz, one of 23 seniors on the team, called the berth in the Armed Services Bowl “a pretty sweet way to go out” in his college career.

Tickets for the game can be purchased online at www.ArmedForcesBowl.com, with prices ranging from $20 to $150. Armed forces veterans and active duty personnel can request complimentary tickets, while supplies last, through the bowl’s website or by calling the bowl office at 817-810-0012.

Twitter: @Jimmy_Burch

_ Jimmy Burch

How will Big 12 end up in 2012? My guess for final standings:

Here's how I see the Big 12 finishing after four league games played (for every team but Oklahoma State and Baylor). Please hold your jeers until I'm proven to be dumb and misguided Dec. 1.

Kansas State	7-0, 4-0	11-1, 8-1
Oklahoma	5-1, 3-1	11-1, 8-1
Texas Tech	6-1, 3-1	10-2, 7-2
TCU	5-2, 2-2	8-4, 5-4
Oklahoma State	4-2, 2-1	7-5, 5-4
West Virginia	5-2, 2-2	7-5, 4-5
Texas	5-2, 2-2	7-5, 4-5
Iowa State	4-3, 1-3	6-6, 3-6
Baylor	3-3, 0-3	4-8, 1-8
Kansas	1-6, 0-4	1-11, 0-9

Beautiful day for football and tailgating in Stillwater. Here's some pictures:

Here's a Fox Sports networks cheat sheet to find TCU-Oklahoma State on television across the nation:

Download Big 12 - TCU at Oklahoma St

TCU's alternate defensive looks aid secondary against pass-first opponents

TCU coach Gary Patterson repeated a familiar concern Tuesday: the defense's penchant for giving up big plays over the top of the secondary.
“It’s the old adage; you can play three-deep coverage, you don’t have to play man, but if they run three verticals after 15 yards you’re in man coverage,” Patterson said during his media luncheon. “It doesn’t matter what you call, when the ball is in the air you have to make plays.”
However, Patterson has shaped his defense a little different at times this season to help give his secondary some support.
Varying from Patterson’s traditional four defensive linemen, two linebacker and five defensive back formation, he’s opted to pull a defensive lineman off the field in favor of an extra safety to aid in pass coverage.
Saturday, TCU ran this package four times against Texas Tech with a high success rate, typically subbing free safety Geoff Hooker in for defensive tackle Davion Pierson.
In the first quarter, the extra coverage support allowed Patterson to blitz Jason Verrett, stopping a Tech run for a loss.
In the third quarter, Devonte Fields punishing sack on Seth Doege came from this formation. Patterson rolled this formation out exclusively on third down and long distances. The coaching staff dialed up a noticeably larger number of blitzes in the Frogs past two games, rushing more than the front four approximately 16 times against Texas Tech. Out of those 16 blitzes, TCU picked up a sack, a tackle for loss, or put significant pressure on Doege at least seven times.
The game plan could remain similar Saturday against another pass-first Big 12 team, Oklahoma State, at 2:30 p.m. in Stillwater.

-- Travis L. Brown
@Travis_L_Brown 

TCU kicker Oberkrom selected as Big 12 special teams player of the week #tcu, #big12

TCU kicker Jaden Oberkrom, who booted a school- and conference-record six field goals in Saturday's 56-53 loss to Texas Tech, has been selected as the Big 12 special teams player of the week. Oberkrom, a freshman from Arlington Martin, connected on all six of his attempts, including a 42-yarder with 18 seconds remaining in regulation that sent the game into overtime. The Horned Frogs lost in triple overtime. Oberkrom kicked five field goals in regulation and one in the third overtime. He also was 5-for-5 on PATs during the contest.

Other Big 12 weekly honorees today included Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein (offense) and Kansas State linebacker Arthur Brown (defense). The Wildcats routed West Virginia, 55-14, to give No. 3 K-State (7-0, 4-0 in Big 12) sole possession of first place in the league standings.

_ Jimmy Burch

 

Oklahoma State QB J.W. Walsh out for season ... or maybe not

Oklahoma State quarterback J.W. Walsh is out for the season, according to coach Mike Gundy.
The redshirt freshman injured his knee Saturday in the Cowboys’ win over Iowa State but stayed in the game.
Walsh’s dad, John Walsh, the head coach at Denton Guyer High School, said his son needs about three to five weeks to recover. John Walsh said via text that surgery will not be required and that there was no ligament damage.
Oklahoma State (4-2, 2-1) host TCU (5-2, 2-2) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Stillwater, Okla.
Gundy told reporters on a conference call Sunday evening that Walsh was out for the rest of the season. Walsh completed 32 of 47 passes for 415 yards and a touchdown against Iowa State.
Walsh replaced true freshman Wes Lunt, who was injured in the Cowboys’ win over Louisiana-Lafayette Sept. 15. Lunt has yet to return in a game. Walsh has thrown for 1,467 yards and 10 touchdowns and rushed for 254 yards and three scores.

-- Travis L. Brown