By Wendell Barnhouse
Big12Sports.com Correspondent
Unless it's a certified check with several zeroes or a bag of dead presidents, taking things at face value can sometimes be misleading. A first take is not always the right take. Two stories from this week illustrate this thinking.
On the Big 12 teleconference Monday, TCU coach Gary Patterson was asked about his team's new offense with the Frogs 2-0 and facing their second bye week of September.
"I have no idea," he said. "We played a Samford and now we played a Big 10 team."
Some way, somehow, there were media folks with access to Twitter accounts who interpreted this benign comment as a rip of the Big Ten Conference (funny enough, no one thought it was also a jab at Samford).
Not only was Patterson's meaning misinterpreted, he was taken out of context. Here's the continuation of what he said: "There will be teams who won't be as physical as the Big Ten. To be honeste with you, Minnesota had some guys, one of their corenrs for sure, was a really good player who could play in this league for sure. …"
The second story to emerge Monday involved Iowa State senior offensive lineman Jacob Gannon. The school announced he was returning to the team after leaving the team after the Cyclones' season opening loss to North Dakota State.
At the time, Gannon's departure was interpreted as a player who no longer had the desire to play. A fifth-year senior walking away from his team after an opening loss made Gannon look like a quitter. But drawing that conclusion was wrong and unfair.
Gannon left practice on Sept. 3 after suffering a panic attack caused by an anxiety disorder. Coach Paul Rhoads continued reaching out to Gannon and after some conversations, the coach advised Gannon to meet with Iowa State psychologist Marty Martinez and team physician Dr. Marc Shulman,
"I'm feeling a lot better and I'm very excited and happy to be back on the team," Gannon told the Des Moines Register. "Initially, because of the panic attack, I thought I hated playing football because I thought that's what caused the panic attack, and after going to counseling and talking it out, I realized football wasn't the problem. The problem was this anxiety."
Playing major college football requires hard work, time, dedication with the reward being the pressure to perform competitively at a high level in front of thousands of fans and usually the see-everything television cameras. Mix in the slightest bit of mental stress caused by anxiety and it would be a load that would make a full-grown adult cringe.
Rhoads believed he had gotten to know Gannon through the recruiting process and his four-plus years on campus. The Cyclones' coach felt something was odd about Gannon's decision to abruptly walk away.
"There's heavy pressure on these kids to perform," Rhoads said. "It comes from themselves. It comes from us as coaches. It comes from people outside our program and for somebody suffering from what he is, to be suffocating like he was, I've got a real sentimental feeling for him."
As the saying goes, "Everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always."
Cowboys Seek Defensive Depth
Oklahoma State had to replace seven starters on defense. When that many new starters are needed – typically, the new starters were the old reserves – that puts a drain on the number of backups with experience.
That's what is facing the Cowboys (2-1), who have Saturday off before playing host to Texas Tech on Sept. 25 in a nationally televised Thursday night game.
"We have a certain number of guys playing too many plays, in my opinion," coach Mike Gundy said after his team's 43-13 victory over UT-San Antonio. "I'm hoping that doesn't catch up with us in the middle of October."
The defensive line has depth but the linebacker and secondary units don't.
"I'm hoping we can come up with a plan to keep those guys fresh," Gundy said. "I need to look at what we're doing practice wise and rep wise. I'm thinking we need to cut it back, because they're playing too many plays. So we may have to cut our practices back even more … I don't really like to change what I do, but I think they're on the field too much."
Flipped Out
Something as simple as the opening coin toss can be a coachable/teachable moment. Texas discovered that Saturday night.
UT captains Desmond "Tank" Jackson and Malcolm Brown were at midfield for the coin toss before the UCLA game. The Bruins won the toss and deferred their choice to the second half. That meant the Longhorns needed to choose to receive the opening kickoff because UCLA would certainly use its deferred choice to receive the kickoff to start the second half.
Instead, Texas' captains said the Longhorns would play defense, meaning they would kick to start the game and then, obviously, the second half. On Tuesday Jackson tweeted his apology.
Quick Slants
* Auburn will be just the second ranked non-conference opponent Bill Snyder has played at home in 23 seasons at Kansas State.
* Baylor freshman KD Cannon 471 yards receiving in three games. There are 12 FBS teams that have played three games that haven't passed for that many yards as a team.
* In Kansas State's victory at Iowa State, Jake Waters was the first Big 12 quarterback with 100 rushing yards and 200 passing yards in a game since Baylor's Robert Griffin III did it in 2011 (a span of 305 games).
* Congratulations to two former Big 12 assistant coaches who had significant victories Saturday thanks to late touchdowns. East Carolina and coach Ruffin McNeill, the former Texas Tech defensive coordinator posted a 28-21 upset victory at No. 17 Virginia Tech. Bowling Green, led by former Baylor assistant Dino Babers knocked off Indiana, 45-42.
* Oklahoma State's Desmond Roland has totaled 14 rushing touchdowns since he had four against Iowa State on Oct. 26 last season. That total is second only to Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds, who has 24 rushing TDs in that span.
* Since his first season as an offensive coordinator in 2005, West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen has had five quarterbacks throw for at least 500 yards in a game after Clint Trickett threw for 511 yards Saturday against Maryland.
Audibles
Kansas State offensive lineman Drew Liddle on Thursday night's game with No. 5 Auburn:
"I still approach it the same way I would every game. "Knowing our game plan from top to bottom and what we are going to do gives me a bigger edge than emotions. Emotions play a lot into it, too, but you can have all the emotion in the world and unless you are mentally and physically prepared, it's not going to make any difference."
Iowa State's Cole Netten on his game-winning field goal against Iowa:
"It was my dad's birthday; that made that kick even more special. It felt pretty good, but I was just part of the game Without the offense and everyone else, I'm no good. That's what I'm here to do. I kick field goals, that's my job. It's no different from someone in an interview for a regular job out there. Everyone else on the team did their job."
Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops recalling the Sooners' last trip to West Virginia, a 50-49 victory where OU allowed 778 total yards:
"I told (the players) hopefully they won't put 49 on us this time and get about a thousand yards. That was a bad night for all of us. That was a bad game plan, bad execution, bad everything. We live and learn."