Big 12
North
Colorado
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Iowa St
|
Kansas
|
Kansas State
|
Missouri
|
Nebraska
South
Baylor
|
Oklahoma
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Oklahoma State
|
Texas
|
Texas A&M
|
Texas Tech
Past Big 12 Predictions:
Week 1 |
Week 2 |
Week 3 |
Week 4 |
Week 5
Week 6 |
Week 7
How'd we do so far? 40-8 straight
up, 18-22-2
ATS
Week
8
Big 12 Fearless Predictions, Part
2 |
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Tickets for These Games
Big 12 Game of
the Week
Texas
(6-1) at
Nebraska
(6-1) 12 PM EST ABC Saturday
October 21st
Why to Watch: Is this a preview
of the Big 12 Championship game?
Nebraska gets Missouri in Lincoln, while
Texas could win this game and probably
survive an upset loss along the way and
still get in. The Longhorns are thinking
bigger hoping to creep its way up from
the No. 9 spot in the initial BCS
rankings and get in range for the
national title game. Nebraska was ranked
17th in the first rankings, and it still
has dreams of playing in the BCS
somewhere with a win this week being a
huge step for the program and officially
announcing that it's back to being a
powerhouse. Outside of a strange second
half collapse in the win over Kansas and
the loss to USC, the Huskers have been
coldly efficient winning five games by
double digits with few problems on the
road the last two weeks in wins over
Iowa State and Kansas State. Texas
bounced back from its loss to Ohio State
to win its next five games by a combined
score of 236 to 65 and coming off a
63-31 shootout victory over Baylor. Both
teams are better than you think with the
winner taking a huge step in national
respect. Texas has won the five of the
last six between the two with the last
loss coming in the 1999 Big 12
Championship.
Why Texas Might Win: Does
Nebraska actually have the ability to
bomb away if needed against a halfway
decent defense? Has it actually beaten
anyone with a pulse? Of the six wins,
only one came over a possible bowl team
(the Kansas/Kansas State winner will
likely get the final Big 12 bowl spot).
Oh sure, the offense has been
ultra-efficient relying on a balanced
attack, no mistakes, and a decent
defense to get through the wins without
a problem, but the coaching staff went
Red State conservative against USC and
didn't show any of the punch to make it
interesting. Texas is starting to mix it
up and is starting to put up big points
with home run hitting passing game. The
Nebraska secondary is burnable, the UT
QB Colt McCoy will bomb at will unless
...
Why Nebraska Might Win: ... the
Huskers get into the backfield. Texas
has been able to dominate because of its
offensive line, but the Husker front
won't be pushed around and it has enough
talent (even though it hasn't shown up
to expectations so far) to provide more
of a pass rush on McCoy than he's seen
since the Ohio State game. Just because
Nebraska hasn't exploded for a full
sixty minutes since early September,
that doesn't mean it doesn't have the
ability. If Zac Taylor and the passing
game turn things loose, like Baylor was
able to do last week against UT, there
should be a few big plays against a
suddenly suspect secondary.
Who to Watch: Limas Sweed has
literally provided some punch to the
Texas passing game. Sweed appeared to
punch Baylor CB Anthony Arline last
week, but was only flagged for a penalty
and wasn't suspended by the Big 12 of
Texas. He's been Colt McCoy's main
target all year long catching at least
one touchdown pass in every game but
one, the loss to Ohio State, with eight
scoring grabs on the year while
averaging 17.6 yards per catch.
What Will Happen: Nebraska will
come up with a few scores early to get
the crowd into the game, but Texas will
slowly, methodically work its way back
into it and pull away in the fourth
quarter thanks to the running game. Both
teams will look good, and Nebraska will
establish that it's back to being a
power, but Texas will show why it
belongs in the national title
discussion.
CFN Prediction:
Texas 31 ...
Nebraska 20 ...
Line: Texas -6.5
Must See Rating: (5 skip the
birth of your first born - 1 Knights
of Prosperity)
... 4.5
Kansas State
(4-3) at
Missouri
(6-1) 2 PM EST Saturday
October 21st
Why to Watch: A young Kansas
State team is still trying to figure out
exactly how good it is in only its
second road game of the year, while
Missouri is coming off the strange,
tough loss to Texas A&M as it looks to
get back on the Big 12 title track. The
Tigers were rolling along before it had
problems with turnovers in the first
half, and Jorvorskie Lane and the Aggie
power running game in the second, and
needs this win with Oklahoma and
Nebraska coming up next. This is a
legitimate top 20 team that's still
looking for national respect, but first
it needs to show it can beat a mediocre
team like KSU at home. Prince's team
needs to find a win somewhere soon or
hopes for a bowl game will go down the
drain, but just coming up with a good
showing against one of the Big 12's best
might be the goal this week.
