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Baylor was a big surprise last
season, but they slipped down the stretch and
weren’t able to earn a bowl bid. I expect
much the same scenario this season for the Bears
as their offense, which returns 8 starters including
QB Shawn Bell and running backs Mosley and Whitaker,
will remain strong, but there defense which
returns just 4 will be exposed.
Oklahoma’s 2005-06 season was a role
reversal of Baylor’s. They started slow
and finished very strong. Much of their slow
start can be attributed to Peterson’s
health. When he finally got healthy, the Sooners
were a tough egg to crack. He’ll likely
be at 100% heading into this season, barring
a fluke, and if that’s the case the Big
12 might want to get ready for Oklahoma to regain
the leader board in the conference.
Oklahoma State can improve on last season’s
1-7 conference record and drop the title of
the Big 12’s lowest scoring team by simply
holding on to the football. They gave it up
a ridiculous 35 times last season. They have
good weapons in place at receiver in D’Juan
Woods and Adarius Bowman, but it won’t
make any difference how good there skill players
are in 06-07 if they can’t take care of
the pigskin.
Can the Longhorns repeat without the nation’s
top QB? They still have the talent in place
to be one of the nation’s top teams. When
you think of Texas traditionally, one tends
to think about great rushers such as Ricky Williams.
This season Texas will have one of the best
receivers corps in the nation led by Billy Pittman
and Jordan Shipley who may be the best receiver
in the country who nobody knows about. The big
question will be if redshirt freshman Colt McCoy
or true freshman Jevan Snead can get them the
ball. If so, the Longhorns will be back.
The Aggies were a disappointment a season ago
and they will remain one until the defense can
start holding up their end of the bargain. As
long as running back Courtney Lewis can stay
eligible the offense appears to be in tact.
But the defense gave up 443.8 yards/game including
a nation’s worst 304.6 through the air.
We’ll see if the 2 new secondary coaches
can make a difference for this struggling “D”
this season.
It doesn’t seem to matter who the Red
Raider stick it at QB as the endless supply
of athletic receivers that they keep bringing
in makes these QB’s into All-Americans.
You will hear plenty about last season’s
leading receiver, with 1007 yards, Joel Filani
as well as Robert Johnson and Jarrett Hicks.
The loss of running back Taureen Hicks is a
concern, but then again everyone knows that
Texas Tech is going to split out 5 guys and
air it out and they continue to be successful
with that. I’m expecting somewhat of a
down year, but this high powered offense will
still win some big games in the Big 12.
Colorado should once again do well in the Big
12 North, but they will struggle against the
South. This is not going to be a team which
win pretty. Expect inconsistent QB play from
Cox, White, or Jackson, whoever gets the job.
I wouldn’t be surprised if early in the
season, Coach Dan Hawkins splits up the time
between 2 of these guys. Hawkins may be the
offensive specialist from Boise State, but it
will be Colorado’s defense which will
be the more consistent side of the ball. It
will be the defense that keeps the Buffs in
nearly every game.
Iowa State returns 10 offensive starters so
you can expect them to look like a well-oiled
machine with Meyer under center. Their running
game will improve from last season, but it still
isn’t where it needs to be to compete
with teams in the South. The lack of a running
game will allow teams to sit on the pass. The
Cyclones forced a Big 12 best 35 turnover last
season, but they return just 4 starters on defense.
Their defensive play will be crucial as to whether
they can get back in position to take the North
which so unsettlingly evaded them last season.
Why will Kansas make a push for the Big 12
North title this season? They will finally have
some talent under center in QB Kerry Meier and
they have a talented, experienced O-line to
give him time to throw. What will the problem
be? How ironic that they finally get a talented
passer to man the offense and they lose 3 of
their top 4 receivers. The Jayhawks also lose
9 starters from their 11th ranked defense in
the nation.
I’m optimistic about this team and the
talent they have to fill in the holes. They
should be near the top of the North.
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Kansas State returns 17 of 22 offensive and
defensive starters so experience shouldn’t
be an issue. But the question still remains
if new coach Ron Prince can get this K-State
squad back into the national spotlight. In fact,
the Wildcats have just 4 conference wins since
winning the Big 12 title in 2003. Honestly,
it doesn’t look good for this season either.
However, I think they’ll make some improvement
although their record might not indicate it.
They just don’t have a clear favorite
to take over the QB position and the O-line
is too soft. But simply hanging on to the football
will help out both the offense and defense this
season. 28 turnovers is way too many and the
Wildcats were good at turning over in their
own territory last season.
It seemed like Brad Smith was the Missouri
QB for 10 seasons, but he’s finally gone
after a stellar career and the Tigers are hoping
Chase Daniel will be able to step right in and
run the show. You can always hope, but rarely
are star QB’s born over night, unless
you play for Texas Tech and then it seems to
happen every year. Brian Smith will again be
a terror on the defensive side of the ball and
he will look to improve on his 9 sacks while
anchoring the defense. Missouri will depend
on their defense to get their offense good field
position as you shouldn’t expect to see
too many quality scoring drives out of the Tigers.
Last but not least- the Big Red Machine. The
Nebraska Corn Huskers appear to be back, and
it’s not because of a dominant ground
attack, it’s because of Zac Taylor’s
precision passing. I’m expecting the Huskers
to take the North, but if they want to compete
with the South, they will have to improve their
107th nationally ranked rushing game. Their
line should be better and Glenn and Lucky should
be a nice tailback tandem to keep the defense
honest. Nebraska should see some more of the
national spotlight than they have in recent
years.
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