The Big 12 Conference put 2 teams in the BCS last year. Oklahoma got the automatic bid and Kansas, yes Kansas got the at-large bid. It was a split decision for the Big 12 in the BCS. Oklahoma saw its BCS losing streak extend to 4 games losing to West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl 48-28. I don’t blame Bob Stoops if he never wants to step foot in University of Phoenix stadium again because life for the Sooners is no fiesta in the desert. Kansas, yes Kansas rolled into Miami and took the Orange Bowl over Virginia Tech 24-21, now that’s representing the Big 12.
This year, Oklahoma and Missouri are the picks to click in the Big 12 with Oklahoma the pre-season favorite to win the championship game. Do the Sooners a favor BCS, send OU somewhere else than Phoenix, Arizona.
Bringing Back The Nebraska Way
Bo Pelini faced the media for the first time at Big 12 Media Days Monday. Pelini’s job is to restore the Nebraska way that Bill Callahan dropped his doors and defecated on. The Cornhuskers have a quarterback that can get the job down. Senior Joe Ganz was the only bright spot once the 2007 season went down the toilet. Ganz threw for 1,435 yards and 16 touchdowns but that didn’t impress Pelini until this spring. Ganz showed his talent, leadership ability and confidence during spring football and won over his new coach keeping the starting job.
“He’s more athletic than I thought when I first got here.” Pelini said. “And he’s a dynamic leader, somebody who plays with a tremendous amount of confidence and has that toughness about him, attitude.”
If the Nebraska way is truly back in 2008, Ganz won’t have to win games on his own. He’s got Marlon Lucky in the backfield and an offensive line, always a beefy bunch and off the scale strong during the Tom Osbourne/Frank Solich era, is almost to that level. Expect a big year for Ganz.
Lubbock, Texas Is On The Map
Let’s face it, Lubbock, Texas is out in the middle of nowhere. Not much happens out in West Texas but Mike Leach has brought excitement to the Red Raider fans from all over the prairie. This year Texas Tech is catching the attention of the national media who do see that Lubbock, Texas is on the map. This has the potential to be the best Red Raider team ever. Head Coach Mike Leach isn’t succumbing to the hype.
“Expectations are already high. So what that means to me is we just need to ignore expectations and everybody needs to do their job, improve on their role and just do their job within the scope of what it is.” Leach said.
Leach’s studs, Quarterback Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree didn’t make the trip to Kansas City. You got to go to Lubbock to catch them “where we have some great steak places.” Leach said. OK if there are some great steak places in Lubbock, I might have to make a return trip.
Sherman Catches The Spirit Of Aggieland
Former Green Bay Packers head coach Mike Sherman returns to College Station, Texas where he coached as an assistant earlier in his career.
“I know the landscape well and I know what it’s all about.” Sherman said. “It’s as similar as I can get to a place like Green Bay, Wisconsin, where you come to work every day, the expectations are very high and the fans are very passionate.”
I love to see Joe Kines back in college football. Sherman hired the veteran coach in February as Defensive Coordinator and Assistant Head Coach. I was covering the Arkansas Razorbacks when he was Defensive Coordinator there in the early 1990’s. He’s a stand up guy, an ole ball coach if there ever was one. Coach Kines has football in his blood.
“This is a guy that thinks about football when he goes to bed and thanks about it when he wakes up.” Sherman said. “When you combine that with the passion he brings to the table, it’s just a great mix for us and he fits in very well.”
Expect the A&M defense to be in full attack mode this year.
Mizzou ‘ Rah
As a fan of Mizzou football, it’s great to see that football matters in Columbia for the first time in my lifetime. The Tigers accomplished a lot last year including a #1 ranking, a Big 12 Championship Game appearance and a Cotton Bowl win over Arkansas. That alone should have Mizzou fans in frenzy but leave it to Head Coach Gary Pinkel to provide a cold splash of reality.
