The 2009 Big 12 South Preview Column

This will be the first year I’ve predicted the south in it's entirety. However, with the quality of the schools, and the way certain fan bases have already jumped my case for getting things wrong…this has some good potential I think. Either way…you can hold me accountable later if need be. Remember, no wagering, these are for entertainment purposes only.

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Baylor – 1.5 Gazillion to 1 winning the south. 4 projected wins. (2-6)
(NW State, Kent State, Nebraska and Iowa State)
* We’ve talked about Baylor a bit this off-season, and the same thing applies in this case. Robert Griffin is an amazing talent, but his team still lacks any sort of depth. The schedule is a land mine of tough games, specifically Wake and UConn early in the year…both of whom have the ability to smack the Bears around and deflate what little ego they’ve built up over the past year or so. As I mentioned before, they may surprise a few people, and could go Brad Smith and pull a shocker over that time. (OSU at home perhaps?) However, as is usually the case…a downtrodden school has to drop a few notches before they can climb any higher. Look for BU to get knocked back to reality quickly…and end all this foolish “dark horse” bullshit floating around the conference. I hope I’m wrong..but not gonna happen.



Texas A&M – 5,000 to 1 winning the south. 5 projected wins (2-6)
(New Mexico, Utah State, UAB, Iowa State and Baylor)
* I need to tread lightly here, as I’ve found out recently that the A&M fans are a bit testy these days. They did a fairly good job of convincing me that Mike Sherman may in fact have some inkling of a long term plan, but in the end..you’re still facing a tough climb against four really good programs within the division. An early season bad-but-not-horrible slate of non-conference games, leads up to the showdown with Arkansas on October 3rd, which could decide what direction the Ags go. ISU and Baylor are certainly not going to win in College Station, but in order to make it to a bowl, A&M is going to have to knock off either Colorado or KSU on the road. Not impossible…but not likely, especially in Boulder in November.



Texas Tech - 20 to 1 winning the south. 8 projected wins (5-3)
(North Dakota, Rice, New Mexico, KSU, Nebraska, Texas A&M, Kansas and Baylor.)
* It took a while, but people over the years have learned not to brush Tech aside when it comes to re-loading after a successful season. Averaging a ridiculous 48 ppg last year, the Raiders are without Crabtree and Harrell…which is a costly blow right there. However, Tech still returns some serious deep threats and as usually, simply reloads under center. I think a loss to Houston is in the cards for some reason…as I see wins over the usually suspects of sub-par teams. (KSU, Nebraska, Baylor etc). However, as with A&M, Tech is going to have to pull off a pretty big upset at home (like last year over UT) in order to pull into the race for the division lead. It’s not impossible but….ok, they’re not beating UT and OU. It is impossible. Good team as always though.



Oklahoma State - 5-1 winning the south. 10 projected wins (6-2)
(Georgia, Houston, Rice, Grambling, A&M, Missouri, Baylor, ISU, Texas Tech, and Colorado)
* If the pokes can get by Georgia in week one (and trust me…I’m not at ALL a fan of mid-level crappy offenses from the SEC)…look for a serious downhill run leading up to the Halloween game at home with Texas. (Which should be one hell of a site if both teams are undefeated.) Minus UT and OU, the schedule is ridiculously easy after the opener with Georgia…which lets face it…isn’t going to be much of a game. But in the end...if Okie State doesn’t pull ahead of either OU or UT (or both), they may never do it. Dez Bryant is a freak, and Zac Robinson isn’t superstar material, but still put up 3,000 yards and 25 TD’s last season. Man, if I was a Cowboy fan, I’d be pretty nervous right now. Trust me when I say that it’s tough to live up to the hype when you have everything seemingly laid out in front of you.



Texas – 2-1 winning the south. 11 projected wins (7-1)
(ULM, Wyoming, Texas Tech, UTEP, Colorado, Missouri, Oklahoma State, UCF, Baylor, Kansas and A&M)
How come when mediocre teams “schedule down” they get mocked, but when a superpower does it like Texas, they simply “can’t get teams to play them?” Texas’s schedule may be the easiest in the conference, with about as lowly of a D1 non-con schedule as you can get. (At least they didn’t go FCS, which is props to them.) Colt McCoy will get his share of run, as will every other player that UT puts out on the field. Orakpo was a monster on the defensive line, but I’m sure 10 5 star linemen are ready to take his place. Obviously, the season hinges on OU in Dallas. However, only road games as Okie State and MAYBE Missouri stand as any possible chances for an upset. (I’d say good for Mizzou playing UT after the Red River game, but Mack Brown is like 185-0 when playing the week after OU).



Oklahoma – 3-2 winning the south. 11 projected wins (8-0)
(Idaho state, Tulsa, Miami, Baylor, Texas, Kansas, KSU, Nebraska, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and OSU)
Yeah, that’s right…I’m calling the BYU upset. Oh sure, last time I did this, Nebraska beat Troy by 90 points…but this time, I gotta say it looks like a trap. (Especially considering Cincinnati gave OU a game at home last year with ½ the talent of BYU.) Oh sure, I’ll probably look bad in the process…but for some reason, I just can’t give OU the nod to go undefeated. The UT game is obviously gigantic, and upset possibilities lurk against Tech and to some degree Miami. However, if Big game Bob gets by his one hiccup game early, and the Sooners beat Texas in Dallas, I have to think somebody..somewhere is going to get them. (And no…not in Lincoln.) Let’s see how Heisman like Sam Bradford is with a brand new offensive line that isn’t built like M1 tanks. Regardless, until somebody knocks them off, OU is the team to beat in the conference, without exception.


So there you go. In order:

1. Oklahoma 11-1 (8-0)
2. Texas 11-1 (7-1)
3. Oklahoma State 10-2 (6-2)
4. Texas Tech 8-4 (4-4)
5. Texas A&M 5-7 (2-6)
6. Baylor 4-8 (2-6)



Big 12 Championship game @Arlington:
Oklahoma 52
Kansas 14

Offensive League MVP – Dez Bryant (Oklahoma State)
Defensive League MVP – Sean Weatherspoon (Missouri)
Coach of the year MVP – Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
(And no nerds..spare me the “And he’s 40” lame line that’s used 9000 time a day. It’s dumb. Stop it

Dark Horse – Colorado