Screw Chimney Rock, It Shoulda Been Osborne!

According to the staff of ESPN.com, Tom Osborne is the face of the Nebraska program and probably should've gotten the coveted Nebraska state quarter real estate as well. (Okay, that's my opinion, but somehow I feel like putting Dr. Tom on our quarter really would've pissed off Alabama fans. "If anybody's gettin' a ball coach on their quarter, it's fixin' to be us!")

But just because ESPN has had their say doesn't mean it's all said and done. The fan vote is ongoing and your nominees, contrary to some of the vote tallies I had last week, are:

• Bob Devaney
• Tommie Frazier (all frazie)
• Tom Osborne
• Sea of Red
• Walk-ons (helmets from hamlets)

And in case you're interested, ESPN has yet to release the final third of the list but the faces o' the Big 12 thus far are:

• Baylor - Worm Eatin' Grant Teaff
• Colorado - Ralphie
• Iowa State - Jack Trice (the man, not the stadium)
• Kansas - Mark Mangino (please people, vote for Gale Sayers)
• Kansas State - Bill Snyder (the man, not the stadium)
• Missouri - Don Faurot (the man, not the stadium)
• Oklahoma - Bootlegger's Boy Barry Switzer
• Oklahoma State - Barry Sanders

Big 12 Roundtable - Rise of the North

Were Saturday's games a sign that the Big 12 North may be on its way back?

It's a bit too early to say the North is "back," but it was certainly the biggest shot the division has fired since K-State thrashed #1 OU in the championship game in 2003. I still have a tough time saying the winner of the Red River Shootout isn't the favorite to win the conference but everything certainly opened up after Saturday.

How seriously do we take the hot starts at Mizzou and Kansas?

Somebody needs to explain to me how, in a week where the Top 25 was laid to waste, Missouri isn't ranked higher than 17 (specifically behind Hawaii). All the Tigers have done is go on the road in the SEC for a win and beat Illinois who just beat preseason darling Penn State and is currently favored over #5 Wisconsin despite being unranked. What does Hawaii have to offer besides a higher preseason ranking?

I'm still taking a wait and see approach on Kansas. It's likely the best team Mangino has had in Lawrence but it remains to be seen how good that really is. This week's game in Manhattan will tell us quite a bit.

Pick one team from the opposite division that you truly hate, and say why; follow this up by picking another team from the opposite division that you don't mind pulling for, and say why.

I wish I could say it was Oklahoma as that was Nebraska's traditional rival but when I dig deep I realize I have nothing but respect for the Sooners. Therefore, it has to be Texas. The Horns have absolutely owned Nebraska since the expansion and they have an easily inverted hand signal that makes hating them that much easier.

As for a following, it's always been Texas Tech. There's just something loony about Lubbock. They play a fun, if ultimately unsuccessful in the big picture, brand of football and I have some tenuous family ties there.

The NCAA has enacted a rule allowing you to bring back one senior that graduated last year to play for your team for the rest of the season. Would you do it? And if so, who?

How about early entries? No? Because I'd love to have Brandon Jackson to save some wear and tear on Marlon Lucky. As good as Carriker and Moore were, I'd go with Stew Bradley. More than big time talent the thing the Blackshirts seem to lack is a leader.

Rank the conference teams

I'll go with my preferred neutral field point spread approach. How would be favored over whom? I'm not a linesmaker, but here's my best estimation...

1) Oklahoma
2) Missouri
3) Texas
4) Nebraska
5) Kansas State
6) Colorado
7) Kansas
8) Texas A&M
9) Oklahoma State
10) Texas Tech
11) Baylor
12) Iowa State

Fellow respondents:
Double T Nation
Corn Nation
Husker Mike
Crimson and Cream Machine
Every True Son
Buffs.tv
Clone Chronicles
Bring on the Cats
Big Red Network
Midwest Coast Bias

Somehow this all comes down to children

Here's Mike Gundy...



Here is why he's pissed off. Please go read it because what's going to get lost in all of the Internet hullabaloo is how mind-numbingly awful that article actually is. I truly don't understand how that column, which essentially just lists all the rumors surrounding Bobby Reid, saw the light of day. But you also have to wonder about that whole feeding incident. I'm not sure it's worth an entire column, but what do I know?

For what it's worth, here's a response from an Oklahoman staffer although not from the columnist in question.

Big 12 Round Table

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.

The Definition of False

Everyone has an opinion. Some people say that all are entitled but I frequently have my doubts. If this new instant e-publishing age has taught us anything it's that if you look hard enough you'll find support for just about any notion, no matter how ridiculous, and I have now done that, albeit nearly a month late.

I have found, perhaps, the most false assertion ever made: Kansas State's helmets are preferable to Nebraska's. This opinion comes to you courtesy of Sporting News columnist Tom Dienhart. As offensive and erroneous as that may seem at face value it's actually far worse.

Dienhart isn't just saying that, given the choice at some Midwestern sporting goods store, he'd buy K-State's mini-helmet before he'd buy Nebraska's. He's saying that the Wildcats sport the best lid in the Big 12 while Nebraska dons the worst.

This is actually good for me as it saves me a lot of time trying to persuade you that I'm not attacking this stance from a Nebraska fan's point of view. I'd have to spend paragraphs explaining how I'd feel the same way even if I was an unbiased, national college football writer. It would take me literally hundreds of words to detail how I dislike K-State but don't hate them the way I hate people who double-park or the fact that I'll forever follow the Cubs or even other conference foes who have won more than 44% of the football games they've ever played.

No, by offering such an all-encompassing fallacy all that work has been done for me so I can just get busy telling you why KSU's helmet is certainly not the best in the Big 12.