“We certainly haven’t arrived.” Pinkel said. “We won the Big 12 North last year. University of Missouri hasn’t won the Big 12 championship yet.”
That might change with Chase Daniel running the show again and with weapons like Jeremy Maclin and Chase Coffman, the Tiger offense will be potent. The Defense is stout to. This group just might get the Big 12 Title this year and perhaps play for the crystal ball in January plus, Chase Daniel might want to rehearse his Heisman Trophy acceptance speech in November.
They Do Play Football At Kansas
Kansas may have won another NCAA Championship in Men’s Basketball but the expectations for the Jayhawk football team are just as high.
“You know, coming off a pretty good season last year, expectations are very high for our program in Lawrence, the state of Kansas and around the country.” Said Head Coach Mark Mangino. “We embrace those expectations because there was a time when I first arrived here that there were no expectations for Kansas’ football program and the fact now that people are taking a look at our program and seeing that we’re competitive and we’re able to compete at a high level here in a great conference like the Big 12.”
Kansas’ schedule is brutal. The Jayhawks pick up Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech from the Big 12 South this year and has a non conference game at South Florida. It will be tough to repeat a one loss season like 2007.
Cowboy Up
This year, Oklahoma State Head Coach Mike Gundy is still a man…. He’s 41 now. “I’ve been a pretty popular guy over the last year.” Gundy said. Yes his tirade last year is still on the radar screen.
“I don’t care much for the off-the-field issues and it’s not something that I contemplated.” Gundy said. “It was something that happened in a reaction and I felt it needed to be talked about from a head coach that should do the right thing for a player on his team.”
The Pokes have a talented team and if they put it together, might upset things in the Big 12 South. Should OSU fall into mediocrity again, Mike Gundy might have another blow up for all of us to enjoy.
2008 Preseason All-Big 12 Football Team (Media Vote)
Offensive Player of the Year: Chase Daniel, Missouri (QB, 6-0, 225, Sr/3L, Southlake, Texas)Defensive Player of the Year: Auston English, Oklahoma (DE, 6-3, 257, Jr/1L, Canadian, Texas)Newcomer of the Year: Darrell Scott, Colorado (TB, 6-2, 215, Fr/HS, Ventura, Calif.)
This year, Oklahoma and Missouri are the picks to click in the Big 12 with Oklahoma the pre-season favorite to win the championship game. Do the Sooners a favor BCS, send OU somewhere else than Phoenix, Arizona.
Bringing Back The Nebraska Way
Bo Pelini faced the media for the first time at Big 12 Media Days Monday. Pelini’s job is to restore the Nebraska way that Bill Callahan dropped his doors and defecated on. The Cornhuskers have a quarterback that can get the job down. Senior Joe Ganz was the only bright spot once the 2007 season went down the toilet. Ganz threw for 1,435 yards and 16 touchdowns but that didn’t impress Pelini until this spring. Ganz showed his talent, leadership ability and confidence during spring football and won over his new coach keeping the starting job.
“He’s more athletic than I thought when I first got here.” Pelini said. “And he’s a dynamic leader, somebody who plays with a tremendous amount of confidence and has that toughness about him, attitude.”
If the Nebraska way is truly back in 2008, Ganz won’t have to win games on his own. He’s got Marlon Lucky in the backfield and an offensive line, always a beefy bunch and off the scale strong during the Tom Osbourne/Frank Solich era, is almost to that level. Expect a big year for Ganz.
Lubbock, Texas Is On The Map
Let’s face it, Lubbock, Texas is out in the middle of nowhere. Not much happens out in West Texas but Mike Leach has brought excitement to the Red Raider fans from all over the prairie. This year Texas Tech is catching the attention of the national media who do see that Lubbock, Texas is on the map. This has the potential to be the best Red Raider team ever. Head Coach Mike Leach isn’t succumbing to the hype.
