What once was seen as the emerging power conference in football just six years ago is now on par (at least the North division) with the Big East. The Big 12 has had its share of glory since competition began in 1996, Nebraska in '99, OU in '00, Texas in '05 as has it had its embarrassments, Nebraska '01, OU '03, '04 and '06 and while the Big 12 has been well represented in the BCS title games that has more to do with the fact that the conference is not that strong than anything else. This season, however, the Big 12 looks to have 6 legitimate top 25 teams in Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas A&M, Missouri and Oklahoma State. This list, however, is a microcosm of what the Big 12 has become. It is a league dominated by its southern division and this looks to stay the norm with how the northern teams are recruiting (aside from Nebraska). While the conference took a hit last year in terms of overall quality this season hope springs eternal as some of the top non-conference games will include Big 12 teams. Oklahoma State will travel to Athens, GA to take on UGA, Kansas State will go down South to face Auburn, Nebraska plays host to God's gift to football, USC and Oklahoma and Texas A&M will play Miami. Should the Big 12 actually win some of these games it would go a long way to help gain some of the national respect that they have lost over the course of the last five seasons. Whether they actually can win these games is another story. Without further adieu here is the Big 12 season preview beginning with the north division.
North
Nebraska: The Huskers came oh-so-close in a number of big games last year (Texas, Auburn) but have yet to turn the corner. This year, however, just may be different. Nebraska loses the reigning Big 12 offensive player of the year in Zac Taylor, starting RB Brandon Jackson (2nd round pick of the Packers) as well as their starting front 4 on defense. How, then, could they possibly be better? Dirk Koetter. The former Arizona State head coach somehow managed to lose a potential first day draft pick in Sam Keller, six games and his job for his complete lack of intelligence in handling his QB race. Keller, the Arizona State team captain, was told he won the job only to be told the next day he had lost the job. Long story short Keller bolts to Nebraska and Koetter is collecting unemployment. Should Keller regain his passing prowess for the Huskers UNL's offense could be among the nation's elite. On defense Nebraska features the best core of LB's in the Big 12 as well as a much improved secondary. The major question mark for the Huskers this season will come down to their young, albeit talented front four. Gone are first rounder Adam Carriker, fourth rounder Jay Moore and NFL free agent signees Ola Dagunduro and Barry Cryer. In their place is a potential All-Big 12 DT Ndamukong Suh, DE's Barry Turner, Zach Potter as well as junior college DT transfers Kevin Dixon and Shukree Barfield. If the D-line holds up well enough to get some pressure on the QB Nebraska could be a force in the Big 12. Their schedule is brutal however. Nine of their twelve regular season games are against bowl eligible teams from a year ago including games against defending ACC champ Wake Forrest (road) and defending Pac 10 champ and preseason #1 USC (home) not to mention a brutal mid-season, four game stretch @Missouri, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and @Texas. Should the Huskers escape this run at 3-1 Nebraska will have set themselves up for a 10-2 regular season with 9-3 being much more realistic.
Missouri: With what appears to be one of the best offenses in the country the Missouri Tigers should look at the 2007 season as a must win year. Junior QB Chase Daniel returns for his second full season of starting along side RB Tony Temple, stud WR Will Franklin and the best TE duo in the nation (yes I said nation) Chase Coffman and Martin Rucker. If the Tigers can only limit teams to 30 points/game this season Missouri will, at the minimum, be looking at a 9 win season with a great shot at the North title. For Missouri the entire season comes down to October 6th in Columbia when Nebraska comes to town. The game is at home, will be on national television and will most likely be at night. If the Tigers can find a way to finally win a big game under Gary Pinkel this would (and should) be the one. The winner of this game is almost assuredly the Big 12 North champion which would be the first title of any kind of Missouri since the late 60's. When it is all said and done I think Missouri will finish 9-3 but will lose to Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas A&M. The next big game Pinkel wins will be his first and I think that game will not come this year but will it be his last chance in Columbia....?
Kansas State: Last season first year head coach Ron Prince came to Manhattan attempting t resurrect the Wildcats after longtime coach Bill Snyder had let them slip back into college football irrelevancy and did so surprisingly well. With a roster not exactly stacked with top quality talent (or people: http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/239091.html) KSU managed to upset mighty Texas and make it back to a bowl game. That was the good news and here is the bad, they are not very good. While the upset of Texas was nice Prince's prized freshman QB Josh Freeman followed it up with blowout losses to lowly Kansas and surprise-of-the-year Rutgers by a combined total of 76-30. While Freeman had his moment against Texas he really did struggle for most of the season throwing just 4 TD's (no, I am not joking) and 12 INT's. For KSU to do anything other than get stomped this season by Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma State and Auburn Freeman is going to have to drastically improve his play and hope to get some help from his teammates...who aren't very good either. While Freeman looks to become a very good QB at KSU unless Coach Prince can lure some talented skill players Freeman might get used to finishing no higher than third in the lowly Big 12 North.
