Big XII Quoteboard - Baylor's Nick Florence Aces Initial Test

Week one of the 2012 college football season is in the books! The Big XII Conference went a collective 9-0 over the weekend and has a total of six teams ranked in the USA Today Coaches Poll. So, what are SBN's Big XII blogs talking about this week? Let's take a look.

The Baylor Bears are completely in love with quarterback Nick Florence and why wouldn't they be? Especially when you consider his first game as a starter compared to RGIII's final game.

Baylor amassed 613 yards on 67 plays. That's 9.15 yards per play. Nearly a first down per offensive play. By comparison to last season, in our single best non-SFA game last season, against Washington in the Alamo Bowl, we averaged 9.14 yards per offensive play (777 yards on 86 plays). Nick Florence's offense was more efficient in his first game as a starter in 2012 than Robert Griffin III's was in his last. - Our Daily Bears

Surely you've heard about Oklahoma State, right? They are clearly the best team in the conference as demonstrated by their 84-0 blasting of FCS power Savannah State (Tigers were 1-10 last season). However, it is awful kind of them to look down at the lowly Sooners and be concerned about the rushing attack.

Oklahoma Sooners

Damien Williams 9/104/1

The Junior had a nice showing in El Paso, running 9 times for more than 100 yards. Love the YPC average here but if I'm a Sooner fan I'm concerned. Dominic Whaley and Brennan Clay ran 17 times for just 80 yards and neither scored. - Cowboys Ride For Free

I'm pretty cool with 4.9 and 4.2 YPC averages from Whaley and Clay after Saturday night. There are plenty of other areas that I'm more concerned with.

After scoring a respectable win over Tulsa last Saturday the Iowa State Cyclones are turning their attention towards instate rival Iowa. Their having some fun with it as well.

But hey, at least you won the game! You know what they say; a win is a win, whether it's by 20 points or... one point. Ugh. 18-17. That may be the most Big Ten score ever recorded. And not to rub salt in the wound, but take a look at the stats from the game last Saturday. James Vandenberg went 21-33. Hey, not too shabby! Oh, it was for 129 yards? That's 3.9 yards per attempt. Looks like Greg Davis' patented horizontal offense has been fully installed. And 268 offensive yards? That is... that is just rough. But hey, that kind of implosive offense is why Davis was hired, right? - WRNL

TCU didn't play last weekend and, like Oklahoma, they have a cupcake game this weekend. So, what not take that opportunity to finish off their season previews by talking about the Sooners. Warning, don't read any further, or follow the link, if you don't want to relive some bad memories.

To whet our appetite for the matchup, here's a look at Gary Patterson's best performances against the crimson and cream. (His worst: we'll relegate that to a station below the jump. Do you detect some bias here? Absolutely.)

Gary Patterson's first game as a coordinator in Fort Worth came against the Sooners, and already his style bedeviled OU. They won, but had to work so much harder than anyone anticipated to pull it off. - Frogs O' War

Kansas started the Charlie Weis era with a 31-17 win over South Dakota State but, like several teams, there are some areas for concern.

Saturday's win over South Dakota State showed some reasons for hope among Kansas football fans, while perhaps providing areas of concern we weren't expecting. In a way, the 31-17 final score makes the game seem closer than it was. If we had connected on a few open passes in the first half, and if a linebacker had slid over into the correct gap to prevent a 99 yard running play. This one could have been over at halftime. That being said, the score also doesn't properly indicate that this was a game that I felt in danger of losing until Cox scored our final touchdown with 5 minutes left. It was a strange game, that didn't leave me quite as hopeful as I was heading to the stadium Saturday evening. - Rock Chalk Talk

Texas started off their season with a 37-17 win over Wyoming but there's at least one player that fans would like to see get the ball in his hands more often.

Texas Longhorns senior wide receiverMarquise Goodwin is back from London. Has been back from London. There was proof -- he was on the field Saturday night for Texas. He even touched the ball, twice, with an eight-yard catch and 32-yard kickoff return.

Wyoming didn't seem to care for him getting the ball, choosing to sky kick to up-manRyan Roberson following the return from Goodwin, which he was nearly able to break into the open field for an even bigger gain.

Texas didn't seem to care to get him the ball.

Not exactly the start to his senior season that he envisioned. Or those fans who expected him to quickly begin building on a strong 2011 finish that saw him record the vast majority of his catches and score both of his touchdowns after October. - Burnt Orange Nation

West Virginia undressed Marshall last Saturday 69-34. So everyone receives an A for their position grade, right? Nope! And rightfully so.

Week one is done and in the books for WVU. At this point you have probably read countless recaps of the game talking about how each unit performed, whether defensive stock is up or down and how different writers see the season playing out. Well buckle up because I'm about to give you the definitive breakdown of Saturday's game against FCS opponent Marshall.

Usually, Marshall comes out extremely pumped to play big brother and jump on us early. Eventually we get tired of the ankle biting and stomp them out. This time, however was a much different story. Holgorsen decided he was going to end the game in the game in the first quarter and that is exactly what he did. The only person in the stadium that thought Marshall had a chance after our first three offensive possessions was Chuck Landon and he probably wasn't sober enough to see the paper in his typewriter during the game.

Here are my grades with some random thoughts mixed in... - The Smoking Musket

A 44-6 win is nice anytime that you can get it. However, when the opponent is Northwestern State, perspective is everything.

I didn't leap off my couch last night, but I did offer a nice fist-pump to the football gods because I learned last year to appreciate wins. Last year, for five straight losses, I wasn't even sure if I was even going to watch the game. I was sports-depressed last year. Last night felt very satisfactory. Not over-whelming joy or complete elation, but very satisfactory. - Double T Nation

Here on the home front we're going into complete detail on Oklahoma's season opening win over UTEP.

And we're back. For the second half. As we all know, this one went slightly better for our Sooners. So it should be slightly more enjoyable to break things down.

* OU opens up the second half in the hurry up and clearly is the most effective they've been, offensively, the entire night. The problem becomes is this the only way they can run their offense effectively?

* 3rd Q, 12:55 - First sign of the Bell-dozer and UTEP plays it about as well as you can. The only problem was OU only needed about six inches for the first down and while it's close, Bell could basically fall forward and pick that up. It's blocked pretty well, though Ripkowski does get uncharacteristically stood up, and it leaves Bell one-on-one with a UTEP safety. Bell takes him on, gets flipped up in the air, and picks up the first down. - CC Machine

Finally, Kansas State closes us out with a Q&A preview regarding the Big XII marquee match-up this weekend.

After a semi-scare Saturday against Missouri State, Kansas State's home opener against Miami has suddenly take on a new level of importance. With an extremely young team that outscored BC 41-18 after giving up two early touchdowns, this team seems quite unpredictable.

Even those of us who watched that game can't claim to know even close to everything about the 'Canes, so it's time to turn to our colleagues over at the Miami sbnation blog The Seventh Floor, where they've got you covered for all things Miami. Since this is a nonconference opponent most of don't know a lot about, we've got double the Q&A for your pleasure. - Bring On The Cats