--Exhibit A: It's purple, easily the worst color in the conference. If you need further explanation, please see http://www.uniwatchblog.com

--Exhibit B: The logo itself is simply the silhouette of a wildcat deconstructed. It doesn't spell or abbreviate anything and it's consistently outclassed by it's Wildcat brethren. But, really, it is the class of late 80's graphic design which leads me to...

--Exhibit C: There's just really not that much history here. K-State has only been wearing this design since 1989 which, I suppose, is a good starting point for the only era any Wildcat fan would care to remember but it pales in comparison to Texas (longhorn has been there since '60), A&M ('64) and even Texas Tech ('67). Oh, and Nebraska ('70).

Now, Nebraska doesn't have the best helmets out there. They're fairly spartan but that's always seemed appropriate as a sort of summation of the Nebraska ethos. The "stencil kit N"--Dienhart's words not mine--is at least unique in it's stunning lack of serifs. Few teams, Oklahoma is one, have the guts to go one color, no outline, screw the shadows and script, sans-serif. All of these reasons make Nebraska's helmet, and most of the others in the Big 12, instantly better than Kansas State's.

Of course you might be saying that's simply my opinion but it's not; it's fact. It's as true an assessment as Dienhart's was false. I could conduct a highly scientific nationwide poll to prove this but what would be the point? I may as well ask the people if they'd rather eat crepes or crap; if they'd rather jump from a bridge and land in a barrel of cotton candy or a keg of nails. In both cases you'd get a few votes for the latter (freaks!), but nowhere near enough to validate the time it would take for me to poll each and every US citizen.

But now that I've set the record straight, I will give you some of my own much-coveted opinion. Here's how I would rank the aesthetic appeal of protective headgear in the Big 12:

1. Texas -- The Longhorn logo is like the Jumpman Jordan for football only older.
2. Texas A&M -- Classically styled.
3. Nebraska -- See above.
4. Colorado -- Simple, solid, gold. I think that's a good combination.
5. Texas Tech -- Stacked T's look more modern than they actually are and those helmets really sparkle.
6. Oklahoma -- Nice tradition but I've never loved the octagonal O.
7. Baylor -- The Bears could come out wearing German war helmets with a spike on top and nobody would likely notice but what they do wear is actually pretty solid and it comes in assorted colors!
8. Missouri -- The logo has changed throughout the years, but the helmet has always been black.
9. Kansas -- It hurts that the Jayhawks can't decide on a design, but it helps that no matter what they use their in-state rival will always be worse.
10. Oklahoma State -- Needless modernization of a pretty solid logo.
11. Iowa State -- Pick any of your designs from before 1995 and just use that. Any one you like.
12. Kansas State -- Where else?
    

Big 12 South continues to dominate

Over at the Fanhouse's NCAA Football room Pete Holiday has been counting down the Top 10 Dirtiest Programs in the Land and the "winner" might surprise you.

Texas Tech didn't really do any one thing wrong so much as they did everything wrong: coaches doing coursework, using academically ineligible players, "free bail bonding and legal services," and--my personal favorite--promising a prospective recruit ostrich-skin boots.

Ahh, the things that will seal the deal in West Texas. Perhaps the bigger problem for Red Raider fans is this: this particular study looked only at the past 20 years and in that time period Tech has never won more than 9 regular season games, never won a conference championship, never won much of anything.

If you're going to cheat shouldn't you be getting something for your money? Or maybe, they were just trying to keep their head's above water in a brutal Big 12 South. Literally brutal.

The SEC placed four teams on Holiday's list'o'ignominy, but so did the Big 12, including the impressive top-3 trifecta with Tech, OU and Ag. & Mech. Throw in Oklahoma State at #9 and you've got a South sweep. No wonder the Big 12 North is having trouble competing. Colorado couldn't even crack this list!

Guns up, indeed.

Morning Walk-thru - The Exchange Rate

Cornhuskers on the Worldwide Leader?...Now that TBS is broadcasting teams other than the Braves, FoxSports is looking for a home for its Saturday night Big 12 games. Word on the street is that ESPN (or the Deuce) is the likely home.

I, however, am still skeptical. I'm not sure what the impetus is here for ESPN. As the column notes, there aren't many TVs in Big 12 country relative to every where else. But the other thing is the Big 12 hasn't been that good lately.

Sure, Texas won the national title two years ago and Oklahoma has been a factor year in and year out, but that's about it. I don't see you're average Big 12 match-up between, say, K-State and Missouri ever outshining the usual SEC Saturday night slot.

In fact don't be surprised if the Big 12 got the ESPNU treatment, which is certainly worse than TBS, Versus or even the NFL Network in my viewing area as I'm not sure ESPNU actually exists.

Or maybe they'll get the "Semi-Circle" treatment. None of the "family of networks" will actually televise the game. Instead, you'll just get Colin Cowherd talking about the game on ESPN Radio.

Sox sack Canada...That was fun. The Olde Towne Team went north and swept the reeling Bluejays, outscoring them 26-5 in three games. Boston hit nine home runs total and only two of them came from the Dominican Death Squad.

Yep, Mike Lowell homered in each game of the series, but don't get too excited. That's only 2.69874 home runs in the US.

MLS History...The World Cup it ain't. I'm sure you noticed this morning that the Colorado Rapids and Real Salt Lake drew 1-1 last night. (It was the featured ESPN game after all. You didn't watch?)

This is notable because both goals were own goals--a first in the dusty MLS annals--which I think should count as a loss for both teams. Forget making MLS history, let's make sports history. When you're a fledgling sports league could there be another solution?