Big 12 coaches aim for improvement during second week
September 8, 2006
Except for Colorado and Baylor, all the Big 12 teams opened the season with victories.
That doesn’t mean the winning coaches were any more satisfied than Dan Hawkins, whose Colorado debut was a loss to I-AA Montana State, or Guy Morris after Baylor missed a chance for a season-opening upset when it blew a halftime lead against No. 22 TCU.
Four of the seven Big 12 teams that won by more than 30 points did so against I-AA opponents. Other blowouts included defending national champion Texas overpowering a rebuilding North Texas team and Texas Tech beating SMU for the 10th straight time.
Oklahoma, Kansas State and Iowa State also won, but not as easily.
“We don’t make any apologies at all for winning,” new Kansas State coach Ron Prince said Monday. “We want to make sure to keep that the central issue, but we understand we have some work to do, particularly offensively.”
The Wildcats won 24-23 only because I-AA Illinois State was stopped on a two-point conversion.
No. 10 Oklahoma had two fumbles and two interceptions, and needed both of Adrian Peterson’s second-half touchdowns (4-yard run, 69-yard catch) to beat UAB, 24-17.
“We won a game where we didn’t play our best. We still have a lot we can improve on,” Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said during the Big 12 coaches teleconference.
“Turnovers are an issue. We have to be able to protect the football better. … Defensively, we’ve got a lot of room for improvement. In an area that we expect to be strong, we weren’t.”
Iowa State finally pulled out a victory over Toledo in the third overtime.
“We had to reach down and find a way to win it,” Cyclones coach Dan McCarney said.
The old theory goes that teams make their most drastic improvement between the first and second games. That’s this week for all the Big 12 teams since everybody plays again Saturday.
Nebraska had at least 250 yards rushing and 250 yards passing in a game for the first time since 1996, the kind of balance third-year coach Bill Callahan has wanted since transforming them from a run-oriented team.
Callahan called the 49-10 victory over Louisiana Tech a good start, “indicative of the efforts that we’ve been putting into the program.”
But like the rest of his coaching brethren, Callahan quickly reminded that there are a lot of games left and still found things that he didn’t like.
“We had about four dropped balls, gave away the ball twice in the red zone and had five penalties,” Callahan said. “There are number of things that need to be cleaned up.”
Especially since Nebraska plays its third game at USC.
Hawkins said his Colorado team was disappointed, but that he wasn’t rattled by the 19-10 loss to Montana State.
“It is part of the learning process,” Hawkins said. “My general protocol, win, loss or draw, is you bury it on Sunday and move on Monday. I don’t think there will be a bunch of hangover. We just need to continue to work on details.”
CLASSIC II?: The pivotal game for Texas on way to its national championship last season was an early 25-22 victory at Ohio State.
It’s time for the rematch, Saturday night in Austin.
“If Ohio State won, I think they would have had a real good chance to play for the national championship as well,” Texas coach Mack Brown said. “That’s the risk-reward of two great teams playing like this early in the season.”
Ohio State will be the first No. 1 team since SMU in 1950 to visit Austin.
“It was a classic last year,” Brown said.
“If both teams will play well this weekend, it should be a show on the national scene for everyone to enjoy.”
It will be the second time in three games the Longhorns play the top-ranked team. They beat USC at the Rose Bowl in January for the national title before a 59-7 victory over North Texas in this season’s opener.
WATCHING TV: Sure, Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione glanced up several times Saturday night to look at the new 110-foot video screen in the south end zone at Kyle Field. It’s the second-largest screen in college sports – behind rival Texas.
“I enjoy it for the replays,” Franchione said. “Sometimes, it also allows you to look at formations during a game to get a better viewpoint. … When the ball gets to one end or another, it’s an advantage to be able to look up.”
EXTRA POINTS: Coach Gary Pinkel has a 30-30 record at Missouri after starting his sixth season with a victory. “I don’t pay attention to that,” Pinkel said. “I focus on the program and how to make ourselves better. Doing that will take care of those things.” … Canadian-born running back Jon Cornish had a career-high 140 yards on 13 carries in Kansas’ season-opening victory. “He looked sharp,” coach Mark Mangino said.
“He took a while to get used to the tempo and the speed of the game. Last year, he really caught on at running back and has developed into a fine player for us,” Mangino said.
Also in Gridiron:
Week two figures to be uneventful
