Photo: John Rieger, USA Today Sports

Each week we'll be providing a review of the Big 12 conference action, with an emphasis on what we can expect going forward.

IOWA STATE AT TEXAS

Game Recap: Earlier this week Iowa State fired their Offensive Coordinator and announced that long time starting quarterback Sam Richardson was being benched. Texas came into this week’s game riding high following wins over rival Oklahoma and Kansas State. Essentially, nothing suggested that Iowa State was going to completely dominate this game – but that is exactly what happened. Until the final drive of the game, Texas only had 124 total yards of offense and Iowa State rushed for 238 yards. The 24-0 victory for the Cyclones is the first time since 1961 that Texas has been shut down by an unranked opponent since 1961.

Key Players: In his first career start, Joel Lanning effectively executed a game plan that largely focused on the ground game, with 54 of the team’s 92 plays being running plays. Lanning showed adequate running ability, gaining 64 yards on 13 carries. This upcoming week he faces a tough Oklahoma defense in a matchup that we’re not recommending him for lineups, but games against Oklahoma State and Kansas State will present opportunities to potentially use Lanning. Mike Warren continued to see a high volume of running attempts, carrying the ball 32 times for 157 yards and a touchdown. Joshua Thomas once again vultured a touchdown from him, but Warren has quietly established himself as one of the more reliable running backs in the FBS over the past month. Allen Lazard returned to the field after missing last week’s game with a rotator cuff injury and hauled in 6 passes for 66 yards (on Halloween.) He’s still dealing with the injury and we recommend exercising caution in upcoming weeks, especially with Iowa State moving toward an increasingly run-heavy approach.

Jerrod Heard was horrific in this game, and was benched in the fourth quarter in favor of Tyrone Swoopes. Coach Charlie Strong said that the quarterback position will be re-evaluated this week, and we’ll need to watch this situation closely with Kansas on deck. Whoever starts should be expected to have solid results against the woeful Jayhawks and will be on our radar as a potential punt play at quarterback.

Key Injuries: None.

Players to Watch: Tyrone Swoopes completed six of 13 passes for 59 yards, and rushed 10 times for 58 yards. We know his many limitations, but if only for one week, Swoopes is potentially relevant.

WEST VIRGINIA at TCU

Game Recap: Many expected this game to turn into a full-on shootout considering that the previous three meetings between these two teams had been decided on the final play of the game. Only one team had any level of success in this game though, as TCU thrashed West Virginia 40-10.

Key Players: Trevone Boykin once again put up an outrageous stat line, throwing for 388 yards and 3 touchdowns while also rushing for 84 yards and another score. He will be a borderline must play Saturday against Oklahoma State, in a game in which TCU should have to keep the foot on the gas for four quarters. Aaron Green only turned his 15 carries into 67 yards and has now put up back to back disappointing efforts. He’s explosive enough to have a great game any given week, but given that he will almost never see 20 touches, Green is only a GPP option for us most weeks. Josh Doctson continued to prove that he’s un-guardable at the collegiate level, amassing 11 grabs for 183 yards and two touchdowns.

Skyler Howard didn’t manage much from a production standpoint, only throwing for 160 yards and one touchdown, but he was hurt by multiple drops on plays that could have been touchdowns. The lack of depth and gameday-ready talent at the receiver position has clearly effected Howard during WVU’s four game losing streak. Still, he’ll be a very popular target this week as the Mountaineers square off with Texas Tech’s awful defense. Wendell Smallwood managed to run for 113 yards on 20 despite the lopsided score. He should be locked in for cash games against Texas Tech’s run defense that allows 270.7 yards per game. Shelton Gibson reeled in his weekly touchdown, but only ended the day with two catches for 36 yards. He’s scored in all but one game this season, despite only catching 25 passes on the year.

Key Injuries: None.

Players to Watch: Kavontae Turpin suited up despite speculation regarding his availability following an injury two weeks ago against Iowa State. He caught seven balls for 42 yards and also attempted a pass on a trick play. Besides TCU’s big three of Boykin, Doctson, and Green, Turpin looks like the best bet for guaranteed touches going forward, as the team clearly recognizes that they need to work his explosiveness into game plan.

