Baylor’s Griffin to miss remainder of season; ChatterTV reaction

Awful news for the Baylor football team: Quarterback Robert Griffin will miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL, it was announced Sunday.

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Senior Blake Szymanski, who played QB for Baylor in 2007, will take over. Szymanski passed for 2,844 yards, 22 touchdowns and 18 interceptions two seasons ago when Baylor went 3-9 (0-8 conference).

Complicating matters even more is that Szymanski is day-to-day after suffering a shoulder injury while playing in place of Griffin on Saturday. The Bears could use a bye week badly. Unfortunately, they’ve already had their week off.

Even without Griffin, the Bears (2-1) are a different team today than they were in 2007. They have considerably more talent. But Baylor’s quest to make its first bowl game in 15 years took a serious hit this weekend.

Sunday night breaking news

Texas Tech has indefinitely suspended its best offensive lineman, senior guard Brandon Carter, for an undisclosed violation of team rules.

“I am not a captain anymore and will not be playing this week. Good luck red raiders ill still be cheering on my family from the stands!!:),” Carter recently wrote on his Twitter feed.

Between the Houston loss and this loss, not a good weekend for the Red Raiders.

Below, you’ll find the latest episode of ConferenceChatterTV, where I’ve been making predictions on each Big 12 football game this season. Week 4 treated me well. I had a 9-1 showing, with my only loss coming from the Houston Cougars beating Texas Tech.

Speaking of which: What the heck has gotten into Houston lately?

Before this year, the Cougars had never defeated a Big 12 Conference opponent. It only took four weeks into the 2009 season for Houston to take down two Big 12 South contenders.

The Cougars pulled off a thrilling 29-28 victory over Texas Tech this weekend in front of the largest crowd (32,114) in their history. Two weeks ago, Houston likely bumped Oklahoma State out of BCS contention with an impressive 45-35 road triumph in Stillwater.

Who knows, maybe Houston could make a run in the Big 12 South, considered the toughest division in the country. Of course, UH is part of the Conference USA and represents the latest BCS buster in an anything-can-happen sort of season. Fans and players of undefeated Utah from last season are familiar with this kind of scenario.

But this season seems a little different. Top 10 teams are dropping like crazy, and who knows how high the Houstons of the world can climb in the rankings. Boise State, for instance, was ranked No. 5 in the latest AP poll released Sunday.

As of now, No. 12 Houston doesn’t face a ranked team for the rest of the season. Same kind of deal with Boise State, which defeated then-No. 16 Oregon in week 1, but won’t face a ranked team for the rest of the year. If Houston (or Boise State, for that matter) goes undefeated, will it play in the BCS Championship this season? Moreover, would the team be deserving?

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It could be argued Utah deserved it last season. The Utes finished the regular season 12-0, and then blasted Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. If Utah can’t make it to the title game, I’m not sure Houston could either.

Onto the awards for the conference players who went above and beyond in week 4:

Player of the week: Kerry Meier, Kansas

Meier erupted for 10 receptions, 141 yards and two touchdowns against Southern Miss, another respectable opponent from Conference USA. Meier had been somewhat quiet this season. Kansas played in its closest game of the season and needed a clutch performer. Guess who that guy was?

Biggest surprise of the week: Texas’ defense

The Longhorns have been good this season, but Saturday was the first time they looked dominant. The defense played a large role in the 64-7 rout of UTEP, causing five turnovers (four interceptions, fumble recovery) and four sacks. And UTEP can move the football.

It’s looking like UT and Oklahoma (first in country in scoring defense) are going to sport solid defenses this season.

Sleeper alert: Von Miller, Texas A&M

The Aggies simply failed to get to the quarterback last season on defense, as they ranked 100th in the nation with 16 sacks.

This season? Different story. Texas A&M has terrorized opposing quarterbacks to the tune of 14 sacks in three games. The Aggies added four more in their 56-19 drubbing of UAB on Saturday.

Miller, the best unknown defensive player in the conference, has eight sacks this season, tops in the nation. He had 1.5 against UAB. Memo to Arkansas next week: Might want to keep an eye on this guy.

Here’s the latest Sorrentino Scale to close this entry. The number in parentheses is what the team was ranked last week.

  • 1 (1). Texas (4-0): Most impressive showing of season against UTEP.
  • 2 (2). Oklahoma (2-1): Sam Bradford may return against Miami.
  • 3 (3). Oklahoma State (3-1): No Dez Bryant/Kendall Hunter vs. Grambling St., no problem.
  • 4 (4). Kansas (4-0): RB Toben Opurum (109 yards, TD) filling in nicely for Jake Sharp.
  • 5 (5). Missouri (4-0): Blaine Gabbert 11 TDs, 0 INTs this year.
  • 6 (6). Nebraska (3-1): Bye week to get ready for road trip to Mizzou.
  • 7 (9). Texas A&M (3-0): Who knew this was nation’s No. 1 team in total offense?
  • 8 (7). Texas Tech (2-2): Time to take it out on New Mexico next week.
  • 9 (8). Baylor (2-1): Hate to hear Griffin news.
  • 10 (10). Iowa State (3-1): Cyclones already with more victories than last season.
  • 11 (11). Kansas State (2-2): RB Daniel Thomas has been a force.
  • 12 (12). Colorado (1-2): At West Virginia in Thursday game.

That should be all for now, friends. As always, discuss.