Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The biggest thing with the Big 12 is that there seems to be a lot of pretty good teams, but no true national championship teams. Until Texas and OU can get back to their dominant selves from the early to mid 2000's, I don't see this conference being a legit national player.
Unfortunately, judging from what we've seen, OU seems like they're sort of stuck in purgatory between being good and being elite, and I honestly am starting to wonder if Texas is ever going to field a good football team again. Nothing but mistakes and let downs every single flippin game and nothing is getting fixed. And now we can't even play defense anymore...
I know I'm a week late....darn Boss Man had me in Tejas all week. Here are my grades from last Saturday. Grades for today will be up in a few days.
Week#8 West Virginia (A+) (Like TCU earlier in the season, this was WV's marquee win since joining the Big XII. This was a dominant win against a legit top 10-15 team. Trickett is impressive. No disrespect for Shep from OU, but White is the best receiver in the Big XII by a pretty wide margin. I was impressed with WV's run game; it looked like Baylor's D got worn down. I was surprised by that. Morgantown is not an easy place to play and I'm sure the atmosphere and coming off of the mountaintop emotional win over the Toads. WV might just be the real deal. They seem to get better since OU got 'em at home 5 weeks ago. Hard to believe, but WV is sittin' pretty. Their D is aggressive and as usual, the offense can rack 'em up. Interesting team to watch.) Kansas St.(A) (Yes, K-State got a gift, but it's part of the game. Although OU looked more athletic (I was at the game).....but K-State made the plays to stay in the game. This is Snyder football. Make a few big plays and then pull it back and play conservative and don't make mistakes. It's a formula that wins many many football games. I do believe, again, that Stoops (especially Mike Stoops) got outschemed. The pass to the lineman was a debatable call; he was way beyond the 3 yd transition zone for being an eligible receiver. Hopefully college football will start obeying the rule....remember how Auburn stayed in the game against Bama last year?...same play with the QB looks to run and then hits a lineman in the flat for a reception. The most important thing that K-State did was not turn the ball over. This was really the difference in the game. Should OU have won? Of course, they were in position a few times to ice it in the 4th but didn't execute. The K-State D got eatin' up pretty good in the second half. The Sooners had figured some things out and were moving the ball successfully, especially in the mid 3rd quarter to the end of the 4th. Good win for the boys from the North. Hats off to Snyder and K-State. Oh, one last thing, I know much has been made of the Stoops vs Snyder matchup. Snyder is a great coach....easily Top 10 in college football. However, Stoops' 8-3 record head-to-head against Snyder speaks for itself.) Texas Christian (A)(Great win in front of a home crowd. Hopefully Amon G. is getting sold out from here on out. Right now Boykin looks to be the Big XII offensive player of the year....although I think Trickett, and especially Petty, are guys that might play on Sundays. The speed of TCU offense is legit. Dotson and Catalon are two pretty special players on offense. Special teams is above average and the D is playing good football. If it weren't for having smaller players on the lines, I think TCU has the chops for the Playoff. I think the Big Boys...say a Bama or a Florida St. would eat 'em up on the lines.....other than that this looks like one of the most complete teams in college football. Hats off to the Horny Toads and Patterson.) Texas Tech (B) (Tech did what it should have done. Won handily against an inferior opponent athletically. If Webb doesn't throw the INT's then I'm not sure the score is anywhere close to what it ended up being. Webb is a TD and INT machine. Gotta get that kid under control. He can spin it with the best of 'em, but he's got to be more consistent if Tech is going to win another game or two down the stretch. Tech's D played pretty well given that Kansas' TD's came after Webb INT's. This team should be better than what it is. We'll see how they finish.) Texas(C) (Pulled out the victory at home, but this game should have not been this close in Austin. I thought the Horns might be ascending after showing some good things against the Sooners, but again, this team just looks stagnant. Some games they play with great passion and fight and other games they seem to be lethargic....see BYU game the last couple of years. Swoopes is still making strides and the throws to Shipley/Harris at the end of the game showed a bunch of mental toughness to get it done in crunch time. Still, the Shorthorn D is just a mystery to me. They played really well against Baylor and OU....and Iowa St. puts 45 on 'em at home? Weird. It was good to see Tejas