The Big 12 has fared pretty well through the first three weekends of the season with a 29-7 overall record. As the non-conference schedule winds down and the conference games loom just around the corner I though it would be interesting to look around the various Big 12 SBN blogs and see what's being discussed.
Definitely one of the more interesting games I have ever been to. FIU has a good defense, but their offense was all that I expected an offense led by Wesley Carroll to be. He was poor at MSU, and he is poor now. It is obvious to me that Jerrod Johnson either has a tired arm that needs rest, or he is injured. He was a step behind on every throw and every decision last night. He reminded me of Colt McCoy in that our WRs made him look better than he was last night. It was the worst I have ever seen him play. - I Am The 12th Man
It wasn't a very pretty start on Offense or Special Teams (sound familiar?) but both areas improved dramatically as the game went on. Enough to beat the Warriors from Hawaii/Las Vegas 31-13. Even if UH doesn't miss that Field Goal, and we don't score on that lucky play, we still come out on top. That feels pretty good. - The Ralphie Report
Right now, Nebraska's offense is kicking butt, both on the field and in the statistics. That's a pretty amazing statement considering where it was last at the end of last season. I suspect that's one reason why the rest of the nation has been somewhat skeptical of our Huskers. The first two games were on PPV - no one but Husker fans saw those games. Last week was the first time the rest of the nation got to see Taylor Martinez' speed, and while they may have been aware of Rex Burkhead and Roy Helu, they were not aware of how explosive the pair could be.
Everyone was aware of the prowess of the Blackshirt defense, but this year it seems to be representing itself in a different way. Rather than Ndamukong Suh tearing up opposing offensive lines, it's the secondary confounding opposing quarterbacks. - Corn Nation
Well, last night Tulsa switched it up from their 3-3-5 and went with a lot of 4-man front,while stacking 3 LBs in the box... basically committing to containing the running game while leaving the outside WRs in man coverage. Tulsa did alternate between 3 and 4 man fronts, but no matter the number of down linemen, the key to their defensive scheme was committing 7 guys to stopping the run on most plays. Tulsa's LBs were playing close to the line, and would not back into coverage until they were sure it was a pass play. I think it is safe to say that we will never see this strategy attempted against the Cowboys again all season. 722 yards will see to that. - Cowboys Ride For Free
Coach Rhoads stated Tiller would play against UNI, although he did not get into specifics as to how much he'd play, or even when he'll play. They may be saying that Tiller is playing because of Arnaud's hurt shoulder, but honestly I think it has more to do with having some competition at the spot than anything else. Remember, last year the offense stalled initially, and Coach Rhoads put in Tiller. Rhoads stated how he plans on playing Tiller every game for a drive, and other than spot starting for an injured Arnaud, we didn't see much of him beyond that.
But the QB position is just one spot. There are other areas I'd like to see more faces as well. Football is a game about putting the ball in playmakers hands, and allowing for them to make plays. From the K-State game, I saw Jeff Woody make plays. I think he needs to get into the game more. Shontrelle Johnson made some plays on kick returns; if he really is as talented as everyone is saying, why isn't he getting into the game? Our receivers haven't done a whole lot this year; why not get Johnson out there in the slot? I just want to see some of these playmakers get the ball in their hands. - Clone Chronicles
This is a tough one. Every common sense notion tells you that Kansas should win this one. At the same time every cautionary bone in your body reminds you that we lost the opener to North Dakota State.
Kansas has been better offensively when they are at their best and since the opener they've been able to move the ball at least a little better. Combine that with the fact that the defense has at least been competitive for the most part and it should mean the Jayhawks have the edge in the two biggest phases of the game.
Just like every game this year however, I want to see a buttoned up performance. The miscues and disorganization needs to go away and if I see another blocked punt then...well I don't know what to say.- Rock Chalk Talk
So it was with some trepidation among the fanbase that Gilbert took the field as a starter for his first road test as the Texas quarterback. Even though Gilbert's pocket presence wasn't of the highest quality on the night and even though he threw three interceptions, none of it ever seemed to faze the sophomore quarterback -- that much was clear from viewing the game live and it was clear from the comments from both the coaches and the players following the game.
Although the offense needs some serious work, there is little doubt now that this is Gilbert's team and despite Gilbert's need for growth in becoming a vocal leader, the performance against Tech under duress and in a hostile environment was a major step in Gilbert becoming the unquestioned leader and emotional core of this football team. - Burnt Orange Nation
After Texas Tech's dismal offensive performance on Saturday against Texas, one of the big concerns we've heard is that Texas Tech did not pass enough.
After the game, Tuberville commented that Texas Tech needed to do a better job running the ball to set up the pass.
Was Tuberville for the pass before he was against it? - Double-T Nation
458 total yards allowed, 351 rushing yards allowed on 63 attempts for an average of 5.6 per, 11-18 3rd down conversions, I could go on but you probably watched that game so why subject you to any more punishment. Look we all knew that Air Force was going to be a tough match up. We knew that they would come in here and have some success running the ball, but those stats above aren't "some success" they are domination. OU had a massive size advantage along the line of scrimmage and yet they were thoroughly man-handled for nearly the entire game. The defense was out of position on countless occasions and I quit keeping track of missed tackles after the first half. You can give the defense somewhat of a pass, unlike the Utah State game, because of the difficulty in defending what AFA does but not to the extent of what happened on Saturday. All that said, major props to Air Force for playing an excellent game and if it weren't for that one fumble we could be having a very different conversation right now. - Crimson And Cream Machine
Memory is a funny thing. Mizzouri fans who lived through the game last night, either in person, via PPV, or via radio, suffered through all the moments: the dropped passes, the just-an-inch away passes, the Ronnie Hillman touchdowns, the turnovers, the continued near-misses, the epic San Diego State punts, and everything else. It was a miserable experience. But five years from now, we'll remember one play. The two-paragraph narrative of this game will have turned into ten words: "The game sucked, then T.J. Moe won it for us." Everything about the play was incredible -- Moe's initial juke, Jerrell Jackson's ridiculous block, the sideline's reaction, and everything else -- and it deserves to go down as one of Mizzou's greatest ever, no matter what you think about San Diego State. Rock M Nation
Every description possible has been thrown out for this game since it ended: ugly, far from perfect, setting the game back "X" years. From a K-State fan's perspective, though, it was exactly what we wanted. Wins are wins this year, and while we can review the things we hope improve down the line, we need to just accept that this team has its flaws, but generally makes up for a lot of them with discipline and effort.
Somewhat along those lines, we need to let go of this notion that Snyder is somehow "holding something back" or "not opening up the whole playbook." I'm pretty sure that at this point, we've seen 99 percent of what we're going to see this year. It's pretty obvious that Collin Klein and Sammuel Lamur are not ready to play at quarterback. It's pretty obvious that we're not going to see Chris Harper line up in the wildcat formation with Daniel Thomas at his side. There might be a wrinkle or two here and there that we haven't seen yet, but by and large this offense has been opened up. - Bring On The Cats