Tail Back Charles Hugh runs into a squad of Nebraska defenders, at Folsom Field in 2007. Considered by many to be the Buffs' biggest rival team, they may also be CU's biggest competition. (CU Independent File/William Drumm)
Editor’s note: Welcome to the CU Independent’s week-long season preview of the Colorado Buffaloes football team. Each day we will delve into the different aspects of CU football leading up to the CSU vs. CU game. On Day 5, we will take a look at the Big 12 Conference.
The opinions represented in this article do not necessarily represent those of the staff of CUIndependent.com nor any of its sponsors.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the split personalities of the character in Robert Louis Stevenson’s 19th century novella, is a common analogy in sports. Usually, it often refers to a team that underperforms one week and then overperforms the next.
In the case of the Big 12 Conference, however, the analogy seems to apply to the stark contrast between the North and South divisions. On one hand, the Big 12 South is full of top 25 potential and three BCS (Bowl Championship Series) contenders. In the North, you have a division that has seen numerous coaching changes in the past five years and lackluster records. The lopsided nature of this year’s Big 12 has been seen before. The North has had its glory days, too. However, in this season, it is all about the South and the many questions that come from it.
• Will Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford win back-to-back Heisman Trophies? Or will Texas’ Colt McCoy win his first?
• Will either quarterback be able to lead their respective team to the front of the Big 12 pack and seal a possible national championship berth?
• What about Oklahoma State? Will the Cowboys, the ugly stepchild of the division for so long, prove that they can hang with Texas and Oklahoma, and possibly even steal the South division crown?
In the North, there are also many question marks.
• Will Kansas and Missouri continue their recent dominance or will Colorado and Nebraska reclaim the division they use to own?
• Can Bill Snyder resurrect Kansas State for a second time?
• Will Iowa State be annexed to Division I-AA?
Yes there are questions aplenty in the Big 12 and they won’t be answered until the season wraps up in three months. But until then, here are my predictions as to how it will go down:
North:
1. Nebraska (8-4) – This prediction is mainly by default given the weakness of the Big 12 North in recent years. The Cornhuskers play their toughest division foes on the road, but I still see them coming out slightly ahead of the rest.
2. Kansas (8-4) – You can really put Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri in any of the top four spots and have a legitimate argument. Kansas veteran Todd Reesing returns at quarterback, which will be huge in a division with a weak selection of quarterbacks. However, they have to face both Texas and Oklahoma.
3. Colorado (7-5) – After three years of rebuilding, Buffs head coach Dan Hawkins needs to have a big season to prove that his philosophy is working. The schedule is relatively weak but the talent on the field, while thin at some positions, is the best he has had since arriving in Boulder. That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Buffs go anywhere from five to nine wins this season.
4. Missouri (6-6) – Missouri relied on its explosive duo of Chase Daniel and Jeremy Maclin the past couple of seasons. With both of them gone, I expect Mizzou to lose A LOT of steam this season. A lot of their success will rely on new quarterback Blaine Gabbert, who was highly sought after in high school. If Gabbert can make some plays and pull off some victories, people won’t be calling Missouri a two-season wonder.
5. Kansas State (5-7) – The Wildcats’ first half of the season is relatively soft but expect the second half to be brutal (as in possibly not winning a game after the middle of October). With a new quarterback and a coaching change, this could be an ugly season for K-State.
6. Iowa State (2-10) – Iowa State comes into the season on a 10-game losing streak. The good news is their first game is against North Dakota State. The bad news is they could lose every game after that.
South:
1. Oklahoma (11-1) – Yes, you could flip a coin between Texas and Oklahoma and have a good argument for the winner of the Big 12 South (and likely the Big 12 championship). But if I have to pick one, it would be the Sooners. They lost a lot of players on the offensive line but they were able to get four potential first round players to stick around. That’s HUGE. The schedule also favors OU more than Texas, which will be important considering how close these two teams are.
2. Texas (10-2) – Texas should have a bad taste in their mouth after the complicated formula to decide the Big 12 South champ sent Oklahoma—a team they beat—to the Big 12 title game last year. The South will be the most entertaining division in college football to watch because they have two teams in the top three and three teams in the top nine of the Associated Press pre-season poll. When trying to separate these two teams, the game I looked at is the Halloween game against Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla. The Cowboys haven’t beaten Texas in a while, but they have come very close the past two seasons. Getting the Cowboys on the road this year might be the turning point.
3. Oklahoma State (10-2) – The middle chunk of the division isn’t anything to sneeze at. The Cowboys will have a loaded offense and will play eight of their 12 games at home. On top of that, three of their four road games are against Iowa State, Texas A&M and Baylor.
4. Texas Tech (8-4) – Texas Tech has proven year after year to be a “system” offense where players come and go but the points keep tallying up. With the loss of Michael Crabtree on offense, I expect that to change—but only slightly.
5. Baylor (5-7) – Poor Baylor. They finally have a team capable of going to their first bowl game since 1994 and they play in the absurdly loaded South. They could get to the key six-win mark but they cannot afford to lose any of their “winnable” games or else they will be watching football from home in late December.
6. Texas A&M (4-8) – It seems odd to talk about the South being so stacked and then putting the Aggies, who use to be an eight-to-10-win team year in and year out, last in the division. But that’s how far Mike Sherman’s squad has fallen.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Ryan Callahan at Ryan.Callahan@colorado.edu.
