Best offensive performance: Case McCoy, QB, Texas. McCoy's numbers won't wow anyone, but he delivered two of the prettiest touchdown throws you'll see anywhere. The first was a 59-yard score to Marcus Johnson on a wheel route, and the second delivered a knockout punch to the Sooners when he found Mike Davis at the front pylon for a 38-yard score that put Texas up 23 points in the final minute of the third quarter of its eventual 36-20 win. The Longhorns don't get their best win since 2010 at Nebraska without those tosses from McCoy. Honorable mention: Texas' offensive line.
Best defensive performance: JaCorey Shepherd, CB, Kansas. We saw a handful of defensive scores in the Big 12 this week, including one from Shepherd. He backed up his big play with a big day, too. He returned an interception 31 yards for a score, forced a fumble and had 1.5 tackles for loss, including a sack. He finished the day with seven total tackles. Honorable mention: Paul Dawson, LB, TCU; Bryce Hager, LB, Baylor
Third-best offensive performance: Tevin Reese, WR, Baylor. Reese continues to be the most dangerous deep threat in the Big 12. He averaged nearly 40 yards a touch against Kansas State's defense. His five catches went for 184 yards and his two touchdown catches were 93 and 54 yards. Both gave the Bears the lead.
Best play: Ryan Mueller, DE, Kansas State. Mueller chased down Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty, stripped the ball, pulled it in and fell on the fumble in one smooth motion. Simply put, it was one of the coolest football plays I've ever seen. Mueller finished with seven tackles and two sacks.
Second-best play: Jarvis West, KR, Iowa State. West gave Iowa State a strong answer after going down 7-0 early. He juked and weaved his way through Texas Tech's kickoff team for a 95-yard score, including one devastating cut inside to officially turn the play into a footrace. Not many players in the league can top his lateral quickness, and he added a 38-yard punt return later.
Coolest play: Iowa State's onside kick team. I love trickery, and the Cyclones fooled Texas Tech's hands team with one final try to stay alive trailing 42-35 with less than two minutes to play. Edwin Arceo faked the onside kick to the left and stayed onside while Cole Netten came from the opposite angle and got a perfect bounce on a perfect onside kick to the right side of the return team. Tech didn't look ready for it, and Deon Broomfield skied for the ball. He almost brought it in, but lost possession and Iowa State's day was done. Still, major style points.
Worst play: Kansas. David Porter went 75 yards on TCU's first play of the second half, but it should have been about a 15-yard play. Two Kansas defenders looked like they didn't keep their heads up and should have sandwiched Porter for a big hit. They missed, he squeezed through, and KU got off to the worst possible start in the second half of a 27-17 loss.
Best quote: Major Applewhite, OC, Texas. I spent some time talking to Applewhite about the atmosphere around the Texas program when he unleashed this little ditty that I can only assume he learned back home in Louisiana. "Some people had us fried, died and laid at the side," he said. "To hell with 'em." See more on the context in my column from the Red River Rivalry.
Best team performance: Texas. The Longhorns completely dominated both sides of the line of scrimmage against Oklahoma and ran away with a huge win as a double-digit underdog. No Big 12 team has a better win thus far. The Longhorns still have a lot of work to do, but beating Kansas State, Iowa State and Oklahoma in consecutive weeks is a pretty good accomplishment.
Most inconsequential fashion statement: Texas and Oklahoma. There was lots of hype about the gold-trimmed numbers and gloves and cleats, but it really didn't show up on TV or from the press box. You could hardly tell the difference. The logos on the collar of the jerseys looked good and so did the models, but what's the point of the gold if nobody can really see it?
Worst fashion statement: Baylor. Stop, Bears. Just stop. We get it. Bears have paws. You don't need to put them on your shoulders, no matter how abstract (or literal) they may look. Baylor's all-blacks and chrome domes a week ago were some of the best uniforms in the Big 12. This week? I may just crown the white jerseys with a beige-ish, weird-looking paw the worst. Yuck.
Alright here is the uni combo for the KSU game gold-white-gold #tooclean pic.twitter.com/AzSrF5oCLX
— Jeff Barlow (@JeffEquipBU) October 11, 2013
