Big 12 Power Rankings: For KU's Beaty, the struggle is real
If you ever want to know how the other half lives, just ask Kansas head coach David Beaty. He's seen both halves.
He's seen the feast of contending for a national title, coaching a Heisman Trophy winner, and having his team dip into the national top 10 in all three seasons while he was an assistant at Texas A&M from 2012 -14.
And he's also seen the famine of this year's football team at Kansas, where he's head honcho now.
Oklahoma State and Baylor are grabbing all the national headlines in the Big 12 with glitzy unbeaten records and sitting inside the top five of the national polls. Meanwhile, at the bottom of the conference standings, the Jayhawks are likely staring down the barrel of their first winless season since 1954, when they went 0-10 under first year head coach Chuck Mather.
Beaty knew there would be a lot of growing pains when he bolted from A&M and took the KU keys in the offseason. Still, nobody was sure that he would experience this much pain.
Not only are the Jayhawks 0-for-9 so far this season, but they've been outscored 275-64 in their last five games. They also lost their top two quarterbacks to injury and are starting true freshman Ryan Willis in what was already a youthful offense.
Despite the discouraging prognostication for the remainder of the season, Beaty is not browbeaten in the least.
"The best way we can handle the rest of this season is by us getting better at being us," Beaty said on Monday. "We did some things the other night defensively and in the second quarter offensively where we got the running game going, but we didn't sustain it. We need to get a little bit better each week and we know that."
The Jayhawks go into this weekend set to play a very angry TCU team coming off a big loss at Oklahoma State. But Beaty, ever the optimist, sees this as just another chance to prove themselves.
"We don't control the schedule," Beaty said. "We deal in reality. You have to know the environment you're going into. Our job is to go into every game and try to be the best at being us. We have an opportunity to go into Amon Carter Stadium (and) beat a very good TCU football team. That's our goal right now."
He may not be winning big, but David Beaty is certainly dreaming big. So stay tuned.
The Big 12 Power Rankings
1. Baylor (Last Week: 1)
Jarrett Stidham? No problem. The frosh threw for 419 yards, the 10th-best total in BU history. The defense? Problem. Kansas State nearly moved at will, gaining 430 yards and making this a tussle.
2. Oklahoma State (Last Week: 3)
Finally, the Cowboys get some respect, moving from No. 14 to No. 5 in the polls after an impressive 49-29 blasting of TCU. Their four picks of Trevone Boykin could've derailed his Heisman campaign.
3. Oklahoma (Last Week: 4)
Impressive 52-16 win over a hot Iowa State team. Baker Mayfield still isn't getting the Heisman love, but he's completing 70 percent of his passes and has a 7-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio.
4. TCU (Last Week: 2)
The Frogs drop from the unbeaten ranks with a palpable thud. The 49-29 loss at OSU ended their 16-game win streak. Losing star wide receiver Josh Doctson to a wrist injury was a crushing blow to their hopes.
5. West Virginia (Last Week: 6)
A strong win over Texas Tech gives the Mountaineers their first Big 12 victory. WVU kept things grounded, having Wendell Smallwood (163 yards) and Rushel Shell (111) both pass the century mark.
6. Texas Tech (Last Week: 5)
The Raiders dropped to .500 with the tight loss at WVU. But DeAndre Washington became the first Texas Tech player to post back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons since Byron Hanspard in 1995-96.
7. Kansas State (Last Week: 8)
Close, but no cigar, as the Wildcats gave Baylor all it could handle in a 31-24 loss. QB Joe Hubener showed some moxie, dashing for a career-high 153 yards on the ground.
8. Iowa State (Last Week: 7)
Despite the adrenaline high of last week's impressive 23-0 clampdown on Texas, the Cyclones couldn't keep the momentum, giving up 684 yards and 52 points in a blowout loss to the Sooners.
9. Texas (Last Week: 9)
The Longhorns set the tone early with an 84-yard Jerrod Heard to John Burt pass on their first play of the game. From there, the Horns stayed hot in a 59-20 romp versus Kansas.
10. Kansas (Last Week: 10)
The Jayhawks have given up at least 58 points in their last three games. According to ESPN's Football Power Index, KU has a 0.4 percent, 3.1 percent, and 5.6 percent chance to win against TCU, WVU, and K-State, respectively.