Colorado: On the outside the Buffs looked horrid last year finishing with a 2-10 record and having quite possibly one of the worst offenses in the country. Upon further inspection, however, one would see a very stout defense that almost (and should have) upset UGA in Athens and played Colorado State, Kansas and Baylor very close to the point that they were only 12 points away from a 5-7 record. Under first year coach Dan Hawkins the Buffs looked putrid on offense while trying to learn his new, complex system. With a full year under their belts in Boulder it would seem likely that the Buffs offense would improve (could it get any worse?) and as long as that D shows up I would look for the Buffs to finish with at least 5 wins on the season as they still have to face Arizona State, FSU, Nebraska, Missouri and Oklahoma. Having Hawkins' son as the starting QB should help as he is the prohibitive favorite to win the starting job and he, one would think, should know the offense much better than last year's starter Bernard Jackson.
Kansas: Under diet-maven Mark Mangino the Kansas Jayhawks are somewhat of an enigma. The have pounded Nebraska at home, barely lost to them on the road (should have won), hammered Kansas State and gone toe-toe with A&M and Oklahoma State and yet they manage to lose at least 6 games every year. This season Kansas might have the most pathetic schedule of any BCS conference team and they will undoubtedly still lose 6 games. With non-conference bouts with the powerful Central Michigan, SE Louisiana, Toledo and Florida Int'l the Jayhawks have set themselves up for a 4-0 start before getting into Big 12 play. They also avoid Texas and Oklahoma (how this happens I have no idea) but still faces Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas State which all look like losses on paper (except for KSU...maybe) leaving them with a minimum of 5 losses. Not all is bad with KU however as they are home to the best player you have never seen, heard of or referenced in shutdown CB Aqib Talib. This cat looks like a first round pick at 6 foot 2 and 195 (translate: 5 foot 11, 175) and was dominant last season for the Jayhawks and may be the loan bright spot yet again this season as I expect Kansas to finish with a 7-5 record at best.
Iowa State: The Cyclones have the distinct pleasure of being the only team in the Big 12 with a new head coach in former Auburn and Texas defensive coordinator Gene Chizik. Chizik inherits an ISU team featuring a SR QB in Bret Meyer as well as one of the Big 12's leading WR in 6 foot 5 Todd Blythe. ISU entered last season as one of the Big 12 North favorites yet they failed to live up to the hype causing long time head coach Dan McCarney to resign. With 10 senior starters returning it would not be out of the question to see ISU emerge as a surprise team in the Big 12 North if it were not for their difficult schedule which features games with Iowa, @Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma, @Missouri and Kansas State. If the Cyclones have any hope of a bowl game it would hinge and them winning two of these games which does not seem to be a real possibility. When it is all said and done I suspect ISU will finish at 5-7 with wins against Toledo, Kent, N. Iowa, Colorado and Kansas.
North
Nebraska: The Huskers came oh-so-close in a number of big games last year (Texas, Auburn) but have yet to turn the corner. This year, however, just may be different. Nebraska loses the reigning Big 12 offensive player of the year in Zac Taylor, starting RB Brandon Jackson (2nd round pick of the Packers) as well as their starting front 4 on defense. How, then, could they possibly be better? Dirk Koetter. The former Arizona State head coach somehow managed to lose a potential first day draft pick in Sam Keller, six games and his job for his complete lack of intelligence in handling his QB race. Keller, the Arizona State team captain, was told he won the job only to be told the next day he had lost the job. Long story short Keller bolts to Nebraska and Koetter is collecting unemployment. Should Keller regain his passing prowess for the Huskers UNL's offense could be among the nation's elite. On defense Nebraska features the best core of LB's in the Big 12 as well as a much improved secondary. The major question mark for the Huskers this season will come down to their young, albeit talented front four. Gone are first rounder Adam Carriker, fourth rounder Jay Moore and NFL free agent signees Ola Dagunduro and Barry Cryer. In their place is a potential All-Big 12 DT Ndamukong Suh, DE's Barry Turner, Zach Potter as well as junior college DT transfers Kevin Dixon and Shukree Barfield. If the D-line holds up well enough to get some pressure on the QB Nebraska could be a force in the Big 12. Their schedule is brutal however. Nine of their twelve regular season games are against bowl eligible teams from a year ago including games against defending ACC champ Wake Forrest (road) and defending Pac 10 champ and preseason #1 USC (home) not to mention a brutal mid-season, four game stretch @Missouri, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and @Texas. Should the Huskers escape this run at 3-1 Nebraska will have set themselves up for a 10-2 regular season with 9-3 being much more realistic.
