Questions Facing Big 12 Conference Teams

We have only a few more weeks until two-a-days start and football season officially begins. There are still plenty of questions facing multiple teams in the Big 12 that have yet to be answered. With two-a-days beginning soon, now is a good time to discuss some of the questions facing our conference teams.

Griffin did not run track in the spring of '09 because he wanted to add weight for football. I thought he lacked explosiveness on the field before he got injured. Even before he was injured, BU's offense was struggling because of their horizontal passing game. Griffin seems to prefer to throw screen passes and try to scramble. Nick Florence will actually throw the ball vertically. Griffin was noticeably limping around during the spring. I have a hard time believing he will be back to 100 percent, much less the explosive runner he was as a freshman. With BU losing the best LB they have had in a decade, I do think there will be a drop off on their defense which was not stout anyways. I have a hard time seeing Baylor being any better than 5-7.

2. Will Iowa State Improve?

I am a big fan of Paul Rhoads. He went into a no win situation last year and produced a bowl game. I do not know the man, but from afar he looks like the kind of coach who accepts no excuses and just works hard. This is the best kind of coach to have. I admit that I do not know a lot about ISU, but I think they will improve on the field. That may not lead to more wins because I think it will be hard to beat NU again. I do think ISU will be a better team on the field and expect them to be in a bowl game. Whether that means they will be 7-5 or 8-4 I cannot say for sure.

3. Can Weeden get is done at OSU?

I think last year was the year that the stars aligned for OSU. The Big 12 was weak and OSU had a team of seniors. They could not take advantage and even lost to the weakest OU team that Bob Stoops put on the field in his career.  I do think that Brandon Weeden will put up good numbers in the Dana Holgerson offense. I think the running game will suffer. I think OSU is a likely 7-5 or 6-6 team.

4. Will Kansas State compete in the North again?

My short answer is, YES. I think Bill Snyder is one of the greatest coaches of our generation. He is a great evaluator of juco talent. I think KSU will win 8 games this year. The Wildcats will feature a tough running game behind Daniel Thomas and the kind of stout defense KSU was known for under Snyder. I expect KSU to compete with NU and Mizzou for the North title.

5. Will Nebraska have an offense?

Much like the A&M defense, the NU offense almost has to improve because they were so bad last year that there is nowhere to go but up. Another similarity they share with the A&M defense, is that NU's offense was very young last season. I do not care if Zach Lee or Cody Green is the starting QB for NU. I expect to see more of an option power running based offense from NU this year. I think NU's passing game will improve. I expect NU's defense to continue to be among the top in the country and give the offense great field position. I think NU will average around 250 rushing per game to go along with 150 passing. Their offense will improve because Lee, Green, and Burkhead are a year older.

6. Will Colorado have a winning season?

Nope. Colorado is going to be the worst team in the North this year and will limp off into the Pac 10 sunset with a new head coach. Am just glad we are not playing them because we have always been snakebit against them no matter how good or bad they are.

7. Will Kansas be better?

I like Turner Gill, but he hired the worst defense coach that I know of in college football. It is hard for me to see KU winning many games with Carl "Wow" Torbush calling the defense. The guy never saw a spread offense that he knew how to defend. He made the KU offense look great in the spring game. I would normally worry about an away game at Lawrence, but when I see Torbush on the opposing sideline my heart swells with confidence. I can see KU winning 3-4 games because they do have talent on campus. I just see them losing more games than they should until Gill fires Torbush.

8. Will Mizzou have a defense?

Not likely. I think Blaine Gabbert will continue to improve even without Danario Alexander catching his passes, and the Mizzou offense will score lots of points. I think the defense will struggle to stop anyone and Mizzou games will resemble Texas Tech style shootouts under Mike Leach.

9. Will Tom Tuberville commit to the spread?

I will believe it when I see it. I think by the end of the year you will see Baron Batch getting 30 carries per game. I think Tuberville is too much of a defensive coach to allow an offense that produces that many turnovers to hurt his team. The first time the Tech defense plays well and Tech loses because of turnovers, I think you will see Tuberville going conservative on offense. Colby Whitlock should benefit from the 3-4 defense, but I think the defense will still struggle overall. I expect to see Tech lose to SMU but give tu all they can handle (and possibly beat them) in Lubbock.

10. Has Oklahoma lost their swagger?

They definitely did last year. I am of the opinion that OU's defense has not had that dominating swagger since Mike Stoops left for Arizona. Last year the entire program seemed discombobulated as injuries decimated the Sooners. I think there is too much talent on the campus in Norman to expect OU to have two bad years in a row. I do not think they will be a dominant, national championship contender this year that we have come to expect from the Stoops regime. 9-3 looks about right. I wonder if they will be able to beat tu in Dallas. OU has the more experienced QB and a decided advantage in the running game. It will all come down to whether OU can put a decent offensive line on the field.

11. Will texas find a running game?

tu lost the national title game because they had no running game with their QB on the sideline. Bama exposed their greatest weakness for all the nation to see. This spring we heard all this hype about a "downhill" running game. I chalk that up to the "aggressive" defensive scheme that every crappy defensive team claims to install in the offseason. tu has not had an adequate running game since Major Applewhite took over as the RB coach. Unless Chris Whaley or Traylon Shead step in and change that in a big way, I do not expect tu to be able to run the ball with any consistency this year. Whaley may end up as a heck of a defensive end for coach Boom M'er last I heard.

12. Will the Aggies' special teams again be "special?"

A&M would have won two more games last year if their special teams were just average. "Average" means we do not allow TD returns on kickoffs, do not allow our punts to be blocked, and make FGs from 35 yds and closer. I think our coverage teams will improve as we continue to add talent to the roster. I am not confident in our ability to kick field goals with consistency. I have not heard any good things regarding our punting. Right now I am not convinced our special teams will be average which is a huge deal. In my opinion, if we cannot punt the ball or kick gimme field goals, we will be an 8 win team, and not the 10 win team we could be.