run the ball with some success there in the second half. It's always better to win ugly than lose pretty...eh Tejas?) Iowa State (C) (I normally don't give average grades for losing efforts. But the Cyclones left it all out there on the field. They fought their hearts out against better athletes. You have to admire Paul Rhodes for his fire and he has his guys believing. Richardson is an efficient QB and Bibbs is one of the better playmakers in the Big XII. The D is really suspect giving up almost 50 to Tejas, which is still learning who they are on offense. Question: Can we trade OC's? We'll give you Heupel for Mangino straight-up!) Kansas (D+) (Without the Tech turnovers this is a blowout. Honestly, I'm more interested in who Kansas will hire. I've heard Venebles could be a candidate. That would be interesting.) Oklahoma (D) (The Sooners did not execute when it mattered most. Plain and simple. OU has the athletes to be an elite team, but not the championship mettle. It was impressive that OU fought to stay in the game after spotting K-State seven with the pick six in our own endzone and down a few points going into halftime. OU came out pretty strong especially getting some steam in the mid 3rd. The most glaring errors came on D. Ahmad Thomas continues to get burned on the back end....we've got some decent DB's in Sanchez and Wilson (they both play too soft most of the time), but our safeties and LB's are very average in the pass game. Trevor Knight did much better in the 2nd half and played well enough to put the Sooners in a position to win. Our kicker choked and we lost. It happens, but rarely happens to OU in those situations, especially at home. Some credit has to be giving to Snyder and his team for throwing OU off in some critical spots. Another major issue for OU is our playcalling. Everyone in the stadium (including the few K-State fans) were mystified why Heupel called pass play....a reverse pass no less....when OU was runnin' down K-State's throat towards the end of the 3rd quarter. That was truly the difference in the ball game. OU was moving the ball well with tempo and K-State's D was getting gassed. So Heupel calls a receiver reverse pass on K-State's 10 yard line, first down, in which Neal forced the ball into double coverage and threw an INT. This is the height of poor coaching. Yes, Neal should have never thrown the ball into double coverage...either tuck it and run or throw it away. But the fact that a pass play (a high risk pass play!) is called when the Sooners were having success running the ball is just nutso. The ball should have never been in Neal's hands in that situation. The targeting call against Ripkowski was weak too. The targeting rule should only be called against defenders, usually safeties/DB's or when a player uses the crown of the helmet against a QB. Other than that it should never be called. The NCAA is turnin' these kids into a bunch of tenderfoots. OU, as poorly as it played in some spots, climbed back in it and should have won. The mental toughness of this team is in question, to be sure. They've got a chance to hang around and see what happens with other teams, so we'll see what this team is made of from here on out....knowing they were supposed to be in the Playoff, but gave it away. Hopefully they won't lay down. We'll see.) Oklahoma State (F) (Got blown out, which doesn't happen all too often to Mike Gundy. It's pretty clear that the youth of this team is losing games down the stretch. Garman continues to throw ball up for grabs. That cannot be done against decent defenses....and Patterson's defensive set is tailor made for INT's. I was surpised that Oklahoma State didn't score more. Gotta put that ball in the endzone for TD when you're in the Red Zone. Credit TCU's D most of all. We all knew that Boykin & Co. would rip OSU's D, but I was really impressed with the defensive performance by the Toads.) Baylor (F) (Wow. Baylor got dominated. That hasn't happened often the last few years. I have to be honest, I was not expecting to give Baylor an F anytime during this season. Petty looked pretty average in this game. He was slow moving in the pocket and threw the ball sluggish....his O-Line looked very average to me for the first time in a long time watching the Bears. More importantly, where was the D? They totally disappeared. Granted, Morgantown is a weird place to play....crazy fans and it seems like a world away for Southwestern based teams, just ask OU/OSU. No disrespect to Trickett/White/Alford....they are one of the best threesome's in the Big XII. However, Baylor's D got torched when it mattered most, sadly after playing decent most of the game. Most alarming are all those penalties, over 200 yds of penalties, if I remember correctly. Can't do that and expect to win games. This game shows that any team that can't run the ball effectively is going to have a hard time getting the ball in the endzone, especially down the stretch.)
Last edited by Bass&Catfish2008; 10-25-2014 at 09:33 PM..