“Expectations are already high. So what that means to me is we just need to ignore expectations and everybody needs to do their job, improve on their role and just do their job within the scope of what it is.” Leach said.
Leach’s studs, Quarterback Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree didn’t make the trip to Kansas City. You got to go to Lubbock to catch them “where we have some great steak places.” Leach said. OK if there are some great steak places in Lubbock, I might have to make a return trip.
Sherman Catches The Spirit Of Aggieland
Former Green Bay Packers head coach Mike Sherman returns to College Station, Texas where he coached as an assistant earlier in his career.
“I know the landscape well and I know what it’s all about.” Sherman said. “It’s as similar as I can get to a place like Green Bay, Wisconsin, where you come to work every day, the expectations are very high and the fans are very passionate.”
I love to see Joe Kines back in college football. Sherman hired the veteran coach in February as Defensive Coordinator and Assistant Head Coach. I was covering the Arkansas Razorbacks when he was Defensive Coordinator there in the early 1990’s. He’s a stand up guy, an ole ball coach if there ever was one. Coach Kines has football in his blood.
“This is a guy that thinks about football when he goes to bed and thanks about it when he wakes up.” Sherman said. “When you combine that with the passion he brings to the table, it’s just a great mix for us and he fits in very well.”
Expect the A&M defense to be in full attack mode this year.
Mizzou ‘ Rah
As a fan of Mizzou football, it’s great to see that football matters in Columbia for the first time in my lifetime. The Tigers accomplished a lot last year including a #1 ranking, a Big 12 Championship Game appearance and a Cotton Bowl win over Arkansas. That alone should have Mizzou fans in frenzy but leave it to Head Coach Gary Pinkel to provide a cold splash of reality.
“We certainly haven’t arrived.” Pinkel said. “We won the Big 12 North last year. University of Missouri hasn’t won the Big 12 championship yet.”
That might change with Chase Daniel running the show again and with weapons like Jeremy Maclin and Chase Coffman, the Tiger offense will be potent. The Defense is stout to. This group just might get the Big 12 Title this year and perhaps play for the crystal ball in January plus, Chase Daniel might want to rehearse his Heisman Trophy acceptance speech in November.
They Do Play Football At Kansas
Kansas may have won another NCAA Championship in Men’s Basketball but the expectations for the Jayhawk football team are just as high.
“You know, coming off a pretty good season last year, expectations are very high for our program in Lawrence, the state of Kansas and around the country.” Said Head Coach Mark Mangino. “We embrace those expectations because there was a time when I first arrived here that there were no expectations for Kansas’ football program and the fact now that people are taking a look at our program and seeing that we’re competitive and we’re able to compete at a high level here in a great conference like the Big 12.”
Kansas’ schedule is brutal. The Jayhawks pick up Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech from the Big 12 South this year and has a non conference game at South Florida. It will be tough to repeat a one loss season like 2007.
Cowboy Up
This year, Oklahoma State Head Coach Mike Gundy is still a man…. He’s 41 now. “I’ve been a pretty popular guy over the last year.” Gundy said. Yes his tirade last year is still on the radar screen.
“I don’t care much for the off-the-field issues and it’s not something that I contemplated.” Gundy said. “It was something that happened in a reaction and I felt it needed to be talked about from a head coach that should do the right thing for a player on his team.”
The Pokes have a talented team and if they put it together, might upset things in the Big 12 South. Should OSU fall into mediocrity again, Mike Gundy might have another blow up for all of us to enjoy.
2008 Preseason All-Big 12 Football Team (Media Vote)
Offensive Player of the Year: Chase Daniel, Missouri (QB, 6-0, 225, Sr/3L, Southlake, Texas)Defensive Player of the Year: Auston English, Oklahoma (DE, 6-3, 257, Jr/1L, Canadian, Texas)Newcomer of the Year: Darrell Scott, Colorado (TB, 6-2, 215, Fr/HS, Ventura, Calif.)
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