OKLAHOMA STATE at TEXAS TECH

Game Recap: This game resulted in the most points of any so far in the 2015 season, with Oklahoma State coming back from a 31-14 deficit to win by a final score of 70-53.

Key Players: Oklahoma State continued its quarterback rotation, with JW Walsh and Mason Rudolph both seeing significant playing time on Saturday. In the second half, with Oklahoma State playing catch up, interestingly it was Walsh that saw 18 of 28 snaps. Wash through for 167 yards and two touchdowns on only five attempts, and also ran for 80 yards and another touchdown. Rudolph accounted for 285 passing yards and two scores. Because of the volatile nature of their usage from game to game, neither is a great play this week against TCU. James Washington had a monster game, catching four passes for 200 yards and two touchdowns. He’s now gone for over 100 yards in three of Oklahoma State’s last four games, and is an ideal GPP target this week against TCU, as a player that excels in the deep passing game.

Patrick Mahomes bounced back from last week’s subpar effort against Oklahoma with a huge game, throwing for 480 yards and four touchdowns, and additionally running for 46 yards and another score. The upcoming matchup against West Virginia looked like it would be a difficult one at the season’s outset, but the Mountaineers have been getting carved up regularly over the past month. Expect Mahomes to have another big game. Jakeem Grant has been the steadiest amongst the Texas Tech receivers this season, but Saturday was an outlier – in a good way. Grant set season highs in catches and yards, hauling in 13 passes for 178 yards. He scored once via the air and once on a kick return. His week to week involvement in this offense makes him one of the best cash game receivers in the country.

Key Injuries: None.

Players to Watch: Fourth string running back Raymond Taylor ran for 58 yards and two touchdowns on only five carries. While that’s an impressive output, and should foreshadow more playing time for Taylor, it did come against Texas Tech’s horrific run defense, and Taylor will have to battle Jeff Carr, Rennie Childs, and Chris Carson for carries. Taylor’s emergence likely means that this backfield will devolve into even more of a committee than it has been for the season’s first two months.

Ian Sadler, in just his second game back from an injury that caused him to miss three games, turned in the best performance of his career thus far, catching eight passes for 122 yards. His role as the team’s other starting inside receiver, next to Jakeem Grant, makes his targets more bankable than those of the team’s outside receivers (Devin Lauderdale, Reginald Davis) who are generally used more on deep patterns than underneath routes. Sadler was a great play this past weekend, because of his depressed price, and it will be interesting to see what he costs this upcoming Saturday.

OKLAHOMA at KANSAS

Game Recap: This game was never going to be close and Oklahoma made sure that the outcome was decided early on, building a 38-7 halftime lead. The Sooner starters barely played in the second half and the 62-7 final could have been way worse.

Key Players: After last week’s run heavy game plan sabotaged so many DFS lineups, Baker Mayfield got back on track against Kansas, throwing for 383 yards and four touchdowns. Expect another big game this weekend against Iowa State. Samaje Perine put forth his second straight solid showing, rushing for 90 yards and two touchdowns on only 11 carries. He should push for 20 touches against Iowa State. Joe Mixon salvaged an otherwise uneventful day by catching a 67 yard touchdown pass. With Perine seeing the overwhelming majority of rushing attempts, Mixon’s output is extremely volatile week to week. Sterling Shepard had his second 100 yard receiving effort of the season, securing 11 balls for 183 yards and a touchdown. While it was nice to see Oklahoma remembering to incorporate their best receiver into the offense, Shepard is too risky for cash games at his expensive cost. Baker Mayfield usually spreads the ball around very equitably and we feel that even in a soft matchup against Iowa State, Shepard is best utilized in tournaments.

No Kansas players had noteworthy lines and the team’s only touchdown was on a 17 yard pass from Ryan Willis to Tyler Patrick. Willis continues to acquit himself well considering the awful situation he has been thrown into, but is unlikely to be someone we’ll consider usable in DFS for the remainder of the season.

Key Injuries: None.

Players to Watch: Mark Andrews caught a season high five passes in this game. He surprisingly did not score on any of them, considering that he came into the contest with five touchdowns on only ten catches. His red zone presence makes him a weekly option if you are looking to get an inexpensive piece of the high powered Oklahoma passing game.