Big 12 2014 Season

[jterrell]

UT: Being absolutely walloped versus BYU was crazy. They have enoung on campus to be competitive this year but that team has dismissed like 20 guys since Strong arrived. They need an infusion of JUCO kids quickly.

KST: Waters is decent but nothing more. About the 25th best team in the country.

BAY: Looks sharp but hard to say where they are with that schedule. SMU is flat ghastly terrible and a 45 point win over them now looks the same as North Texas's 42-6 win. Baylor's schedule may knock them out of the tourney contention. Thus I hope OU represents the Big 12.

OU: Looks good.

OSU: More holes than usual but they find a way to make big plays and that rushing attack is stout.

Tech: Too many mistakes. Too many kids. Half the roster is 1st or 2nd year guys and those guys are playing heavily. Better beat them now because in a year thye will be really tough. It is a program with pieces in place but relying too much on frosh.

IST: Team has heart but really isn't very good.

Kan: Bad team without heart. They gotta fire Weis right?

WVA: Solid program looking at finding the forumla to win in the Big 12.

TCU: Life in Big 12 far tougher than they expected.

All in all I think all these programs should be pushing hardcore to add teams and get back to 12 for a Champ Game and divisions to soften the schedule. This round robin is a nightmare row to hoe.

 

[DFWJC]

Sept 13

Pretty good weekend for the Big 12.

Because the non conference schedules are so terrible, they need all the wins they can get vs name non-conf name programs ...whether the team is good or not.
Otherwise, there are few ways to measure how good the best teams are.
I mean, except for K State playing Auburn next week, NONE of the teams can beat great opponents, so who's to say any of their conference wins mean anything either?

So today had some relative bright spots.

OU beat a so-so Tennessee team in Norman by 24. Any win vs an SEC team can't hurt.

Baylor won another blowout vs a crappy opponent...but at least they looked good doing it.

West Virginia beat an okay Maryland team on the last play of the game. Decent win for the Mounties.

TCU beat mediocre Minnesota by 23

Iowa St beat Iowa.

Texas finally played respectably in a tight loss vs 13th ranked UCLA

Okie St beat UTSA like they were supposed to

On the down side

Duke killed Kansas by 6 scores

Arkansas pounded Texas Tech by 21

A KSU win vs Auburn would help the conference's cause this Thursday.

 

[Aikbach]

Sept 13

Pretty good weekend for the Big 12.

Because the non conference schedules are so terrible, they need all the wins they can get vs name non-conf name programs ...whether the team is good or not.
Otherwise, there are few ways to measure how good the best teams are.
I mean, except for K State playing Auburn next week, NONE of the teams can beat great opponents, so who's to say any of their conference wins mean anything either?

So today had some relative bright spots.

OU beat a so-so Tennessee team in Norman by 24. Any win vs an SEC team can't hurt.

Baylor won another blowout vs a crappy opponent...but at least they looked good doing it.

West Virginia beat an okay Maryland team on the last play of the game. Decent win for the Mounties.

TCU beat mediocre Minnesota by 23

Iowa St beat Iowa.

Texas finally played respectably in a tight loss vs 13th ranked UCLA

Okie St beat UTSA like they were supposed to

On the down side

Duke killed Kansas by 6 scores

Arkansas pounded Texas Tech by 21

A KSU win vs Auburn would help the conference's cause this Thursday.

UCLA is one of the most overrated teams in the preseaon polls, the other two being South Carolina and Georgia, and now A&M who is looking like crap at home against RICE, leading 35-7 as I type in a deceptive box score.

The fact unranked WVU, coming off a 4-8 season gave Bama all they could handle suggests the conference is competitive, as does the performances of OSU against FSU in a valiant effort of an unranked vs. defending national champion. and even UT's exposing of UCLA in a narrow defeat.

WVU will likely be ranked after this week, giving 40 percent of the conference a top 25 status, 3 in the top 20, two in the top 10, and one in the top 5 for the moment.

