State of the Big 12: The Sky isn't Falling

By Big12-Fans Writer Mike Archiopoli

Welcome to Big12-fans.com, my column, and the inaugural state of the conference address. So in case you haven’t noticed from every media outlet in the country, the Big 12 is having a down year. Basically, the Texas v. Texas Tech winner will carry the mantle for the conference in 2005. Yet, I don’t understand why the college football community is so quick to cast doom and gloom upon the conference. Like any conference, the Big 12 has its positives and negatives.

At the head of the class are the undefeated Texas Longhorns, probably playing the best football in the nation. Mack Brown’s crew has rolled through their 2005 slate behind the continued maturity of quarterback Vince Young. In his last 2 games, Young has thrown for 577 yards and 5 touchdowns with no interceptions. If this type of passing continues to complement his ever present running threat, this may finally be the year Mack Brown gets a national title. Texas has a special team that should win the conference title, battle U.S.C for the national title, and maybe have Vince Young picking up a Heisman along the way.

While the presence of a top 2 team in your conference should be enough for legitimacy, Texas Tech has its best team in the Mike Leach era. With Cody Hodges directing a talented receiving core featuring Joel Filani and converted QB Robert Johnson, the Red Raiders should get through their schedule with only 1 loss (Texas). Though 1 loss may preclude a BCS bid this season, a couple of breaks or a win over Texas and they could take a major step into the national spotlight. Texas Tech has been a program on the rise and deserves better than their current rankings (#10 in the AP, #8 in the USA Today) and will remain a threat for years to come.

So your probably saying to yourself, sure you build up Texas and Texas Tech to make a case for the conference, but what about the rest? Sorry to the rest of the nation, but Oklahoma is not dead yet. Though only 3-3 and coming off a poor offensive performance against Kansas, they will still make a bowl game in 2005. Obviously, anything short of a national title is a disappointment in Norman but they will use a 6-5 or 7-4 season as a springboard into 2006. The defense is still extremely talented, Adrian Peterson won’t stay injured forever, and Rhett Bomar wasn’t the #1 quarterback recruit in the nation, in 2004, by accident. For those of you who think Oklahoma is a bad team just take a look at the latest polls, their 3 losses were to: TCU (#21), UCLA (#8/#9), and Texas (#2), not exactly bad losses.

Then you turn to the traditional North powers; Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas State. After an uninspired offensive season in 2004 and a weak offensive start to 2005, Bill Callahan seems to have Nebraska on the right track offensively to go with their tough defense. Though most people are hesitant to jump back on the ‘Husker bandwagon, if Le Kevin Smith had just fell down they would be undefeated. Another contender for the North crown is Colorado, coming off a Big 12 title game appearance the ‘Buffs have dropped a pair of road games to #6 Miami and #2 Texas. While they deserve a pass for losing those games, I’m still not entirely sold on them. The fact that they looked so thoroughly unimpressive in both losses makes me wonder what type of team they really have, something we likely won’t get to find out until they play Nebraska. Then there is the enigma that is 4-2 Kansas State. They stumbled to a 6-6 record in 2001 only to follow that up with an 11-2 mark in 2002 and a Big 12 championship in 2003 before free-falling to 4-7 in 2004. Coming off their worst loss since 1991 (to national champion Washington 56-3) KSU is at a crossroads, another losing season could turn out to be a program crippler. But I don’t see it happening; the defense is young and will return the majority of its impact players in 2006. In addition, redshirt freshman quarterback Allan Evridge is getting valuable experience. Though it will be regarded as a homer pick I see the ‘Cats scrapping into a bowl game this season before re-emerging as a North contender in 2006.

Welcome to the conference Baylor, if the Big 12 were a swim meet the Bears would have received a participation ribbon 9 years running. Yet this year there is life in Waco, along with winning their first Big 12 road game ever against Iowa State, they took Texas A&M to overtime and gave Nebraska somewhat of a scare. Though the rest of the schedule doesn’t look all too promising, a 5 or 6 win season would be a huge boost for a program that is in dire need. Texas A&M was the fashionable pick for Big 12 champ in 2005, yet hasn’t exactly put their best foot forward. A blowout win over Oklahoma State does not eliminate a bad loss to Colorado and an overtime game with Baylor. But there is still plenty of season left for the Aggies to reclaim their preseason hype.

As for the remainder of the conference things look to only be getting worse. Missouri may be 2-1 in conference, but their wins are over winless Oklahoma State and Iowa State. They have Brad Smith; I dare you to name another positive. Iowa State’s season began like a dream and looks to be finishing like a nightmare. After a win over Iowa, they have lost three games and even looked flat in a win against Army. Their season reminds me of Seneca Wallace’s 2002 team when they opened 6-1, only to get hammered by Oklahoma, sending their season into a spiral that finished at 6-7. Kansas has an incredible defense led by 2004 3rd Team All-American Charles Gordon and Nick Reid, who may be one of the most underrated linebackers in the Big 12, if not the country. As for their offense, 6 points in the last 2 games leads me to believe that I’ve seen quarterbacks better than Brian Luke in intramurals. Last and most certainly least you have Oklahoma State- what a tumble. Their streak of 3 straight bowl games is over and you have to be concerned with how poorly they have looked this season.

Like any conference the Big 12 has their good, bad, and ugly. Is this a down year? Yes. Is it the end of the conference? No. Big 12 teams have been to 2 consecutive national title games, 3 of 4 (Nebraska in 2001), and seem headed for a third consecutive game in 2005. So let’s wait until the conference misses a title game before giving up and at the end of the day, hey it’s not the Big East.

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