Why Kansas State Might Win:
Kansas State is finding ways to get into
the backfield sparking a surprisingly
good season from the defense. Missouri's
offense hasn't had to deal with many
active defensive fronts so far, at least
many that the great offensive line
couldn't handle, so if Ian Campbell, who
has been one of the Big 12's best pass
rushers, can get to Chase Daniel and
throw the Mizzou timing off, KSU has a
shot.
Why Missouri Might Win: Kansas
State had better generate points from
its defense and special teams, because
it's offense won't do jack squat against
the Tiger D. Mizzou lost to Texas A&M
because it couldn't get the Aggie
offense off the field, but ball control
and keeping the chains moving isn't a
forte of the Wildcat attack. Josh
Freeman is one of the nation's least
efficient passers, while Leon Patton is
a quick, darting back, who plays into
the Tiger D's quickness, and not a
pounder who can wear down a D.
Who to Watch: With Kansas State
looking to be as disruptive as possible
on defense, Missouri will likely try to
get rid of the ball quickly to its tight
ends to keep things moving. A case could
be made that the Tigers have the two
best in America in Chase Coffman and
Martin Rucker, and neither has
disappointed so far after generating a
little bit of preseason hype. Coffman
has been the steadier receiver with 29
grabs and four touchdowns so far, while
Rucker, who went without a catch last
week, has seen his production diminish
over the last two weeks with only two
catches for 25 yards against Texas Tech
and no grabs against A&M. Expect these
two to combine for at least ten catches
with the coaching staff making a
concerted effort to get Rucker plenty of
touches..
What Will Happen: Outside of a
31-point aberration against Oklahoma
State, Kansas State hasn't put up any
points over the last month scoring six
against Louisville, three against Baylor
and three against Nebraska. Don't look
for any Wildcat fireworks against a
Tiger D looking to make up for last
week's loss.
CFN Prediction:
Missouri 31 ... Kansas State 9 ...
Line: Missouri -16.5
Must See Rating: (5 skip the
birth of your first born - 1 Knights
of Prosperity)
... 2.5
Kansas
(3-4) at
Baylor
(3-4) 3:05 PM EST Saturday
October 21st
Why to Watch: Not too long ago,
this would've been to determine who the
worst team in the Big 12 was and have no
bearing whatsoever on the Big 12 race.
KU might be 0-3 in conference play, but
it's still in the hunt for a bowl bid
with winnable games against Colorado,
Iowa State and Kansas State ahead, but
first, it has to get over a
soul-crushing three-game slide that saw
an overtime loss to Nebraska, a
last-minute loss to Texas A&M, and a
breathtaking, record-setting second half
bombing by Oklahoma State. Baylor lost
its first Big 12 game of the year in a
63-41 shootout against Texas, and it
needs to come up with a win this week
with four tough games ahead. These two
might not be challenging for the Big 12
title, but they're entertaining and
should put on a great show.
Why Kansas Might Win: Outside of
the Texas attack, Kansas has the most
effectively balanced offense Baylor has
seen all season. Unfortunately for BU,
its defense has been effectively average
against both the pass and the run
getting bombed on by Texas and run over
by Colorado. The big problem has been
pressure up front; there hasn't been
any. The KU offensive line shouldn't
have any problems.
Why Baylor Might Win: KU's pass
defense was awful before last week, and
then it went to another level of bad
giving up 300 receiving yards to Adarius
Bowman and 411 passing yards to Bobby
Reid as part of a 42-point second half.
Baylor doesn't just throw; it throws,
throws, and throws some more with one fo
the nation's most one-dimensional
attacks. In this game, that's a positive
as the nation's tenth ranked passing
attack should be able to fire at will.
If BU could bomb away on Texas for 320
yards and three touchdowns, it'll be
able to put up at least 350 on KU unless
...
Who to Watch: ... KU can dominate
the time of possession. Part of the
reason for the collapse against OSU was
an inability to get the chains moving in
the late to keep Reid and Bowman off the
field. Things likely would've been far
different had RB John Cornish been able
to play after getting knocked out early
in the second half after running ten
times for 55 yards. On pace to be the
Big 12's top rusher (thanks to the
injury to Adrian Peterson), Cornish has
rushed for 765 yards and 14 touchdowns
so far and should be able to rumble for
at least 125 if he can stay healthy.
What Will Happen: Do you like
Cornish and Kerry Meier running it, or
Shawn Bell and Baylor bombing it? The KU
pass defense is worse than the Baylor
run D.
CFN Prediction:
Baylor 34 ... Kansas 27 ...
Line: Baylor -3.5
Must See Rating: (5 skip the
birth of your first born - 1 Knights
of Prosperity)
... 2.5
Week
8
Big 12 Fearless Predictions, Part
2 |
Get
Tickets for These Games