Kansas is in for a long season as expected, and Texas Tech may be the second worst team in the conference, boy wonder and his 30 somethings on staff have not done a good coaching job.

The conference will likely go to the victor of November 8th, Baylor at OU, but K State is a dark horse in the title race, and WVU can beat anyone in Morgantown.

 

[DFWJC]

They absolutely should not rate teams until several weeks in.

South Carolina is a good example. They lost most of their defense and then got a new coordinator and switched schemes. Given the circumstances, they were lucky TAM didn't hang a hundred on them on opening week.

They have improved each week since then. So "on paper" that'll even make AM look better in the polls.

FSU's lost a ton too. Maybe they'll hit their stride later,but for now they'll need to gel. Getting them early was ideal.

Bama is very vulnerable too.

The Big 10 looks historically weak.

The PAC 12 is maybe not as good as something either.

Face it, if there was ever a year for a mediocre team to win the title, it's this one.

 

[Aikbach]

They absolutely should not rate teams until several weeks in.

South Carolina is a good example. They lost most of their defense and then got a new coordinator and switched schemes. Given the circumstances, they were lucky TAM didn't hang a hundred on them on opening week.

They have improved each week since then. So "on paper" that'll even make AM look better in the polls.

FSU's lost a ton too. Maybe they'll hit their stride later,but for now they'll need to gel. Getting them early was ideal.

Bama is very vulnerable too.

The Big 10 looks historically weak.

The PAC 12 is maybe not as good as something either.

Face it, if there was ever a year for a mediocre team to win the title, it's this one.

I'm sure that will be the SEC excuse when they don't win a playoff game.

 

[jterrell]

UT: Being absolutely walloped versus BYU was crazy. They have enoung on campus to be competitive this year but that team has dismissed like 20 guys since Strong arrived. They need an infusion of JUCO kids quickly.

KST: Waters is decent but nothing more. About the 25th best team in the country.

BAY: Looks sharp but hard to say where they are with that schedule. SMU is flat ghastly terrible and a 45 point win over them now looks the same as North Texas's 42-6 win. Baylor's schedule may knock them out of the tourney contention. Thus I hope OU represents the Big 12.

OU: Looks good.

OSU: More holes than usual but they find a way to make big plays and that rushing attack is stout.

Tech: Too many mistakes. Too many kids. Half the roster is 1st or 2nd year guys and those guys are playing heavily. Better beat them now because in a year thye will be really tough. It is a program with pieces in place but relying too much on frosh.

IST: Team has heart but really isn't very good.

Kan: Bad team without heart. They gotta fire Weis right?

WVA: Solid program looking at finding the forumla to win in the Big 12.

TCU: Life in Big 12 far tougher than they expected.

All in all I think all these programs should be pushing hardcore to add teams and get back to 12 for a Champ Game and divisions to soften the schedule. This round robin is a nightmare row to hoe.

basically this above after this week's games still.
nothing really changes.

just going to say I respect wva far more than baylor for these non-conf schedules.
wonder if Weis even makes it another week.
that dude is begging to be fired.
offensive genius and scores 3 points versus Duke?

 

[DFWJC]

I'm sure that will be the SEC excuse when they don't win a playoff game.

Hasn't that conference won something like 7 of the last 8 national titles...which is astounding.
Also, A&M is in the SEC, as you know.

So I'm not sure what excuses are needed just yet.

 

[Aikbach]

Hasn't that conference won something like 7 of the last 8 national titles...which is astounding.
Also, A&M is in the SEC, as you know.

So I'm not sure what excuses are needed just yet.

The SEC was the barometer of what was wrong with the BCS system and pre season polling in general. LSU vs. Bama being the least watched national title of all time drilled that home.

Not sure what relevance your A&M non sequitur has.

 

[Aikbach]

basically this above after this week's games still.
nothing really changes.

just going to say I respect wva far more than baylor for these non-conf schedules.
wonder if Weis even makes it another week.
that dude is begging to be fired.
offensive genius and scores 3 points versus Duke?