Missouri: With what appears to be one of the best offenses in the country the Missouri Tigers should look at the 2007 season as a must win year. Junior QB Chase Daniel returns for his second full season of starting along side RB Tony Temple, stud WR Will Franklin and the best TE duo in the nation (yes I said nation) Chase Coffman and Martin Rucker. If the Tigers can only limit teams to 30 points/game this season Missouri will, at the minimum, be looking at a 9 win season with a great shot at the North title. For Missouri the entire season comes down to October 6th in Columbia when Nebraska comes to town. The game is at home, will be on national television and will most likely be at night. If the Tigers can find a way to finally win a big game under Gary Pinkel this would (and should) be the one. The winner of this game is almost assuredly the Big 12 North champion which would be the first title of any kind of Missouri since the late 60's. When it is all said and done I think Missouri will finish 9-3 but will lose to Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas A&M. The next big game Pinkel wins will be his first and I think that game will not come this year but will it be his last chance in Columbia....?
Kansas State: Last season first year head coach Ron Prince came to Manhattan attempting t resurrect the Wildcats after longtime coach Bill Snyder had let them slip back into college football irrelevancy and did so surprisingly well. With a roster not exactly stacked with top quality talent (or people: http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/239091.html) KSU managed to upset mighty Texas and make it back to a bowl game. That was the good news and here is the bad, they are not very good. While the upset of Texas was nice Prince's prized freshman QB Josh Freeman followed it up with blowout losses to lowly Kansas and surprise-of-the-year Rutgers by a combined total of 76-30. While Freeman had his moment against Texas he really did struggle for most of the season throwing just 4 TD's (no, I am not joking) and 12 INT's. For KSU to do anything other than get stomped this season by Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma State and Auburn Freeman is going to have to drastically improve his play and hope to get some help from his teammates...who aren't very good either. While Freeman looks to become a very good QB at KSU unless Coach Prince can lure some talented skill players Freeman might get used to finishing no higher than third in the lowly Big 12 North.
Colorado: On the outside the Buffs looked horrid last year finishing with a 2-10 record and having quite possibly one of the worst offenses in the country. Upon further inspection, however, one would see a very stout defense that almost (and should have) upset UGA in Athens and played Colorado State, Kansas and Baylor very close to the point that they were only 12 points away from a 5-7 record. Under first year coach Dan Hawkins the Buffs looked putrid on offense while trying to learn his new, complex system. With a full year under their belts in Boulder it would seem likely that the Buffs offense would improve (could it get any worse?) and as long as that D shows up I would look for the Buffs to finish with at least 5 wins on the season as they still have to face Arizona State, FSU, Nebraska, Missouri and Oklahoma. Having Hawkins' son as the starting QB should help as he is the prohibitive favorite to win the starting job and he, one would think, should know the offense much better than last year's starter Bernard Jackson.
Kansas: Under diet-maven Mark Mangino the Kansas Jayhawks are somewhat of an enigma. The have pounded Nebraska at home, barely lost to them on the road (should have won), hammered Kansas State and gone toe-toe with A&M and Oklahoma State and yet they manage to lose at least 6 games every year. This season Kansas might have the most pathetic schedule of any BCS conference team and they will undoubtedly still lose 6 games. With non-conference bouts with the powerful Central Michigan, SE Louisiana, Toledo and Florida Int'l the Jayhawks have set themselves up for a 4-0 start before getting into Big 12 play. They also avoid Texas and Oklahoma (how this happens I have no idea) but still faces Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas State which all look like losses on paper (except for KSU...maybe) leaving them with a minimum of 5 losses. Not all is bad with KU however as they are home to the best player you have never seen, heard of or referenced in shutdown CB Aqib Talib. This cat looks like a first round pick at 6 foot 2 and 195 (translate: 5 foot 11, 175) and was dominant last season for the Jayhawks and may be the loan bright spot yet again this season as I expect Kansas to finish with a 7-5 record at best.
Iowa State: The Cyclones have the distinct pleasure of being the only team in the Big 12 with a new head coach in former Auburn and Texas defensive coordinator Gene Chizik. Chizik inherits an ISU team featuring a SR QB in Bret Meyer as well as one of the Big 12's leading WR in 6 foot 5 Todd Blythe. ISU entered last season as one of the Big 12 North favorites yet they failed to live up to the hype causing long time head coach Dan McCarney to resign. With 10 senior starters returning it would not be out of the question to see ISU emerge as a surprise team in the Big 12 North if it were not for their difficult schedule which features games with Iowa, @Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma, @Missouri and Kansas State. If the Cyclones have any hope of a bowl game it would hinge and them winning two of these games which does not seem to be a real possibility. When it is all said and done I suspect ISU will finish at 5-7 with wins against Toledo, Kent, N. Iowa, Colorado and Kansas.
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