The biggest thing with the Big 12 is that there seems to be a lot of pretty good teams, but no true national championship teams. Until Texas and OU can get back to their dominant selves from the early to mid 2000's, I don't see this conference being a legit national player.
Unfortunately, judging from what we've seen, OU seems like they're sort of stuck in purgatory between being good and being elite, and I honestly am starting to wonder if Texas is ever going to field a good football team again. Nothing but mistakes and let downs every single flippin game and nothing is getting fixed. And now we can't even play defense anymore...
I agree, for the most part. OU and Tejas probably are the only teams with the athletic chops to take it the distance with the other Big Boys, most notably the SEC. Other teams from the Big XII will rise up from time to time, as we've seen this year.
I would throw TCU in there (just this year) if they had bigger lineman on both sides of the ball. I think the SEC powers would eat 'em up pretty good if they were to play a game that came down to the team that had to run the ball. And, for the most part, the title games are won in the trenches and teeter on a few big plays/turnovers.
Go ahead and rag on the win if that's the best you can do. Take your best shot, buddy, OU did and came up short.
Personally, I would rather give credit where credit is due. KSU played tough and stayed in the game. Those presents mattered because it was a close game. Credit to Coach Snyder and the Kansas State team on their win.
IMO "presents" are part of the game. Every team gets them and gives them in EVERY SINGLE GAME played, in case you haven't noticed.
I was very surprised Coach Stoops did not go for it and settled for a field goal attempt.
Good game, RB!
Yeh, the whole "that was a gift" assertion, while it has some merit, at the end of the day it doesn't really matter. Should OU have won? Sure. But the winning team is the winning team, and often it is the team that doesn't look as good on paper. That's the goal of playing the game. If the other team didn't play up to its capabilities and you get the W, then the primary goal still is achieved. Whatever fashion the win is achieved it's a good day. I would have much rather had an ugly win than a close loss!
Hats off to Snyder. He is a class act through and through. I wish some of these young & crass whipper snappers in our league would learn a thing or two from Snyder's restraint.
Last edited by Bass&Catfish2008; 10-25-2014 at 09:10 PM..
I liked the grades you passed out. The rest of this season is going to be crazy. I really don't think any Big12 will make the playoffs. Some people cried to have a playoff system and now that we have one, they will cry about how certain teams will get left out. Oh well.
I don't care too much for Bob Stoops' brother. Especially during the targeting call. I watched the replay and the KSU player was trying to recover and had his head down. IMO he did not see the hit coming. Although the OU commentators disagreed.
This is going to be an exciting end to the season. Three teams pretty much control their destiny as far as conference title goes. TCU and K State need some things to happen in order for them to make it into the playoff discussion. If WVU wins two more games, we'll consider this a very successful season! Hopefully though, we can do more than that, and we certainly have a favorable schedule left to make a statement!
This is going to be an exciting end to the season. Three teams pretty much control their destiny as far as conference title goes. TCU and K State need some things to happen in order for them to make it into the playoff discussion. If WVU wins two more games, we'll consider this a very successful season! Hopefully though, we can do more than that, and we certainly have a favorable schedule left to make a statement!
Go EERS!!! Beat The Frogs!
I thought your Hillbillies should have pulled it out against those Tea-Sippin' Toads. The turnovers killed ya, or you would have won the game by a few TDs.
Still late, I'll try to get on track for next week. Just to be clear: Here are grades for 10.25.14.
Week#9 Kansas St.(A+)(Anytime you pitch a shutout in the offensive oriented Big XII that's gonna get you a really really good grade. K-State continues to just play simple ol' Snyder Ball. The defense was excellent against Tejas. The defensive front of K-State is the real deal and I get more and more impressed by the DB's every week. The linebacking core, true to Snyder form, is really solid too. You can no longer focus only on Lockett as Sexton will make you pay too. Good receiving core and Waters is just a really headsy/gutsy kid. I kind of like him for that, as he appears to be more of a throw-back kinda player. I keep waiting for K-State to get outclassed athletically (OU was a chiggar's eyelash away, but beat themselves) but K-State continues to win games with excellent defense and smart offense. I think TCU might have the athletes to outclass 'em next week, but we'll see.)
