Big 12
North
Colorado
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Iowa St
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Kansas
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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
|
Texas A&M
|
Texas Tech
Past Big 12 Predictions:
Week 1 |
Week 2 |
Week 3 |
Week 4 |
Week 5
Week 6
How'd we do so far? 37-5 straight
up, 16-18-2
ATS
Week
7
Big 12 Fearless Predictions, Part
2 |
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Tickets for These Games
Big 12 Game of
the Week
Missouri
(6-0) at
Texas A&M
(5-1) 3:30 PM EST ABC
Saturday October 14th
Why to Watch: Missouri took a
huge step towards national
respectability with an impressive 38-21
win at Texas Tech last week, and now it
can firmly establish itself as a
legitimate threat to win the Big 12
title with a victory in College Station.
Slowly creeping up the rankings, Mizzou
still isn't quite getting much in the
way of overall attention with many still
adopting a wait-and-see attitude for a
team that has only one win over a likely
bowl team. A&M overcame a heartbreaking
loss to the Red Raiders to beat Kansas
21-18 with a Jorvorskie Lane touchdown
run in the final minute, and it can now
show that it's the real deal with what
would be, by far, its most impressive
win yet. The Aggies are still in the Big
12 title chase, but they can't afford a
home loss with Oklahoma, Nebraska and
Texas still to go, while the Tigers get
a home date with Oklahoma in a few weeks
to go along with a road trip to
Nebraska.
Why Missouri Might Win: Can A&M
handle a decent running game? Pass
defense was a problem last year, but
that appears to have been rectified
somewhat, while the run defense was
surprisingly soft against Army and
allowed 128 yards to KU's Jon Cornish
last week. By far, Missouri has the most
balanced offense the Aggies have faced
yet with a line that's great at
protecting QB Chase Daniel and better at
blowing open holes for the running game.
When in doubt, Mizzou can simply pound
the ball, however ...
Why Texas A&M Might Win: ...
what's going to happen when someone
bangs the running game on the Tigers?
Colorado, Ohio, and Ole Miss have great
backs and offenses geared around running
the ball, but they're not actually doing
it with any effectiveness. Texas A&M is
going to beat on the Tiger front four
with a line that's playing well, and a
big back in Lane that should be able to
control the clock. Missouri's defense
relies on big plays generated on
consistent pressure into the backfield,
but the A&M line's also doing a great
job in pass protection. As long as A&M
doesn't lose the turnover battle, it
should be able to keep Mizzou from
exploding.
Who to Watch:
Lane is getting all the attention
because he's leading the nation with 13
touchdown runs, but he's not being used
as a workhorse with only one game this
year with more than 12 carries. Top
recruit Mike Goodson has been getting
around eight carries a game averaging
over six yards per pop and is overdue to
start getting more work. With Courtney
Lewis banged up, expect Goodson to be
used more and more as the Aggie version
of Reggie Bush getting the bal as a
receiver as well as a runner. If he can
do a better job of protecting the ball,
he could be the offense's X factor as
the year goes on.
What Will Happen: Texas A&M will
play well, but Missouri will once again
be way too rock-solid on both sides of
the ball and way too effective
defensively. The Tigers really are that
good.
CFN Prediction:
Missouri 30
... Texas A&M 21 ...
Line: Missouri -1.5
Must See Rating: (5 skip the
birth of your first born - 1 The
Class)
... 4
Iowa
State
(3-3) at
Oklahoma
(3-2) 12:30 PM EST Saturday October
14th
Why to Watch: Each team is coming
off a tough division loss that crippled
Iowa State's Big 12 title hopes and
severely crimped Oklahoma's. The
Cyclones got whacked 28-14 at home
against Nebraska and still has nasty
games against Texas Tech and Missouri to
deal with, while the Sooners lost 28-10
to Texas and still has to go to Missouri
and Texas A&M and hosts Texas Tech. It
might seem like OU has lost its swagger
and is on the road to being an also-ran
for a second straight season, it's still
not out of Big 12 championship hunt with
Texas still having to play tough road
games at Texas Tech and Nebraska. Iowa
State could desperately use an
impressive win to get its program back
on track and take a big step forward
under Dan McCarney. While it seems like
the Cyclones have had some strong wins
over the years, beating OU would be the
best one since a 36-31 victory over Iowa
in early 2002.
Why Iowa State Might Win: Bret
Meyer. Iowa State is hopelessly
outmatched on both sides of the ball,
but the Cyclone junior quarterback is
the one X factor who could control the
game by himself with the ability to come
up with a special performance. Oregon's
Dennis Dixon isn't the runner Meyer is,
but he's a similar player with his
ability to get hot for stretches and to
push the ball deep. If he could throw
for 341 yards and two scores, and run
for 34 yards and a touchdown, on the
Sooner D, Meyer can do a little of the
same. the Sooner secondary will give up
a few big plays.
