Big 12 Conference
1. Oklahoma: To say that Oklahoma surprised the college football world by hammering Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, 45-31 might be the biggest under statement in all of college football in 2013. Bob Stoops basically shouted that the SEC was a top heavy league and sited facts to back up those comments. Facts aside, everyone was predicting that the Tide would drown the Sooners in a sea of Sugar for speaking what amounted to heresy in SEC Country. As Lee Corso says, “Not so fast my friend”, enter Trevor Knight, Oklahoma’s QB, who passed for 348 yards & 4 TD’s while a determined OU defense forced 5 Alabama turnovers. OU closed their 2013 season with 4 straight wins, beating Kansas State, Oklahoma State, & Bama in the Sugar Bowl. While many of the offensive players who were critical to last years success are gone, the Sooners have enough talent to simply “reload” offensively as they prepare for the 2014 season. They recruited three receivers, Mark Andrews 6’6”, Dallis Todd 6’5” & Jeffery Mead 6’6” the tallest receiver class in the country and two terrific running backs, Joe Mixon & Samaje Perine. On the defensive side of the ball, 9 starters return for the 2014 campaign led by All-American LB, Eric Striker & All ACC DB, Zach Sanchez.
2. Baylor: Art Briles is now a household word in college football, his teams in the past three years have gone 29-10, beat Oklahoma & Texas 2 of the last 3 times they have played, won 2 of 3 bowl games, and produced a Heisman Trophy winner in RG3. No one was expecting this kind of success for Baylor back in 2010, that is, no one except Art Briles. This guy can flat out coach! The Bears return several ALL-Big 12 preseason picks, QB, Bryce Perry, RB Shock Linwood, WR Antwan Goodley & Tackle Spencer Drango (back surgery in the off season). Briles offense scored 50 or more points 7 times (69 or more 5 times) in 2013 and do not appear to be slowing down, The defense returns 4 starters led by LB Bryce Hagar & DT Andrew Billings. Last year this unit gave up 24 points per game while their offense was racking up 52 PPG! Baylor’s D Coordinator, Phil Bennett, will have to reconstruct this unit and prepare them for sudden change, as the Bears offense can score from anywhere on the field and do so quickly!
3. Texas: The Charlie Strong Era begins @ Texas! The good news, well it is for the Longhorns, Charlie is really a very good coach, the bad news, well that’s for Charlie, his Era begins with an injury prone QB, literally from head to toe (a history of concussions & foot surgery in the spring) in David Ash and an O-Line that lost 3 of its five starters from a year ago! RB Malcolm Brown is one of the Nations best and Jaxon Shipley leads a talented grouped of receivers, who simply need someone @ QB, who can get them the ball! On Defense, Texas will feature one of the best D-Lines in the country; DE Cedric Reed & DTs Malcolm Brown & Desmond “Tank” Jackson can all play @ a high level. Jordan Hicks is the Longhorns best LB, but he needs to stay on the field … as he has been injury prone the past two years. The D-Backs have quickness & speed to burn, but have not achieved in relationship to their talent. The DBs need to step up if Texas is to challenge OU & Baylor for the top spot in the Big 12 Conference standings!
4. Oklahoma State: The bad news for Mike Gundy is his team opens the 2014 season at Arlington, Texas’ AT&T Stadium against the defending National Champions, Florida State. The worst news is Gundy only returns 8 starters from 2013 team (4 on Defense & 4 on Offense compared to FSU’s 13) and questions about who will start at QB, although J.W. Walsh seemed to step up during Spring Camp. The O-Line should get back its two starting tackles, Devin Davis & Brandon Garrett while the starting guards, Daniel Koenig & Chris Grisbhy are both back. RB Desmond is one of the best in the Big 12 and the WR position, while unproven, may be the position that has the most talent on the entire roster. Watch for Junior College transfer, Tyreek Hill, a receiver/running back highbred, who has world class speed, this guy should be fun to watch. OSU defense led the Big 12 in scoring D, allowing a mere 22 point per game in the score happy Big 12! Defensive Coordinator, Glenn Spencer, lost 7 starters from a year ago and has his work cut out for him in trying to contain the likes of OU, Baylor, Texas and so on; so he won’t, his defensive philosophy is to attack the offense, not contain it! The strength of OSU D is upfront, with DE Jimmy Bean & DT James Castleman, the rest of the defense will need to be rebuilt!
5. Kansas State: Bill Snyder is arguably the best coach in all of college football. He seems to do more with less than any of his peers and he does it year in & year out. In 2013, KSU opened the season with a loss @ home, to FCS power, North Dakota State 24-21, a shocker I must say was predicted by Sully’s College Football Page! The Wildcats closed the 2013 season by winning 6 of its last 7 games, including a win over Michigan, 31-14, in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl. This season the “Cats” return 6 starters on offense, including QB Jake Waters, WRs Tyler Lockett (one of the best play makers in the country) & Curry Sexton, as well as, TE Zach Trujillo. While the O-Line should be solid, the real question for KSU is at RB , DeMarcus Robinson, Jarvis Leverett, & Charles Jones will battle for playing time. On defense, DE Ryan Mueller, a former walk on led the team with 11.5 tackles per game. This defense has 5 returning starters and while more talented than the 2013 addition, it lacks experience and will look to Mueller for the needed leadership in the early part of the season. KSU opens against Sam Houston on August 30, travels to Iowa State on September 6, a bye week, and then on September 18, they Welcome the high powered offense of the Auburn Tigers to Bill Synder Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kansas.