Texas Christian (A+) (That offense appears to score for days when it's clicking. I think Boykin should be a legitimate Heisman candidate. He proved me wrong (and many others).....although he needed former Oklahoma State Great Coach Meacham and Sonny Cumbie to go to the next level as a player. Good for him and good for Texas Christian. Any time you put an 80 spot on another team, especially a bonafied, FBS team from a Power 5 you're gonna get a high grade. I know that Patterson said he wasn't trying to run up the score, but I say score a hundred on them next time if they lay down.) WestVirginia (A) (This team continues to impress after their disappointing loss at home to the Sooners. West Virginia's strength is to jump out ahead of teams and keep them at bay. The offense is scoring at a high clip with Trickett, White, and Alford. Their scat-back is solid too. The D has really surprised me. Yes, Oklahoma State's offense is a shadow of its former self, but holding the Pokes to ten points on their home field is an accomplishment. I am always impressed by the "want to" of the Mountaineer players. They don't seem to give up or slow down. Of course, it makes a big difference when you're winning. Impressive win.) Oklahoma State (D-) (I knew this team would not be as good as last year's team, not even close. However, admittedly, even I'm surprised how confused this team looks offensively. How much better would this team be with JW Walsh? Perhaps considerable. However, that Okie State O-Line is just horrible, not giving Garman any time whatsoever. It doesn't matter if you have the fastest guy in college football in Tyreke Hill, he can't run kicks back every play. There needs to be a major overhaul of this O-Line. I don't see how they would be remotely talented enough to turn into a special group that Oklahoma State is so used to having. I think it's pretty clear too that the Cowboys are missing Joe Wickline somethin' fierce. Horrible loss at home. Gotta fight better than that Pokes. The D played okay, only from the standpoint of being on the field the whole game. Still, overall very poor team effort.) Texas(F) (Getting blanked at home is unacceptable. K-State, clearly, is a well-coached, disciplined, solid football team in all three phases of the game. However, you're Tejas. You've got athletes all over the field and you're getting blanked by Juco players. It's a sad state of affairs....well, not if you're a Sooner Fan! Nah seriously, our league won't be the same until Tejas starts getting better. Gotta get better. I realize this season was really put up in the air with the loss of your QB D-Ash; he's good for more than a game or two in the win column. I get that. But with the talent that Tejas gets year in and year out there should never be a zero in the point column at the end of the game for a Horn team.) Texas Tech (F-) (I have no words to describe how poorly this team is playing. I know that they're better talent-wise, but something is incredibly amiss with this team. A major disconnect between the coaches and players? Anytime you allow a team to score over 50 on you, you're asking for a low grade. I know the Webb injury was huge and pretty much removed any chance Tech had. However, there is no excuse for Tech's D laying down like that. No excuse. You think Kingsbury and Co. want a bit of revenge on their ol' SWC rival after running up the score like that?)
Week#10 Kansas St.(A+)(A totally dismantling of Oklahoma St. The defensive performance was more than stellar. Snyder schemes and outschemes, and then outschemes some more. I thought of Oklahoma St. as physically superior (there was a few times when OSU's speed showed-up the K-State D), but it doesn't really matter. Kansas St. just did not make any mistakes whatsoever. It looked like the D was going to be back on its heals after Oklahoma State's first drive and score, but true to form, K-State settled in, made adjustments, and went on to dominate in every conceivable way. Run game was great. The blocking by K-State's line was excellent and Waters could have made a sandwich back there before he threw the ball with all the time he was getting. Receivers ran crisp routes and played great. Great win. Dominating win and hence the A+.)