Why Oklahoma Might Win: The
Sooners haven't lost back-to-back
regular season games since early 1999
and have been tremendous under Bob
Stoops of following up losses with
blowout wins. Iowa State might be 3-3,
but it's as shaky a 3-3 as it gets
needing last second heroics to beat
Toledo, UNLV and Northern Iowa. In other
words, this isn't exactly a juggernaut
Cyclone team. The offensive line isn't
nearly strong enough to push around a
struggling OU defensive line that
shouldn't have problems getting into the
backfield (finally), while the OU
offense should be able to rumble at
will. Nebraska ran for 251 yards last
week; Adrian Peterson should crank out a
200-yard day.
Who to Watch:
Where are the Oklahoma defensive stars?
DE Calvin Thibodeaux and C.J. Ah You
have yet to register a sack, and
All-America linebacker Rufus Alexander
has hardly been dominant with just five
tackles against Texas and just one sack
on the season. Easily one of the biggest
disappointments of the season, the
Sooner defense has to use this game and
next week's home date against Colorado
to start making more big plays, forcing
more turnovers, and being more
disruptive or else the final stretch
could get ugly.
What Will Happen: Oklahoma will
crank out 500 yards of total offense and
blow out an Iowa State that's not close
to playing up to its potential.
CFN Prediction: Oklahoma 34 ... Iowa
State 17 ...
Line: Oklahoma -19
Must See Rating: (5 skip the
birth of your first born - 1 The
Class)
... 3
Oklahoma State
(3-2) at
Kansas
(3-3) 2 PM EST Saturday October
14th
Why to Watch: It's the Big 12
heartbreak bowl with Kansas losing to
Texas A&M 21-18 last week on a
last-minute Jorvorskie Lane touchdown
run and Oklahoma collapsing 31-27 to
Kansas State after allowing two
touchdowns in the final three minutes.
OSU desperately needs this win to keep
bowl hopes alive with the big boys from
the South and Nebraska from the North
still to face. Kansas has a much easier
road until the season-ender at Missouri,
but it can't take any game for granted.
These two have played fun, exciting
games throughout the season and could
battle in the most entertaining Big 12
matchup of the day.
Why Oklahoma State Might Win:
Kansas manages to stay close with
everyone, good and bad. Sure, it pushed
Nebraska to overtime and battled with
Texas A&M down to the wire, but it also
had a hard time putting away UL Monroe
and lost to a bad Toledo team. In other
words, KU plays to the level of its
competition. For a young Oklahoma State
squad playing on the road, it needs all
the breaks it can get, and KU should
provide them in the form of turnovers
giving it away 16 times so far this year
compared to only seven giveaways by the
Cowboys.
Why Kansas Might Win: Oklahoma
State has beaten .... um, uh, Arkansas
State? Florida Atlantic? Missouri
State?! Whoopee. The defense that looked
so good in the three cupcake wins has
been shredded over the last two games
giving up 509 yards to Houston and 357
to Kansas State, while making Wildcat
freshman QB Josh Freeman looking like
Peyton Manning and Donovan McNabb rolled
up into one in crunch time. Kansas has
the offense to hang 400+ yards and 30
points on the board if all the parts are
clicking, like they have at various
times this year, so if the D can not
give up too many big plays and can slow
down the Cowboy running game, it should
be able to come away with the win.
Who to Watch: KU head coach Mark Mangino has implemented a
no-practice-no-play policy, but banged
up QB Kerry Meier
will play through his injured shoulder.
How long can he last? Backup Adam Barmann was terrific against
Nebraska throwing for 405 yards in the
overtime loss, but completed 13 of 31
passes for 127 yards and a touchdown
against Texas A&M with too many sprayed
passes and way too many misfires. That's
why the offense will be Jon Cornish, Jon
Cornish, Jon Cornish. The senior has
gone for over 100 yards in every game
but one, rushing for 89 yards against
Toledo, and will be fed the ball at
least 30 times.
What Will Happen: Kansas will
have to fight through another
nail-biter, but will finally pull away
in the fourth quarter with a few key
sacks and a big turnover to put it away.
CFN Prediction: Kansas 31 ...
Oklahoma State 27
...
Line: Kansas -3.5
Must See Rating: (5 skip the
birth of your first born - 1 The
Class)
... 2.5
Week
7
Big 12 Fearless Predictions, Part
2 |
Get
Tickets for These Games