6. Texas Tech: Kliff Kingsbury got of to a great start a year ago winning his first seven games as the Red Raiders head coach. He then took his undefeated squad to Norman, Oklahoma, where they lost their first game of the year 38-30 to the Sooners. Kingsbury’s team would go on to lose 5 in a row, counting the Oklahoma Game, before shocking Arizona state in the Holiday Bowl, 37-23! The 2014 team brings back 7 starters on offense and 3 on defense. Davis Webb will start at QB based on his performance in the Holiday Bowl in which he demolished a very good ASU defense, by passing for 403 passing yards. The O-Line returns 4 of the 5 starters while running back, Kenny Williams, the team’s leading rusher in 2013 was moved to defense, meaning DeAndre Washington will start at Tailback! The defense will need JC transfers to pick up Raider schemes quickly as they will be needed to fill some of the 8 open spots. This unit will be a work in progress but will need to step up by September 13 as Arkansas comes a calling followed by a trip to Oklahoma State on the 25th of September.
7. TCU: Bill King, the Satellite Radio guru on college football has often said he believes that Utah is in the wrong conference; he thinks the Utes should be in the Mountain West not the PAC 12! I wonder if he feels that same way about TCU? From 2009 through 2011 the Horned Frogs were 35-4 as members of the Mountain West and posting a 22-1 record in the MWC! Since joining the Big 12 (2012 & 13 seasons) TCU is 11-14 overall and 6-12 in conference play, including a 2-7 conference record in 013! They return only 3 starters on offense, all three are interior lineman. This translates to all new personnel at the skilled positions, QB, RB, & WR! The defense is a much different story, as they return DT Chucky Hunter, DE Devonte Fields and 3 starters from one of the best secondaries in the Big 12, Safeties Sam Carter, Chris Hackett & DB Kevin White. If TCU is to get back to its winning ways, the offense must play better! The Frogs lost 4 games last year by a total of 11 points and two other by 10 in which the defense put the offense in position to win late in the 4th quarter. Gary Patterson has always had really good defenses, clearly this is not enough in the Big 12, as a result, Patterson has hired two offensive co-coordinators for the 2014 season, Doug Meacham & Sonny Cumbie.
8. West Virginia: Talk about deja vu, Dana Holgorsen has the exact same record as Gary Patterson since entering the Big 12, 6-12 in two seasons of conference play and 11-14 overall in that same time frame! TCU and WV have played twice in 012 & 013, WV won in OT in 2013, 30-27 & TCU won in 2012, 39-38 in OT. Identical records, both games between the teams have gone into Overtime, and WV had a similar success story before joining the Big 12! From 2009 through 2011, the Mountaineers were 28-11 overall and 15-6 in the former Big East! West Virginia has 12 returning starters 6 on each side of the ball. While QB Clint Trickett returns he will need to demonstrate that he is completely recovered from his shoulder injury that kept him out of spring practice. RB Cody Clay & WRs Daikiel Shorts & Kevin White are all going to have to come up big for the Mountaineers to get back to their winning ways. An improved defense will be led by Safety Karl Joseph & LB Nick Kwiatkowski. WV Athletic Director, Oliver Luck (Andrew’s dad) issued the dreaded “vote of confidence” for Holgorsen, which means win this year or Bye Bye!
9. Iowa State: Paul Rhodes has won 27 games at ISU in the past 5 years and his teams averaged over 5 wins a season. Under Rhodes the Cyclones have played their way into 3 bowl games (2012, 2011 & 2009) and beat Minnesota in 09, 14-13, in the Insight Bowl! In 2014, ISU has 15 starters returning, 10 on offense, really 11, when you consider they return 2 QBs with starting experience, Sam Richardson & Grant Rohach. Rhodes has hired former Kansas coach, Mark Mangino, to run the offense, a move that should pay big dividends, given the collective experience of Rhodes & Mangino with the Big 12!. The real concern for the Cyclones is on defense. If ISU is to get to a bowl this season, they must show marked improvement on D. Last year, State ranked 105 of 124 teams in total defense, they surrender 463 yards per game & a whopping 36 PPG! These number need to improve in 2014 if ISU is to improve on its 3 win total from 2013!
10. Kansas: Charlie Weis is in the wrong profession, clearly he knows more about marketing & finance than his NFL resume indicates he knows about offensive football. Coach Charlie is 4 -20 at Kansas in his 2 years on campus, not the kind of record that keeps the coach on the sideline for long. Yet, Weis, who no longer roams the ND sideline is still being paid by the Irish, in fact, it was reported that Charlie made more from Notre Dame (2.1 million), than Brain kelly did (1.5 million) in his 2012 National title run! OH yeah, don’t forget, Charlie was paid 2.5 million by Kansas! So while Charlie’s going 1-11 in Lawrence in 2012, Kelly, the second highest paid coach at ND, finished the 2012 season at 12-1. Charlie may struggle winning college football game, but his bank account is undefeated and then some. Please understand, I am not being critical of Weis (maybe sarcastic… but not critical) I am simply amazed as to how this happened? Who would issue a contract for those kinds of dollars that would not have language that deals with a second salary? Given the nature of coaching in college football, one can infer that there is a real possibility that a coach will leave for a better job (more money), be dismissed (not winning or not winning enough) and then be rehired! Outlining the impact reduction on what the initial contract would have to pay, based on the new agreement, is kind of basic or at least, it seems that way to me! Ok, enough about that, The Jayhawks have 14 starters back, 5 on offense & 9 on defense. Based on those numbers, a realistic goal for Weis’ team in 2014 would be to approach the 500 mark! If he can get his team to 5 or 6 wins in year 3, he is on pace to bring winning football back to Lawrence for the 2015 season and beyond!
Up Next the Big Ten East
Share on Twitter
Share on Facebook
Subscribe