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Colorado
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Kansas State
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Missouri
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Nebraska
South
Baylor
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Oklahoma
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Oklahoma State
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Texas
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Texas A&M
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Texas Tech
Past Big 12 Predictions:
Week 1 |
Week 2 |
Week 3 |
Week 4 |
Week 5
How'd we do so far? 32-4 straight
up, 11-17-2
ATS
Week
6
Big 12 Fearless Predictions, Part
2 |
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Tickets for These Games
Big 12 Game of
the Week
Texas
(4-1) at
Oklahoma
(3-1) 3:30 PM EST ABC
Saturday October 7th
Why to Watch: Both teams have a
loss, out of the top five, and out of
the national title discussion, at least
for the moment. So why is this the most
interesting Red River Rivalry in years?
For one, it signals an establishment of
power. If Texas wins, that'll be two
wins in a row after a recent history of
OU dominance. Considering the one loss
was to Ohio State, the nation's number
one team, the case could be made that
Texas might be the second best team in
America and could be back in the BCS
Championship chase. If the Sooners win,
especially impressively, they'll be back
in the title talk with many out there,
for right or wrong, still believing they
won the Oregon game. A win could also
mean that last year was a one-time
aberration and might put the pressure on
UT head coach Mack Brown ... can he win
the big one without Vince? As always,
this is one of the must-watch games of
the year.
Why Texas Might Win: The Oklahoma
defense has been a fantastic
disappointment. Lost in the Oregon
hubbub was a total breakdown by the
Sooner secondary allowing 343 yards and
two touchdowns. Meanwhile, the run D
hasn't been anything to write home about
with the game against Middle Tennessee
putting a statistical band-aid on the
mile-wide leak. This game might be as
simple as the Texas offensive line vs.
the Oklahoma defensive line. If the
Longhorn front five dominates, Texas
will put up huge numbers and will set a
pace the Sooners won't be able to match.
Why Oklahoma Might Win: Colt
McCoy has to prove he can produce in a
big game. He wasn't awful in the loss to
Ohio State, but he didn't make any big
plays and didn't generate anything deep.
Can he do to OU what Dennis Dixon and
Oregon did? Will the Texas coaching
staff let him try? Notorious for playing
it safe in this game, Texas will have to
open it up a little bit to allow the
running game to be at its most
effective. Is McCoy up to the task?
Also, don't forget the motivational
factor with OU coming in with a chip on
its shoulder. If there can be a repeat
of the focus and fire shown two weeks
ago against Middle Tennessee, Texas is
in trouble.
Who to Watch: Adrian Peterson is
even better than you think. Behind a
patchwork offensive line, with Paul
Thompson quarterbacking a
work-in-progress passing game, and as
the focus of all 11 defenders each and
every week, Peterson is cranking out big
game after big game. He wasn't right in
last year's Texas game trying to play on
an ankle that wasn't even close to being
ready to go, but he was terrific in the
2004 game rushing for 225 yards in a
12-0 win. It's not like the coaching
staff has been saving him with 27
unnecessary carries against Middle
Tennessee, and now he'll run, run, and
run some more. If he is going to be a
serious threat in the Heisman race, he
has to stop the Troy Smith momentum and
come up with a brilliant performance.
What Will Happen: Oklahoma's
confidence and swagger will last about
two drives. Then Justin Blalock and the
Texas offensive line will take over and
control the game allowing the skill
players more room to operate than they
had against Ohio State. This will be the
game that puts Texas back on the
national title map.
CFN Prediction: Texas 26 ...
Oklahoma 17 ...
Line: Texas -5.5
Must See Rating: (5 skip the
birth of your first born - 1 Rachael
Ray)
... 5
Texas
A&M
(4-1) at
Kansas
(3-2) 12 PM EST Saturday
October 7th
Why to Watch: Now we get to see
just how mentally tough Texas A&M really
is. A tough, experienced team gets over
the heartbreak of last week's 31-27
last-minute loss to Texas Tech and comes
up with a decent road win to get back on
track, but the Aggies have been far from
consistent under Dennis Franchione when
times have gotten tough. KU is also
coming off a tough defeat losing 39-32
to Nebraska in overtime, but that came
after a great Jayhawk comeback that
showed more about the team than any of
the first four games. With Oklahoma
State, Baylor and Colorado ahead ahead,
it's possible for KU to be in the thick
of the Big 12 race with a win over the
Aggies. A&M has to deal with a suddenly
nasty looking Missouri team next week.
Why Texas A&M Might Win: Kansas
is lousy in turnover margin and hasn't
stopped anyone from throwing all season
long. With 15 giveaways so far and
allowing 264 yards through the air, the
Jayhawks have come up with a strange
combination of problems that's gotten
them into a whole bunch of trouble
against some very average teams. The
defensive front is doing a fine job of
generating pressure, but there just
isn't any production coming from the
secondary on deep passes. Call this the
break-but-don't-bend defense.