(Oklahoma) (A) (Outclassed a physical and gritty Iowa State team. OU's offense is totally different when the coaches let Trevor be Trevor. It's a shame that they didn't run him before as I believe the season probably looks different for the Sooners. Having three guys with over a hundred rushing yards a piece is no small accomplishment, even against Iowa State. There was some ol' Wishbone option in there that was really quite impressive. Why Heupel hasn't worked this into the playcalling earlier is just a demonstration of an OC with a throwing mentality with players more skilled in the run/option offense. This was a solid and dominate win. My favorite part of this game was the pounding and punishing running game and the gap-sound defense. A few busted coverages in the secondary but other than that this was an excellent performance. (Trevor's INT across his body was an ugly play too.) All in all this was an impressive win against a team that put up forty-five on Tejas.) (Baylor) (A) (Overmatched a slow Kansas team. Bryce Petty is clearly "ready for Oklahoma." Defense played well and Baylor's speed was just way too much for Kansas. I am impressed with Baylor's run game....I know about the passing game, but Lynnwood is a stout little back with some serious wiggle. He and the O-Line setup the pass for Petty and those elite speed receivers.) Texas Christian (B+) (Excellent win despite getting dominated most of the game. I couldn't give the Horny Toads the that "A" because of all the help that WV game 'em. Boykin looked halfway human for the first time this season as WV's pass rush and blitzes seemed to confuse and keep Boykin off balance most of the day. The D got torched in the first quarter & a half, but settled down after that....although WV didn't really get slowed until the fourth quarter when it mattered most. Causing over five turnovers was impressive and clearly the difference in the game. TCU doesn't come close to winning without the turnover margin. The play of the game was the INT in the late 3rd with WV looking like they were a few plays away from putting the game away. Credit goes to Patterson and the players for not losing their head. A win is a win.) Texas(B) (There's that power run game which has to be the key part of Tejas' identity going forward. Strong has prided himself on putting the toughness back in Tejas. This game showed that mentality and it was something they can used to build on. This D was perfectly suited to gobble up Tech's pass-happy offense. Q-Diggs' hit on McCombes was one of the better of the season. I'm very impressed with M-Brown the defensive tackle. He's fast and huge and appears to be pretty mean. He's probably a player on Sunday at the next level. Other than that not much to say. Swoopes was a decent game manager and didn't make too many bad plays with his head. He's getting smarter with each game.) WestVirginia (C+) (Clearly should have won the game. Turning the ball over five times was the difference in the game and lost it for the Mountaineers. This has got to be a very difficult loss as WVU really dominated the vast majority of the game....it had the feeling of the OU/K-State game where OU really dominated statistically but couldn't seal the deal when it mattered most. The five turnovers, especially the fumbles and Trickett's ridiculous attempt to throw the ball away resulting in an INT, are just unacceptable. Kudos to this team for becoming much improved, especially that D, but WV clearly gave this one away. I'm guessin' we have a budding rivalry between the conference newbies: TCU vs. WV might just turn into a nice little rivalry. It has the makings of it anyway.) Iowa State (D-) (After watching Iowa State go up and down the field on Tejas, I was surprised that Iowa State's offense did so little. Richardson is a decent QB....but his receivers played horrible. There were more than a few drops. Also, the run defense was pretty atrocious. I know the Sooners running backs are really good, but there were way too many missed tackles. I was surprised that Iowa State didn't play better as Rhodes usually has his team ready to fight. There wasn't any fighting last Saturday.) Oklahoma State (F) (Got completely destroyed. There is nothing good to say other than Oklahoma State's first drive was excellent and it appeared that the Pokes were going to outclass the slow Kansas boys with great speed. It didn't last long as K-State immediately captured the momentum with a kickoff return. The Oklahoma State O-Line is horrible. Just terrible really. Should Yursich be fired? This team is not improving so something needs to change.) Texas Tech (F) (Is Kingsbury's seat getting a little hot? This is not what Tech fans...nor any other fans, expected when the season started. I know he's low on QB's but he has to find a way to win a few more games and not be down there with the likes of Kansas.) Kansas(F-) (Where's the defense? I know it's Baylor and they can score with the best of 'em, but c'mon.)
Last edited by Bass&Catfish2008; 11-07-2014 at 10:19 PM..
Swoopes was a decent game manager and didn't make too many bad plays with his head. He's getting smarter with each game.)
Swoopes looked like Curly (of the 3 Stooges) last night in the 2nd half vs WV. He isn't the future of the Texas offense. But at least he's learned to throw the ball away instead of taking a huge loss.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Here are my grades from last Saturday. Grades for today will be up in a few days.
)
) 
, but I say score a hundred on them next time if they lay down.)
Nah seriously, our league won't be the same until Tejas starts getting better. Gotta get better. I realize this season was really put up in the air with the loss of your QB D-Ash; he's good for more than a game or two in the win column. I get that. But with the talent that Tejas gets year in and year out there should never be a zero in the point column at the end of the game for a Horn team.)