You need to call a Pac 12 or SEC team and ask them why they don't want to schedule Baylor, the AD Ian McCaw has already tried repeatedly. Kansas for some reason is having their phone ring off the hook to meet the SEC's new P5 non conference game requirement.

Notre Dame also curiously backed out of a four year neutral site agreement with Baylor back in 2012 that would've been played in Arlington, darndest thing.

 

[DFWJC]

The SEC was the barometer of what was wrong with the BCS system and pre season polling in general. LSU vs. Bama being the least watched national title of all time drilled that home.

Not sure what relevance your A&M non sequitur has.

My original comments were regarding how SC's improved play helps AM. That's all.

And nobody was more ticked off when the BCS title game was between two SEC teams.
I've always said college football may be the only sport where they really never had a true national champ....especially when the polls decided it 100%, but still with the polls picking the top 2.

A playoff was needed, and really 8 teams would be better since not to long ago we actually had 5 undefeated teams who deserved a shot.

Also, conf champs should mean something but I do t like that in so e conferences a champ may have to beat the second best team twice while in others they don't.

Yes, strength of schedule is huge but sometimes you may schedule a team that ends up sucking when you originally thought it'd be a great match.
I don't mind if a "power conf" school schedules one patsy, but when it's three it's not fair.
Clemson, OK St, and Ohio st already have losses when they could easily be 3-0 with easier opponents.
But those 2-1 records are at least equal to 3-0 vs 3 patsies.

 

[jterrell]

Hasn't that conference won something like 7 of the last 8 national titles...which is astounding.
Also, A&M is in the SEC, as you know.

So I'm not sure what excuses are needed just yet.

About twice in that 7 year run of SEC winners were they truly undoubtedly proven on the field to be the best.
The rest of the titles were 1 or TWO loss teams of which the NCAA had a handful and the SEC given the nod which is why people hate their overrating.

TAMU is not winning a title this year. They simply aren't good enough. They can beat any team on nay day but they aren't going to consistently win because they are too young.

The SEC is both the best football conference and also mightily overrated.

 

[jterrell]

You need to call a Pac 12 or SEC team and ask them why they don't want to schedule Baylor, the AD Ian McCaw has already tried repeatedly. Kansas for some reason is having their phone ring off the hook to meet the SEC's new P5 non conference game requirement.

Notre Dame also curiously backed out of a four year neutral site agreement with Baylor back in 2012 that would've been played in Arlington, darndest thing.

i dont need to call anyone. baylor needs to make calls and get games if they want into a 4 team playoff.
a 1 loss baylor team with a meaningful non-conf win might make top 4.
a 1 loss baylor with this schedule is not going to no matter what so at that point their season would be over.
bama has a weak sauce sched too but managed to get WVA on it at least.

Baylor has SMU, Lamar and Rice next year....

 

[DFWJC]

About twice in that 7 year run of SEC winners were they truly undoubtedly proven on the field to be the best.
The rest of the titles were 1 or TWO loss teams of which the NCAA had a handful and the SEC given the nod which is why people hate their overrating.

TAMU is not winning a title this year. They simply aren't good enough. They can beat any team on nay day but they aren't going to consistently win because they are too young.

The SEC is both the best football conference and also mightily overrated.

Oh, I don't at all think TAM is winning it. I was just saying improvement by SC helps them on paper.
No earth shattering news on my part, I know.

 

[Aikbach]

i dont need to call anyone. baylor needs to make calls and get games if they want into a 4 team playoff.
a 1 loss baylor team with a meaningful non-conf win might make top 4.
a 1 loss baylor with this schedule is not going to no matter what so at that point their season would be over.
bama has a weak sauce sched too but managed to get WVA on it at least.

Baylor has SMU, Lamar and Rice next year....