Why Kansas Might Win: The A&M
defensive line is doing a fine job
against the run, but it's not doing
nearly enough to generate any pressure.
The Kansas quarterbacks can get streaky
and, like all quarterbacks, do better
when they have time. Adam Barmann was
able to engineer last week's comeback
against Nebraska by bombing away once he
got his throws off a little faster. The
KU line isn't a rock in pass protection,
and there are injury issues, but as long
as it can give Barmann, or Kerry Meier,
a few ticks, the A&M secondary could be
burned for the second week in a row.
Who to Watch: Barmann was
brilliant last week against the Huskers
overcoming three interceptions and a
fumble in the first half to throw for
405 yards and two touchdowns. Despite
throwing for 685 yards in two weeks and
coming up with wins over South Florida
and Nebraska, Mark Mangino and the
coaching staff plans on putting the
senior right back on the bench once
Meier is healthy. This could make for
some interesting debates since Meier,
clearly the more talented and more
mobile of the two, was a turnover
machine in the loss to Toledo and
struggled in the 21-19 win over lowly UL
Monroe. If Meier is back from his arm
problems and struggles, will Mangino put
in Barmann? On the other side, A&M QB
Stephen McGee suffered a concussion
against Texas Tech and kept playing.
He's playing this week, but a closer eye
will be kept on him.
What Will Happen: A flaky as
A&M has been over the last few years,
it's been strong coming off a bad loss
beating SMU 66-8 the game after the
killer defeat to open the season at
Clemson. In 2004, the Aggie bounced back
from the bizarre home loss to Baylor and
pushed a juggernaut Oklahoma team in a
42-35 loss. Expect this group of Aggies
to come up with a strong performance on
both sides of the ball with the running
game proving to be too much for the KU
D.
CFN Prediction:
Texas A&M 27
... Kansas 17 ...
Line: Kansas -1.5
Must See Rating: (5 skip the
birth of your first born - 1 Rachael
Ray)
... 2.5
Baylor
(2-3) at
Colorado
(0-5) 3:30 PM EST Saturday
October 7th
Why to Watch: Six weeks ago, if
someone told you the Big 12's basement
dweller would be coming into this game
looking for any spark of confidence, you
wouldn't be shocked. Obviously, you
wouldn't have guessed that Colorado
would be the one in desperate need of
something positive to happen, while
Baylor would come in undefeated in Big
12 play. O.K., so it's just one win, but
coupled with 2005's season-ending win
over Oklahoma State and the Bears had
their first back-to-back conference wins
since back in the old Southwest
Conference days. A win in Boulder is a
must for any possible bowl dreams after
giving one away to Army in overtime two
weeks ago. Colorado has lost nine
straight, but it can quickly turn things
around. With Missouri in the rear view
mirror, and with the way the rest of the
Big 12 is playing, it's not completely
crazy to think the Buffs can start to
make a little bit of noise, even with a
road trip to Oklahoma coming up.
Why Baylor Might Win: This
is a bad, bad matchup for Colorado.
Baylor has no interest in running the
ball with the most unbalanced offense in
America. Dead last in rush, 13th in
passing, the Bears are dinking and
dunking their way into the new offense
and getting sharper at it each week. The
Buffs have been a rock against the run
and have been torched by efficient
passing games. It'll be a big upset if
BU doesn't throw for 275 yards. However
...
Why Colorado Might Win: ...
there's still a big question mark about
how well Baylor's offense can run for
four quarters. It finally closed out a
game well last week in the Kansas State
win, but it couldn't find a way to get
over the hump against Washington State
and didn't do anything in the second
half against TCU and struggled late
against Army. The Buff defensive front
is solid at getting into the backfield
and should hurry Shawn Bell's throws.
Who to Watch: So how is
Bell handling the new attack? Is he
improving? Interestingly enough, he had
his worst game last week in the win over
Kansas State, and played one of his
better games in the loss to Army. He
took a few more chances and opened it up
a little bit more against the Wildcats
rather than just doing what he did
against Army and taking what the
bend-but-don't-break defense gave him.
The offense is all up to him, and he's
going to have to handle the CU pressure.
What Will Happen: The
nightmare continues. Baylor's defense
isn't playing all that poorly, and CU's
offense just isn't producing at all.
Bell will have a field day against the
Buff secondary.
CFN Prediction: Baylor 20 ...
Colorado 17 ...
Line: Colorado -5
Must See Rating: (5 skip the
birth of your first born - 1 Rachael
Ray)
... 2.5
Week
6
Big 12 Fearless Predictions, Part
2 |
Get
Tickets for These Games