What's going on in the Big 12? Home field is usually a huge advantage- particularly in football and basketball where crowds can give the home team the extra edge that makes the difference between winning and losing. But so far, there have been 9 conference games in the Big12 and the road team has won 7 of those 9.
West Virginia against Baylor- in one of the wildest games in memory defeated the Bears 70-63 in Morgantown. Kansas State as expected destroyed Kansas at home 56-16. Aside from those two games, road victories have been the standard in the most entertaining football conference.
Taking a look at the seven road wins, only TCU beating Kansas and Oklahoma defeating Texas Tech was expected. The other road wins have come as mild to big upsets. Ranking the road wins in terms of importance to the conference race:
1. Kansas State 24 Oklahoma 19; September 22nd
2. West Virginia 48 Texas 45; October 6th
3. Texas 41 Oklahoma State 36; September 29th
4. Iowa State 37 TCU 23; October 6th
5. Texas Tech 24 Iowa State 13; September 29th
6. Oklahoma 41 Texas Tech 20; October 6th
7. TCU 20 Kansas 6; September 15th
Will this trend continue? Probably not. The significance of Kansas State and West Virginia getting tough road wins while protecting home field put them clearly in the driver's seat for the conference race at this point. While other conferences appear to have clear leaders like Oregon in the Pac12; Ohio State in the B1G and Alabama in the SEC, the Big 12 should keep audiences captivated throughout the season with entertaining games where anything can happen including victories by the road teams in hostile environments.
- Ashley Hodge
- Baylor Insider - BearsTruth