Funny you mention Bama, Baylor has an identical strength of schedule:

Bama plays 8 P5 conference teams and WVU / Baylor plays 9 P5 conference teams, one being WVU
Bama plays 2 FBS team that are non P5 / Baylor plays 2 FBS teams that are non P5
Bama plays 1 FCS team / Baylor plays 1 FCS team

And those three schools you just mentioned are Texas A&M's next last three opponents once they play SMU next Saturday.

 

[DFWJC]

No matter what any Big 12 does schedule wise. All other conferences have to play one extra very highly ranked team in a conf title game.

 

[Aikbach]

No matter what any Big 12 does schedule wise. All other conferences have to play one extra very highly ranked team in a conf title game.

Well and look at the latest poll, OU handled SEC Tennessee but Oregon got favoritism over them in the poll for beating Wyoming.

Now i agree Oregon is better, but if strength of sched is supposed to be rewarding it sure didn't pay any dividends here.

WVU likewise has been shafted from the polls because they lost to Bama, asinine.

OSU at least got to finally get in the top 25.

 

[DFWJC]

Well and look at the latest poll, OU handled SEC Tennessee but Oregon got favoritism over them in the poll for beating Wyoming.

Now i agree Oregon is better, but if strength of sched is supposed to be rewarding it sure didn't pay any dividends here.

WVU likewise has been shafted from the polls because they lost to Bama, asinine.

OSU at least got to finally get in the top 25.

Yeah, early (and often late) polls are flawed. At this stage they mean absolutely nothing anyway. The entire season is still ahead of them.

As for Oregon, I suspect they got some credit for already beating Mich St.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

You need to call a Pac 12 or SEC team and ask them why they don't want to schedule Baylor, the AD Ian McCaw has already tried repeatedly. Kansas for some reason is having their phone ring off the hook to meet the SEC's new P5 non conference game requirement.

Notre Dame also curiously backed out of a four year neutral site agreement with Baylor back in 2012 that would've been played in Arlington, darndest thing.

Maybe you need to get a better AD.

Oliver Luck has already scheduled us a P5 out of conference game the next 5+ years.
He knows, as Bowlsby has said, that we need to schedule better Out of conference games. At the very least one out of conference game with a team from a P5 conference.

Does not always have to be an Alabama or the top of a p5 conference team but at least get one P5 conference team.

2014- Alabama and Maryland
2015 - Maryland
2016 - BYU (not a P5 team but not a lower level school either)
2017- Virginia tech
2018 - Tennessee and NC State
2019- NC State
2020 - Maryland
2021- Maryland and Virginia Tech
2022 Virginia tech
2023 Penn State
2024 Penn State

Keep in mind there are also some open spots in some of those years so there might be more P5 teams added.

So If WVU can do it, no excuse for Baylor not to do it. Again it does not have to be a top team in a P5 conference.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Congrats to Iowa State for beating Iowa.

Saw this on another board and got a laugh out of it...opening a can up lol

 

[Aikbach]

Maybe you need to get a better AD.

Oliver Luck has already scheduled us a P5 out of conference game the next 5+ years.
He knows, as Bowlsby has said, that we need to schedule better Out of conference games. At the very least one out of conference game with a team from a P5 conference.

Does not always have to be an Alabama or the top of a p5 conference team but at least get one P5 conference team.

2014- Alabama and Maryland
2015 - Maryland
2016 - BYU (not a P5 team but not a lower level school either)
2017- Virginia tech
2018 - Tennessee and NC State
2019- NC State
2020 - Maryland
2021- Maryland and Virginia Tech
2022 Virginia tech
2023 Penn State
2024 Penn State

Keep in mind there are also some open spots in some of those years so there might be more P5 teams added.

So If WVU can do it, no excuse for Baylor not to do it. Again it does not have to be a top team in a P5 conference.

Yeah, an an AD who has hired Scott Drew, Kim Mulkey and Art Briles is absolute crap... Again P5 teams don't want to play Baylor, they want to play Kansas.