Big 12 Roundtable - Week 1

The football season is back and so is the Roundtable. In case you’re new here or neglected the roundtables last season, it’s when the Big 12 bloggers get together and share their opinions on the same topics. Feel free to add your own opinions in the comments section.

1. Everyone knows the national talking points for each Big 12 team by
now (Oklahoma has new linemen! Bill Snyder's back at Kansas State!
Baylor might upset somebody!). Give us a storyline for your team that
isn't quite getting the attention it should.

As much as Oklahoma has been dissected this preseason I’m not sure that there isn’t a storyline out therethat hasn’t been uncovered yet. We’ll see what the offensive line does Saturday night but I’m of the opinion that they’ll be fine. I guess the one thing that I’m most curious to see is how good these receivers are. We saw the impact that Ryan Broyles had and word is that Adron Tennell had a great camp which was verified when he was named as a starter. Then you include the additions of Mossis Madu and Cameron Kenney and you find that this receiving corps is every bit as deep as last year’s. Now, if they could just have the same impact.

2. The Big 12 continues to be derided by other conferences as a
pass-happy, no defense, made-for-TV free-for-all. The question must be
asked, how accurate is this description, and is the perception
something of which the conference should be ashamed?

There certainly should be no shame in the Big 12’s brand of football. The Big 12 South is the best division of college football in America and the conference itself carries the best offenses in America. It’s a long way from the smash mouthed/ground and pound offenses of some of the other conferences and it’s a lot quicker than the vaunted west coast offenses as well. Because the pace is much quicker the scores are higher but not necessarily because defenses aren’t good but because there are more offensive possessions. In last year’s OU/Kansas State game there were a combined 36 offensive possessions. Oklahoma’s defense gave up 35 points but they held the Wildcats scoreless on 13 of their 18 offensive possessions. To help put that in perspective the Wildcats snapped the ball 85 times on offense.

When playing a high powered offense most defensive coordinators would take holding them from scoring on 72% of their drives. However, when you’re talking this many possessions that 28% adds up. Its not necessarily bad defense as much as it is good offense.

3. Over the summer, ESPN's Tim Griffin compiled a list of the Top 25
moments of the Big 12 era that stirred up a bit of internal debate. Which moments for your program were either overrated or underrated?

I don’t really place a lot of stock into these type lists because they’re geared at stirring the pot. That’s the main reason why we didn’t link to them here at Crimson and Cream Machine. That said, I felt as if OU was ranked adequately. Keeping in mind that these came from a conference perspective and not necessarily from one fan base I have no issues with it. For me personally the two greatest moments in Big 12 history were when Bob Stoops hoisted the BCS Championship Trophy in Miami following the 2000 season and when Roy Williams launched over the Texas offensive line in the Cotton Bowl.   

4. We've seen no less than 30-40 "Best Big 12 Coaches" power rankings
in the offseason, but rarely is there the same press for the
coordinators. If you had to replace your offensive coordinator and
defensive coordinator with coordinators from within the conference,
who are you poaching and why?

Offensively I’d take Mike Gundy. Yes, I realize that he’s a head coach but he’s also the mastermind behind what has become a potent offensive attack at Oklahoma State. If they had the type of talent in Stillwater that they have in Norman or Austin then we’d be talking about Gundy’s offense as being one of the top attacks in the nation.

Defensively give me Carl Pelini from Nebraska. There seems to be a defensive revival going on in Lincoln and Pelini is making believers out of his players by squeezing every bit of talent out of them.

5. Time to start our weekly Big 12 Power Poll. Rank the Big 12 teams
from 1 to 12. (Note: This IS a power poll and isn't intended to
account for schedule)

1. OU

2. Texas

3. Kansas

4. OSU

5. Nebraska

6. Texas Tech

7. Missouri

8. Baylor

9. Colorado

10. Texas A&M

11. Kansas State

12. Iowa State