The Big 12 Championship Game has been set and while the Sooners and Huskers are prepping to meet in Arlington this Saturday night the rest of the Big 12 is either waiting on a bowl invite or moving on to basketball. Here's the latest buzz from SBN's Big 12 blogs.
The Missouri Tigers have had difficulty competing with slow-tempo styled offences under head coach Mike Anderson. Last season it was evident in a first round loss in the Big 12 tournament against Nebraska Cornhuskers and this year it was a close victory against Western Illinois Leathernecks.
Well guess what Tiger fans? The #16 Georgetown Hoyas run the Princeton-style offence that gives #9 Mizzou fits. - Big 12 Hoops
Back in July, when the Big 12 preseason polls were released, the media picked Nebraska to win the North division and Oklahoma to win the South division. The Oklahoma-Nebraska match-up in the last Big 12 championship game made for an easy storyline, the two old Big 8 rivals matching up once again to face off one last time for a conference championship. There was even a teacher-versus-student angle to it, with Nebraska's Bo Pelini facing off against his former boss, Sooner head coach Bob Stoops. Nebraska was coming off a dominant season in 2009 when they won the Big 12 North, and Oklahoma was expected to rebound from a down year where they were ravished by injuries, and lean on young players who had gained experience due to those injuries to win games in 2010.
Here we are now at the end of November, with the Big 12 Championship Game merely four days away, and lo and behold, the Sooners and Cornhuskers are playing in the final Big 12 championship game. To get this match-up, the Sooners had to come out ahead of both Texas A&M and Oklahoma State in the Bowl Championship Series to win the three-way tiebreaker in the Big 12 South. While the AP poll is no longer part of the BCS formula, it was bemusing and mystifying to watch A&M drop two spots in the rankings after defeating texas last Thursday night. When you consider that Nebraska moved three spots from #16 to #13 after their win over Colorado, and OU moved from #14 to #10 after their win over Oklahoma State, the drop by A&M is all the more surprising, because A&M beat both of those teams in the past three weeks. If OU and Nebraska are showing themselves to be top 15 teams in these past two weeks, wouldn't it logically follow that A&M, a team that beat both of these teams, is also a top 15 team? - I Am The 12th Man
A reader brought up needing a master list of head coaching names being floated out there as well as a place to comment. We can add names as we hear them and discuss what is going on with each of them. It will be in the fan post section on top so it will be our place to comment on all the "rumors".
Hopefully, a head coach and assistant coaches will be named soon to take advantage the recruiting contact period that begins today, November 28th. This is a period where coaches can hit the road and recruit in person, something that is very important.
It has been rumored that Bill McCartney has already interviewed for the job. The Boulder Daily Camera has confirmed that former Buffs' Eric Bieniemy and Jon Embree were interviewed for the job or some job on the coaching staff this past weekend (November 27th) in Washington D.C. before the Minnesota Vikings took on the Washington Redskins.
Many view Eric Bieniemy as the leader in the clubhouse for the job right now but many names continue to float around. - The Ralphie Report
I'll start this by saying something that may shock you. All of the animosity I've ever felt towards Colorado was gone before this game was played. It wasn't that I wasn't worried about beating the Buffs, they've given us some great games even when their team wasn't the best over the years, but it was that I recognized we've somehow become brothers (blasphemy!) in the whole conference expansion game that happened over the past several months.
