The round table was back this week with some of the best Big 12 bloggers in the country writing about the sad state of the conference. While this week's questions weren't extremely tough they were thought provoking and clearly illustrated that, at this point, the Big 12 isn't very good.
The Big 12 conference has only four unbeaten teams left and has endured numerous embarrassing performances on television. State where you believe the Big 12 ranks among the BCS conferences.
Collectively we agreed that the SEC is playing the best football in America and the Big 12 ranks fourth or fifth among the BCS conferences. Unfortunately it is an accurate description as to the sad state of football being played among our teams.
A hint if you're planning to start your own blog. Whenever you get questions about conference rankings, always rank the SEC first because if you don't some guy from Mississippi, Alabama or Georgia (the three states voted most likely to kill someone for a stupid reason) will find you and hurt you. It doesn't really matter if they're the best, just say they're the best for all time and leave it at that. You'd think they'd worry about things, like, oh, say education, but if they are, they don't get all worked up about it, so you can leave the academic rankings for the Big 10. If you don't do that, some Northwestern alum will talk to you so long you'll wish for death.
After the SEC is the Pac-10, and I'm going to rank both the Big 10 and Big East ahead of the Big 12 at this time. Other than Oklahoma, there isn't a real good team in this conference. Maybe at the end of the season we'll do better in the bowls, but we collectively sucked in non-conference games. The defenses are weak, and with the exception of Oklahoma, no one in the conference can run the ball. Say all you want about high-powered passing offenses, if you can't run the ball, you don't win the Big 12. - Corn Nation
What has been the conference's best victory and worst defeat so far this season?
Most of our bloggers felt that OU's thrashing of Miami is the Crown Jewel of the Big 12's non-conference games but a few of us agreed that Iowa State's lone win this season proves that the Big 12 is a least head and shoulders above the Big 10.
Best Victory - I'm going to have to go with Oklahoma over Miami here. Sure, Miami isn't good ol' UM 2001, but the Hurricanes came into Norman wanting to make a statement. Instead, they got beaten upside the skull with a lead pipe and kicked out of town. This was also a game that made me, and no doubt others, look at OU as a possible early National Championship contender and I'll be completely honest: I did not expect Sam Bradford to do this well. - Midwest Coast Bias
When it comes to the worst defeat there are so many options that it is beyond pathetic.
Nebraska's loss to USC, Oklahoma State's loss to Troy and Texas A&M losing to Miami were the top three mentioned.
The worst loss though has to be Oklahoma State's 41-23 loss to Troy. Even now it is hard to fathom that a team that was many people's ultra-sexy pick as a Big 12 and Top 20 sleeper went on the road and lost by double digits to a team that plays in a facility named "Movie Gallery Veterans Stadium." I guess it makes sense though, as that was one hell of an acting job by the Pokes in the offseason to look like a legitimate national threat. - Every True Son
Who is the worst coached team in the conference?
Texas A&M's Dennis Franchione wins the prize here and no one had to pay $1,200 to figure it out!
I don't like Gary Pinkel, but Dennis Franchione has really disappointed in his time at A&M. Show me a Big 12 Coach in the Southern Division that has lost at home to Iowa State, and I'll show you, well, Fran. - Clone Chronicles
With the regular season already a third of the way over, which players received too much hype in late August and which players didn't receive enough?
Oklahoma State's Bobby Reid received a lot of mention as a player who received too much preseason hype. Part of it is due to poor play and another part to OSU coach Mike Gundy's tirade last Saturday night. We just want to be clear that none of it had anything to do with his mom feeding him chicken.
On the disappointment side of things, the obvious choice on offense is Bobby Reid. He was hyped as the leader of the best offense in the Big 12 (potentially), but has disappointed so much that he has now lost a starting job, not to mention causing a overblown media blowup by his coach. Defensively, the first name that pops in my head is Bo Ruud. Sure, he has played good, but not at the level he was expected to when plenty of people had him pegged as their Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. - Rock Chalk Talk
In not receiving enough Hype, Oklahoma's Sam Bradford was mentioned over and again but I agree whole heartedly with Bring on the Cats.
It would seem OU quarterback Sam Bradford is the obvious choice here, but I considered him more unproven than underrated. I'll cast a vote for K-State wide receiver Jordy Nelson. After a good season in 2005 (including eight touchdowns), Nelson played hurt most of last year and fell out of the spotlight. He's back this year, tied for second in the conference in receptions per game and third in receiving yards per game. - Bring on the Cats
Thanks again to all who participated! For links to all the responses and to see how we individually rank the 12 conference teams check out the comments section here.
