I'm working in Costa Rica this week with very bad internet connections so here's a quick recap of what's being discussed on SBN's Big 12 Blogs.
The decision by the Big 12 board of directors to give commissioner Dan Beebe a three year extension on his current contract makes me question their capacity to govern. Beebe is a weak leader who lacks vision, which is why other conference commissioners felt free to come poach Big 12 teams in an attempt to strengthen their conferences.The conference was saved by ESPN and Fox's need to keep rights fees down, so they stepped in and guaranteed a fees for a 10-team league, a guarantee no one has seen in writing yet. Being so incompetent at your job that someone else has to come in and save the day is worthy of an extension? The right move here was to look for new leadership, not continue with the status quo. -I Am The 12th Man
The wait is over, time to start anew. Vic Lombardi of Channel 4 news has announced that Dan Hawkins will no longer be the head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes. According to Channel 7 news, linebackers coach Brian Cabral will be the interim head coach. Hawkins, once one of the hottest coaching candidates out of Boise State, will leave Boulder with a dismal record and a tenure that will go down in Colorado history as one of the worst ever. - The Ralphie Report
The original plan for the Iowa State game is to drive down Friday night, spend the night in a hotel room in Ames, then spend the pregame tailgating with some friends. All of that gets crapped down the toilet as right around the Minnesota - Iowa border the battery light goes on on my Saturn Vue's dashboard. The dashboard lights dim slightly, and I realize the alternator has died. The car, of course, continues on, but I start shutting things down. I turn down the dashboard lights, turn down the fan, and turn off the iPod - at least for a few minutes until I realize that I'm not going to drive through the Iowa darkness with no music. - Corn Nation
8-1, top ten in the only ranking that matters, and (barring something unexpected happening) we will be favored in our final three games. The holes this Cowboy team had a month ago have been sealed up, the things that were working a month ago are working even better now, and the agreement I made a month ago that "I will propose marriage when OSU goes to a BCS bowl" is making the likelihood of me faking my own death in January a real possibility. And did I mention that Oklahoma State is 8-1? EIGHT and effing ONE! Here is a list of seasons in which Oklahoma State has been 8-1 (use the page-down button to get through this monster list quickly): - Cowboys Ride For Free
It was another week of upheaval in the Big 12, and there's a new occupant of my #1 slot.
#1 Oklahoma State (8-1, 4-1)
OSU didn't just beat Baylor, they annihilated them. Baylor had NO chance whatsoever against the Cowboys. For that, I give them the nod over Nebraska and slide them into the #1 spot. The Big 12 Championship should give us a chance to see the Cowboys face off against the Huskers. First though, the Pokes must navigate their way through Austin against the Longhorns and play the Sooners in Stillwater. - Clone Chronicles
When Kansas initially hired current Head Coach Turner Gill it looked like a potential plan masterminded by Tom Osborne to effectively eliminate competition by sending a "mole" to take over a program that had recently committed to the sport of football and even embarrassed(76-39) Nebraska very recently. Soak it in for a minute, it happened once. - Rock Chalk Talk
A few weeks ago Hopkins Horn and I were tossing around column ideas that would capture our sense of hopeless optimism in the face of a worsening season. Texas was 4-3. Things were looking relatively pretty good at the time. With five losses this season Texas has equaled the loss total of the last three seasons combined, and with three more losses this season (a depressingly distinct possibility) Texas will have the same number of losses as it had from 2005 to 2009. Even if it wins out, Texas in 2010 sucks. - Burnt Orange Nation
Tuesday's are always a busy morning because it's the day after the Monday press conference. If you are into Twitter, there's not a better person to follow during the Monday press conference than KLBK's Brandon Rawe. He's a good guy to follow. Back to the press conference, head coach Tommy Tuberville always names his players of the game, and LAJ's Don Williams reports that RB Baron Batch, DT Pearlie Graves and KR Eric Stephens were the MVP's for Saturday's win. I always like following who is playing hard on the scout team and here's who Tuberville recognized - Double T Nation
The last time Oklahoma and Texas Tech hooked up on the football field it was anything but pretty for the Sooners. OU struggled in just about every aspect of the game on both offense and defense, giving way to a 41-13 win for the Red Raiders. - Crimson And Cream Machine
In no other sport do such high stakes reside on such a small number of games. College football is both the greatest and most unfair sport because of pure sample size. Think back to last basketball season: with a 30-game schedule, we got a rather accurate read of this team. We knew their ceiling, we knew their floor, and we absolutely knew the Achilles Heel that would eventually end their season. But if they had just played a select 12-game schedule, we might have known nothing at all. - Rock M Nation
Is the Big XII a more balanced conference this year, or are the top teams just not up to snuff? I'd venture to say that it is a combination of both. Texas is obviously building for next year at this point. Or they should be. But non-traditional powers are clearly on the rise. OSU and Baylor just battled for a chance at the Big XII South last week, and both were ranked at the time. The Big XII also has six teams in the Top 25 of the BCS rankings. So while the Big Dogs have regressed a little (or a lot), the rest of the Big Texas, er, XII, has also stepped up their game. - Bring On The Cats