Taking stock of Week 10 in the Big 12:
Team of the week: While TCU and Baylor have been dominating the playoff headlines, Oklahoma State quietly has just been winning games. Saturday, the Cowboys showed that they just in fact might be the cream of the crop in the Big 12 on the way to throttling TCU, 49-29. Quarterback Mason Rudolph was on point with five touchdowns and 342 passing yards, while a feisty Cowboy defense collectively frustrated Heisman hopeful Trevone Boykin all afternoon. Oklahoma State didn't have a scoring drive last longer than 1 minute, 13 seconds and the Pokes picked off Boykin four times. It's time for the College Football Playoff selection committee to start talking about the Cowboys.
Disappointment of the week: There had been warning signs earlier in the year for TCU of cracks in the dike. In Stillwater, those levees finally collapsed. TCU's patchwork secondary could not combat Oklahoma State's speed at receiver, and after doing it so many times before, Boykin couldn't overcome all to rally his club from a second-half deficit. TCU is not completely out of the playoff picture, but the Horned Frogs are going to need some dramatic outside help to have any chance. They're also going to have to run the table, which is going to be all that much tougher if wideout Josh Doctson is out for an extended period with a wrist injury.
Big (offensive) man on campus: This might the best the Big 12 has ever been at receiver, and not just because of Doctson and Baylor's Corey Coleman. Oklahoma State's James Washington showed why he's a star in the making, burning the Horned Frogs for three touchdown bombs. In his last three games, the sophomore from Stamford, Texas, now has 15 catches for 487 yards and six touchdowns.
Big (defensive) man on campus: The Cowboys haven't missed a beat at linebacker since Ryan Simmons' season-ending injury at the beginning of conference play, and Chad Whitener is the reason why. The former walk-on transfer from Cal finished with 12 tackles and two interceptions against TCU. He returned the first pick at the beginning of the third quarter 23 yards to TCU 1-yard line, setting up a J.W. Walsh touchdown. The second interception Whitener took to the end zone himself for an exclamation point in the final moments.
Special-teams player of the week: Oklahoma State controlled the field position against TCU, thanks in large part to punter Zach Sinor. On nine punts, Sinor pinned the Horned Frogs inside their own 20 six times, and inside their 5 twice. Sinor has been a big weapon for the Pokes all year, especially on Saturday.
Play of the week: On Oklahoma's first offensive snap against Iowa State, quarterback Baker Mayfield handed off to Samaje Perine, who gave the ball to Sterling Shepard, who pitched it back to Mayfield, who then lobbed a pass to fullback Dimitri Flowers streaking wide open for a 75-yard touchdown. Said Mayfield, "I had no idea [coordinator Lincoln Riley] was going to call that the first play. When you practice it you don’t expect it to work that perfectly."
Stat of the week: After falling 31-26 at West Virginia, Texas Tech has now lost 17 consecutive games to Big 12 opponents not named Iowa State or Kansas.
Quotable: "I'm going to go home and watch somebody else sweat it out. And eat some chicken. All dark meat. Thighs." -- Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Glenn Spencer, on how he was going to celebrate the TCU win
Tweet of the week: Baylor wideout KD Cannon wasn't sad to see the Horned Frogs go down. #revivalry
THANK GOD FOR OK STATE
— KD Cannon (@IAmTheOne_9) November 8, 2015Oklahoma State fans were asking Trevone Boykin to stop so they could shake his hand. He did. pic.twitter.com/8Z62bncYFY
— Carlos A. Mendez (@calexmendez) November 8, 2015