I am still amazed that Dan Hawkins had so little success in Boulder. When he was hired, I was sure the Buffs had the right guy. He was energetic, and while he hurled some insults at Husker fans, they were pretty innocuous, really, and in retrospect rather silly. He was hard to hate, but left Boulder looking as aged as most presidents do after a term in office. - Corn Nation
First off, this game was epic. Not only was it epic, it was determined by only a couple of plays. Had the plays gone in the other team's favor, the results would have been different. Congratulations to the Oklahoma Sooners for having a terrific gameplan coming into this match. They added new wrinkles that OSU hadn't seen yet from them and for the most part, it kept the OSU offense and defense (particularly the offense) in check for most of the game. And without being too much of a homer, I have to give it up to the OSU players that played with an immense amount of heart and determination. They were dominated in most stats but they stayed in this game up until the very end because they refused to give up. They weren't afraid of the sticker on the side of the helmet and that is more than I can say for OSU teams of the past. With all of this said, there was a lot more than went wrong than what went right for OSU. So let's get to the recap and figure out exactly how OSU lost this winnable game. - Cowboys Ride For Free
Iowa State got double digit scoring from all five starters in another blowout against a lesser foe at Hilton Coliseum this afternoon. Montana State came out in a matchup zone defense that slowed Iowa State's offensive attack. We saw guys shooting threes from 25-30 feet away, guys jacking up outside shots with hands in their faces, as it took Iowa State about a half of play to adjust to the zone. Iowa State went 2-12 from beyond the arc and shot only 34% overall in the first half. It was the first time Iowa State saw zone, and like most teams when they see the zone for the first time, it takes a while to adjust. In the second half, Iowa State was able to build off of a 4 point lead, to a 22 point victory. - Clone Chronicles
On Monday afternoon it was announced that TCU would depart the Mountain West Conference and head east, to the Big East, in all sports beginning with the 2012 football season. Besides the fact that Boise State's move to the MWC now looks to be insignificant, does TCU's move have any further ramifications in the conference realignment game? - Rock Chalk Talk
You don't need to understand all of Ken Pom's metrics to know that this has been a great start to the season. All that needs to be said for now is that Texas' performances (1) in New York against two top teams in Illinois and Pitt and (2) against weaker competition, have provided ample ammunition for believing that this is not only a tournament team, but one that can compete for the Big 12 title and be interesting in March. We're dealing with a pretty small sample size here, but having now watched over 400 Texas games in the Rick Barnes era, I have a good sense for when he's got something he can work with and I'm highly encouraged by this start. - Burnt Orange Nation
THE RESULT | WE ARE WHAT WE ARE | It's not surprising that there were folks a bit disappointed in a 15 point win, I think I've come to expect that given the current situation. I also continue to be disappointed that we can't seem to enjoy anything, but maybe I just need to lay off when folks are disappointed at the outcome and not be an antagonist because I think I feel like this team needs to be protected a bit. I know that's a completely silly proposition, but like a lot of you, I get emotionally invested with a team and when there are fans that seemingly aren't happy with anything, it's tough for me to rationalize. That's not to say that I'm totally happy with everything. I still hate the administration and if there's any silver-lining that could come out of Leach's termination is that the administration is slowly but surely becoming exposed for what they are. It's just a matter of time I think before some people will pay with their jobs. But I also can't just criticize the staff and the players because of what the administration has done. I've tried my best to separate the two because I think they're two different issues and situations, but I don't know that everyone has separated the two. For me personally I want the best of both worlds: I want and enjoy the administration being exposed for lying about what happened with Leach and I still want to see my football team, which includes Tuberville and OC Neal Brown and DC James Willis and all of the players on this team succeed. - Double T Nation
Your Big 12 first and second team quarterbacks are Brandon Weeden of Oklahoma State and Robert Griffin of Baylor. That means Landry Jones, who led the Big 12 in passing touchdowns (34) and was second to Weeden in passing yards (3,947), will be relegated to honorable mention.
I really can't make an argument against Weeden even though he has only 90 more passing yards than Landry with fewer touchdowns and more interceptions. Oklahoma State was the surprise team of the year this year and Weeden was a huge part of that. - Crimson And Cream Machine
Obviously this didn't pack the drama of previous Arrowhead Border Wars, and for the sake of the future of the game at Arrowhead (something I personally want to continue), I guess we should hope for more excitement in the future ... but I'll always take this type of win over the alternative. Minimal drama is always encouraged.
I have an odd relationship with the Arrowhead game. First of all, I love having the game there (unlike others whose opinions I very much respect, I am completely okay with sacrificing an MU-KU home game for never having to go back to Lawrence), and when the games are close it's a great environment. But what makes my view of this game odd is that ... I've never even considered actually going to this game. For one thing, it would force us to cut our Oklahoma City Thanksgiving trips short. We usually don't head back until Sunday. But beyond that, even when we were back in Missouri, like in 2007, I never considered going. No idea why. I think I might just be beyond some of the super-intense Kansas hatred. I'm to the point where I enjoy hating Kansas and embrace it (I still chuckle at the Quantrill "scoreboard" shirt), but it more of a casual hate than an enraging one. (And I'm not saying I'm the correct one here. You want to seriously hate? Go right ahead.) I always root against them and everything, but ... I leave the Arrowhead game for those with more all-consuming hatred. - Rock M Nation
Monday night was pretty quiet. Besides our ho-hummish win over Emporia State, Baylor doubled up the score on poor Prairie View A&M (killer schedule so far, Scott Drew) and Wichita State gave UMKC its first loss of the season in Koch Arena.
By the way, how good is Wichita State? The Shockers nearly beat a Connecticut team that won the Maui Invitational and vaulted into the top 10, and if the refs had swallowed their whistle just a few more times, WuShock very well might have won. I thought WSU might be a little overrated coming into the season, but they're proving me wrong thus far. - Bring On The Cats