By Wendell Barnhouse | wendell@big12sports.com
Big12Sports.com Correspondent
With senior quarterback Brandon Weeden throwing and handing off to a bus-load of talented skill players, Oklahoma State's offense is among the nation's best.
This sixth-ranked Cowboys lead the nation in scoring at 51.4 points per game. The Cowboys are second nationally in total offense with 577.4 yards per game and second in passing offense (431.2 yards per game). And they lead the nation with 29.6 first downs per game.
That last statistic is one of the main reasons why one of Oklahoma State's top performers doesn't get to showcase one of his talents.
Junior Quinn Sharp is averaging 49.2 yards per punt, which would lead the NCAA's FBS. However, Sharp has attempted just 15 punts in the Cowboys' first five games and that's not enough attempts to qualify (Purdue's Cody Webster, who is averaging 48.1 yards per kick, is on top of this week's punting stats.)
Sharp, who averaged 57 yards on his three punts Saturday against Kansas, ranks ninth in field goals (he's 9-of-10) and leads the nation with 27 touchbacks on kickoffs.
"He's been effective and valuable to our team," Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said. "When we played Kansas, one of their kick returners brought one out from about eight yards deep. I think they were frustrated because they weren't able to return his kickoffs."
In Sharp's first two seasons in Stillwater, his punting and kickoff work was outstanding. With Dan Bailey, last year's Groza Award winner now a rookie kicker with the Dallas Cowboys, Oklahoma State needed someone to take over extra points and field goals.
"He was a kicker coming out of high school and we thought he'd be our kicker, he's worked on it for the past couple of years," Gundy said. "He's an experienced guy who has continued to work hard and he's become a very important player for us."
One tough Knott
Iowa State has a quarterback named Steele (Jantz) and a linebacker named Knott, as in Jake Knott, as in like a knot of wood. The Cyclones' linebacker is as tough and hard as a knot of wood.
In the spring, he broke his arm and was on the practice field the next day to support his teammates and observe the coaching. Saturday night at Baylor, he discloated his shoulder - twice. Both times, he popped it back into place and kept playing. He finished with 18 tackles and he leads the Big 12 in tackles with 11.8 per game.
"The first time that it happened it was pretty painful. It hurt the most because I had to put it back in when I was out there," Knott said. "The second time, it kind of just went back in by itself."
Knott's arm has been in a sling this week but he says he's playing at Missouri Saturday. Who should doubt him?
"I worry about what he's going to feel like when he's my age," Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads said. "He is always going to put himself in that situation because he plays the game the right way. He plays it so hard. You can win a lot of football games with the Jake Knotts of this world."
Cooking up an analogy
Baylor coach Art Briles was asked about his defense during Monday's Big 12 coaches' teleconference. Perhaps because it was getting close to lunch time, went Top Chef with his answer.
Baylor coach Art Briles is admittedly no culinary mastermind, but when asked what he thought of his defense's performance, he wasn't dicey and didn't mince his words.
"When you're baking a cake, you usually don't determine how good it is until you pull it out of the oven and let your neighbors munch on it a little bit," he said. "I think we are still a work in progress."
Under new defensive coordinator Phil Bennett, the Bears are ranked 79th in the nation in team defense and have allowed 374 yards per game and 5.3 yards per play.
"We are still making sure we've got the ingredients in the right spot and the right amount," Briles said. "Not that I am a chef or anything."
Perfect after the rivalry
No two coaches have met as often in the Red River Rivalry as Mack Brown of Texas and Bob Stoops of Oklahoma. Last Saturday's 55-17 Sooners victory was the 13th meeting between the coaches.
One thing the coaches have in common is they don't lose after the Big Game. Following the annual meeting in the Cotton Bowl, Brown is 13-0 while Stoops is 12-0 (Brown has been at UT one more year than Stoops has been at OU. The Longhorns have won those 13 games by the average score of 38-17 while the Sooners have won by the average score of 39-14. Texas plays host to No. 6 Oklahoma State Saturday while Oklahoma plays at Kansas.
Touchy feely
Missouri sophomore Henry Josey leads the Big 12 in rushing, averaging 117 yards a game and an astounding 10.4 yards per carry. (FYI, the Big 12 record for average yards per carry is 6.8 set by Ricky Williams in 1998.)
But perhaps the most interesting statistic for Josey is that through five games he just has 55 rushing attempts. Of the Big 12's top 10 rushers, the next-fewest attempts belong to Texas A&M's Cyrus Gray with 72. The other eight top ground gainers have at least 83 attempts.
With the Tigers a disappointing 2-3, some Mizzou fans are wondering why the 5-10, 185-pound Josey doesn't get more carries. Missouri's coaching staff is on the case.
"We haven't set a number, but we've talked about we'd like to be above 15 and getting closer to 20 and getting him as many touches as possible," offensive coordinator David Yost told the Columbia Daily Tribune. "But when you don't execute and you're not running plays or you're in third-and-long, we don't get him as many as we'd like to get. That's frustrating on our part, too, because he's a guy you want to get the ball in his hands."
Short yardage
* Missouri is 17th in total offense and 30th in total defense. There are five teams in the top 30 in both category and they have a combined record of 25-1 - Oklahoma (5-0), Wisconsin (5-0), West Virginia (5-1), Stanford (5-0), Boise State (5-0). The argument can be made that the Tigers are the best 2-3 team in the country. Missouri's losses have come on the road to nationally ranked teams that have a combined record of 15-1.
* Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops is 43-17 against ranked opponents. That ties him with former OU coach Barry Switzer for most victories by a Sooners coach against ranked foes. Switzer was 43-21-4 in his 16 seasons. But, as Ivan Maisel of ESPN.com points out, this statistic needs some explanation. When Switzer coached, the rankings stopped at the top 20. In his 13 seasons, Stoops has coached when 25 teams are ranked. He is 10-2 against teams ranked No. 21 through 25.
* After transferring from Houston, Baylor senior running back Terrance Ganaway had gained 495 yards in his first 25 games for the Bears. Ganaway gained a career-high 200 yards against Iowa State Saturday and now has 536 yards in five games this season.
* Missouri has opened the kicking competition in practice this week with starter Grant Ressel going against backup Trey Barrow, who also handles the punting for the Tigers. Every kick in practice this week counts, and by the end of the week, the most successful kicker earns the job for Saturday's game against Iowa State. Ressel, an All-American in 2009 and a two-time Groza Award semifinalist, has made just 7 of 13 field goals after making 43 of 46 the two previous seasons. In MU's losses this season, he's made just 4 of 10.
* Since 2008, Oklahoma has allowed 10 kickoff returns for touchdowns. No school in the country has allowed that many since '08. The Sooners are the only team during the last 10 years to give up four touchdowns on kickoff returns in a season; they've done it twice.
* One season removed from allowing the second-most total yards at Kansas State in 22 years, the Wildcats are on pace to have their best defense since the 2003 Big 12 Championship team. The Wildcats rank 17th in total defense in allowing 298.8 yards per game, 16th in rushing defense in yielding just 92.4 yards, and 15th in scoring defense in giving up just 16.6 points.