This week's round table was based on the fact that , after two games, we should have a basic knowledge of both our teams and their upcoming conference opponents. Eleven blogs checked in this week, including us, for some great discussion on the Big 12 conference. Here are some snippets of the round table. To read all the responses check in here.
1. Based on what you now know to be your team's strengths and weaknesses - if the game was on the line, do you want your offense or defense on the field?
The majority of our bloggers, including us, said that they would prefer to have their offense on the field over the defense but then Clone Chronicles made us realize that possibly there should have been a third option added to the question.
Since "punter" isn't an option, I suppose that I'll have to go with the offense. Although rather inept, they still have raw playmakers that aren't there on defense. Couple in the fact that I think we're giving up roughly a 108% completion percentage on third and fourth down, and I'd rather take my chances with the offense. - Clone Chronicles
Some responses were no brainers...
-- [sarcasm]After hours and hours of painful deliberation[/sarcasm], I'm going to go ahead and go out on a limb by saying I have much more faith in the Mizzou offense than I do the Mizzou defense. I'd much rather rely on an offensive unit scoring an average of 39 points per game as opposed to my defense that has given up 29.5 points per game. I'd much rather have my offensive squad that gotten points out of 44 percent of the unit's possessions rather than my defense who surrenders points on one out of every three possessions. Granted, the defense has come up with some timely turnovers, but with the game on the line, I'd much rather see my field general Chase Daniel on the field than a unit that includes a defensive line that's gotten blown off the line of scrimmage and a defensive back corps that seems hung out to dry on several occasions. - Every True Son
The offense, without question. I'm excited about what this defense might become by the end of the year, but right now, Colt McCoy's the one guy who's shown he has that killer instinct to win a game. Give him the ball and let him see what he can do with his stable of offensive weapons.Burnt Orange Nation
While other team's offensive and defensive units are good enough that the issue could have been resolved with a coin toss.
That's a bit difficult to say. The play makers are there for Nebraska on offense, but there's been some struggling from Sam Keller. I think part of it is rust, part getting back into the game and part getting in sync with his offense. Still, he led a fantastic two-minute drill against Wake Forest and opened some eyes in both games so far in a positive and negative manner.
Nebraska's pass defense, however, is the best in the Big XII as of right now, Steve Octavien and the linebackers have been solid and a defensive line than many thought would be a point of weakness has been anything but. With that said, the nod goes to the Blackshirts. - MidWest Coast Bias
2. If you had to pick a team from the AP Top 10 for your team to play this weekend who would you pick and why (OU & Texas are not options).
With sympathies we must check back in with our Iowa State friends.
LSU, because I've never seen a team score 100 points against us before. - Clone Chronicles
Other team blogs made some good arguments about which top teams they thought they had had a chance to beat...
Well, I am going to have to switch the question around. First off, I am picking the team based off of who I think we could beat the easiest, with easiest being a completely relative term. For me, it comes down to two teams. California and Ohio State. Cal's secondary is weak, and we have an abundance of athletes at the WR position (including occasional cameos from Aqib Talib) but DeSean Jackson scares the hell outta me, even with Aqib Talib at corner. So, my pick is Ohio State, who lost nearly all of their impact players on offense (Troy Smith, Teddy Ginn Jr., Anthony Gonzalez and Antonio Pittman) and now rely heavily on a true sophomore in Chris 'Beanie' Wells. He has plenty of talent, but there is that whole 'inexperience' factor, not to mention their QB (Todd Boeckman) is a redshirt freshman. Don't get me wrong, they would likely be the toughest team we would play all season long, but I would feel more confident against the 07 Bucks than any other current AP Top 10 team. - Rock Chalk Talk
...and one blog jumped in on our desire to see a Top 10 match-up against the West Virginia Mountaineers.
I'd love love love to see a game with LSU. If we played this weekend we'd get taken behind the woodshed, but can you imagine how much fun the tailgate would be? Gumbo and BBQ. Shiner Bock and boudain. Laissez le bon temps roulet!
Buuuuut that would not be this weekend. This weekend, I'd love to see West Virginia. A nice win against a highly ranked opponent would bode well for the Longhorns. Plus I'd like to see how Colt and the offense would do against Williams, Ivy and Magro. (Not to ignore WVU's offense, led by dual-threat Patrick White.) - Horn of Gariel
Yet another log showed that a picture really is worth a thousand words with their response.
- Double Extra Point
Ohio State was the popular choice of our bloggers addition to the notion that the Big 10 is thought of as a weak conference.
3. You can take one player off your team and trade him for any player in the conference who plays the same position - who are you taking?
There were some very interesting answers on this one, all with excellent points, but the one that really caught our eye came from a fellow Sooner blogger.
That's tough - has anyone in the conference played their position as well as anyone for the Sooners? It might sound controversial, but if we had to make a trade it would be Bradford for Chase Daniel of Missouri.
Daniel is a junior and has all the tools to be great. Put him behind Oklahoma's line, throwing to Oklahoma's wide receivers and handing off to Oklahoma's running backs, and people would probably be talking Heisman right now. Also, since Daniel is a junior, true freshman Keith Nichol could develop without the prospect of never getting on the field. - Campus Pigskin
Meanwhile Kansas State blog Bring on the Cats would take OU's Duke Robinson to play any position on the offensive line.
Hmm, are we talking fair value? I can't tell from OU's Web site which position Duke Robinson plays, but he's good enough I'd take him at any position. I don't mean this as a slight to Brock Unruh, but Robinson is an all-conference performer and would be a great anchor for any line. A close second would probably be Jeron Mastrud for Martin Rucker/Carson Coffman. - Bring on the Cats
4. Conference Power Rankings! Rank the teams in the conference from first to worst.
After tallying the votes here's how we collectively ranked the conference.
- Oklahoma - 120 pts
- Texas - 108 pts
- Nebraska - 97 pts
- Missouri - 86 pts
- Texas A&M 73 pts
- Kansas State 62 pts
- Texas Tech 60 pts
- Kansas - 58 pts
- Oklahoma State - 51 pts
- Colorado - 38 pts
- Baylor - 20 pts
- Iowa State - 12 pts
Big 12 Players of the Week - Make your selections for offensive and defensive players of the week for week two.
Our Big 12 bloggers selected a pair of Sooners for their performances against Miami as the players of the week.
Offense: Sam Bradford
Defense: Reggie Smith
