The Crimson and Cream Machine blew its viking horn this week signaling an emergency meeting of the top--largely unpaid and under appreciated--Big 12 minds. I answered anyway. The questions are the same, the responses different and that's sort of the point. I've linked all of the round-tablees responses to date at the bottom of this post. But first, my two pennies...Q: Pick a team (other than the one you blog about) from the north and south divisions and explain why they may be the best team in the division.
Down South I'll take Oklahoma. There's a mutual respect between Sooners and Huskers that I simply can't foster for Texas, but I think Oklahoma's big trump card is Bob Stoops. Mack Brown killed his albatross by beating USC but Stoops has proven again and again how valuable that space circumscribed by his visor truly is. Sam Bradford was named the starter this week which simply allowed columnists nationwide to return to talking about how awesome the Sooner running game will be without the obligatory QB situation mention.
I can't take Nebraska in the North and I won't take Missouri in hopes of fostering further animosity leading up to the Battle for the Bell on October 6 so that leaves, gulp, Kansas. Given the events of this week, Ron Prince might be playing 8-man with an overweight quarterback by the time the season starts and Colorado and ISU don't seem ready yet. Kansas returns eight starters on defense and led all North teams with three preseason all-conference selections. They play all four non-conference games at home, don't have to face Oklahoma or Texas and don't have to go to Lincoln or Columbia. It still might not be enough to overcome the fact that they're Kansas, but they have a punchers chance.
If the Big 12 Conference had a Heisman trophy candidate who would it be and why?
Adarius Bowman. It's been 16 years since Desmond Howard won the Heisman as a wide receiver and he was the first since Tim Brown in 1987 but both of those guys received a lot of help from their special teams abilities. Bowman won't have that but he did have a 300-yard day against Kansas and the Cowboys should have enough talent elsewhere to free up Bowman even against a schedule featuring five road games against bowl teams from 06.
If you had to place a $100.00 bet on a current Big 12 head coach being fired at the end of the season who would you pick and why?
Guy Morriss is the smart bet but Dennis Franchione is the only guy that could go 8-4 and still lose his job depending on when and where those loses happen. Here's a good idea where they will: @Nebraska, Oklahoma, @Missouri, Texas and those are all in the second half of the season. That puts Ag. & Mech. at 8-4 but that would assume victories at Miami and Texas Tech and at home against OSU. Far from gimmes.
The one non-conference game, not involving your school, you would pay money to see would be?
Oklahoma State at Georgia. First week of the season and a good chance to see just how far Mike Gundy has brought the Cowboys thus far. They don't have to win here--although I wouldn't be shocked--but a solid performance in the gloaming in SEC country would be good for the conference as a whole. You're not going to get it from K-State.
Which of the four Big 12 schools currently ranked in the AP Top 25 doesn't belong there?
Well, Ag. & Mech. is the lowest ranked team thus the logical choice. Everybody likes to note that they beat Texas and lost to Oklahoma and Nebraska by one point each. What everybody seems to forget is that they beat Army by four points, Kansas by three, and Oklahoma State by one. They had eight games decided by one score or less in 2006 and the one conference game that wasn't was a 10-point win against Baylor. Close to taking the next step or lucky? We'll find out but either way that doesn't look like a Top 25 resume to me.
Make a case for one of the 8 Big 12 schools not ranked as to why they should be.
I don't think there's much of an argument for anybody besides Missouri, but when a team enters the season with a spectacular offense and a suspect defense we typically call them Texas Tech and that team generally ends up on the cusp of the rankings which is where Missouri is at now. (Remember, now that Oklahoma's off the yearly schedule, I'm hoping to make it all about that bell.)Tell us the offensive and defensive players who are going to make the biggest impact on the conference this season.
I'll interpret biggest impact to mean biggest surprise because if Colt McCoy and Limas Sweed are fantastic, well, they're fantastic which is exactly what we expected. Therefore, I'll take DeMarco Murray of Oklahoma. Allen Patrick might get the bulk of the carries early on but I suspect Murray will get the bulk of the SportsCenter time. Who's won the right to hand the ball off for Oklahoma again?
After being barred from biased opinion on the previous questions, I'll take this opportunity to hype Nebraska LB Steve Octavien. I can't think of a single player Nebraska fans would've liked to see more than Octavien over the past two years. Due to injuries, he's only started two games in two years but he did have 10 tackles with one forced fumble last year against Texas and he has the size and speed of a potential first-day draft pick. On perhaps the strongest linebacking corps in the conference, Octavien could end up being the playmaker.
Fellow Knights:
Crimson & Cream Machine
Bring On The Cats
MidWest Coast Bias
Clone Chronicles
Rock Chalk Talk
Corn Nation
Every True Son
Husker Mike
Mizzou Sanity
Buffs.tv
Look at that, including me we've got nine responses and four of them are from Cornhuskers. It's just like a road game anywhere in the country...you can't keep the red out. After much deliberation, I'm officially calling this method the "RED TIDE EFFECT" defined as: a natural autumnal phenomenon where an overabundance of Nebraska fans, using any means necessary, flood opposing stadiums thereby staining the stadium an unmistakable shade of red.
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