Big 12
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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
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Texas A&M
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Texas Tech
Big 12
Fearless Predictions
Aug. 30
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Sept. 6 |
Sept. 13 |
Sept. 20
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Sept. 27
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Oct. 4
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Oct. 11
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Oct. 18
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Oct. 25
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Nov. 1
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Nov. 8
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Nov. 15
How are the picks so far? SU:
74-13 ... ATS: 38-40
Big 12 Game of
the Week
Texas Tech (10-0) at Oklahoma (9-1),
8:00 EST, ABC
Why to watch: Texas Tech is one
game away from having a shot at the
national title. One game. Oh sure,
there’s the little matter of Baylor
coming up next week, but make no mistake
about it, this year, a one-loss Big 12
champion will be going to Miami on
January 8th. Of course, Texas
Tech will go to the big show if it’s
unbeaten. First things first, the Red
Raiders have to keep the momentum going
from its historic two-game stretch of
wins over Texas and Oklahoma State, and
they have to overcome the revenge
factor.
Oklahoma was deep in the hunt of the
national title chase in mid-November of
last year. The parts were clicking, the
respect was there, and the
down-the-stretch schedule, including
what would turn out to be a date with
the No. 1 team in the country, Missouri,
in the Big 12 Championship had
everything set up for a national
championship slot. And then Sam Bradford
got hurt, Texas Tech got rolling, and
the Sooners couldn’t come back in a
34-27 loss in Lubbock. This year’s
Sooner team might not have the defense
of last year, but the offense is
something special, leading the nation in
scoring and is fourth in total offense.
While all Bob Stoops and his team might
be thinking about is getting by the No.
2 team in the nation, according to the
BCS standings, style points are going to
count. This is a beauty contest, plain
and simple.
If Texas Tech beats OU, it’s over; it’ll
be Tech vs. Missouri for the Big 12
Championship. If Oklahoma wins, it has
to beat Oklahoma State next week to stay
in the hunt for the title, and it has to
win to keep Texas alive. Assuming Texas
beats a lousy Texas A&M and Texas Tech
beats Baylor, the three-way tie will
come down to the BCS rankings. OU still
has work to do, but if it can beat the
Red Raiders and Cowboys with some sort
of authority, it’ll be playing Mizzou.
The two teams have split the last four
games, with the home team winning each
time. The last time Texas Tech won in
Norman was in 1996, but that was
pre-Stoops and it was the first year of
the Big 12. Since Stoops took over, OU
has been dominant at home, but never
more so than over the last four years.
Since losing to TCU in the 2005 season
opener, the Sooners are 23-0 winning by
a combined score of 1,020 to 392. That’s
an average score of 44 to 17. Oh yeah,
and along the way, OU has one the last
two Big 12 titles while Texas Tech is
looking to play in its first. There’s a
massive mountain for the Red Raiders to
climb, but this is a special team
looking to conquer its biggest
challenge.
Why Texas Tech might win:
Oklahoma’s defense stinks. The offense
is national title good, but the D was
mediocre to begin with and then it lost
star LB Ryan Reynolds for the year to a
knee injury, All-America-caliber pass
rusher Auston English is out with a
banged up knee, and key backup Alan
Davis is out with a sprained knee. OU’s
sack and tackle for loss stats might be
amazing, but it’ll be down to three
defensive ends against an offensive line
that’s not giving up a thing. The Texas
Tech front five has given up five sacks
on the year in 499 pass attempts. Texas
was able to get to Graham Harrell and at
least lay a glove on him, while also
coming up with two sacks, but it didn’t
matter as the Heisman front-runner threw
for 474 yards and two touchdowns. The
Texas secondary is lousy, but OU’s has
been almost as bad against the better
passers on the slate. The cover-2 scheme
will allow for big yards after the
catch; Michael Crabtree could go
ballistic. Even though he’ll be under
the most intense pressure all season
long, Harrell should be able to fire at
will and get his receivers in a place to
come up with big yards after the catch.
Why Oklahoma might win: Texas
Tech, welcome to the power running game.
Oklahoma State tried to go with a
balanced attack against the Red Raiders,
and it worked with 182 passing yards and
186 on the ground. However, Harrell was
too busy throwing touchdown passes for
the OSU gameplan to matter. OU should be
able to use the same formula and it
could work if only because the defense
will get more pressure on Harrell than
OSU was able to. Harrell won’t complete
40-of-50 passes on the Sooners. The OU
offensive line is special, and not only
will it keep the Texas Tech defensive
front out of the backfield, but it
should be able to pave the way to a huge
day on the ground for DeMarco Murray and
Chris Brown. Only one team really and
truly tried to run the ball, Nevada,
owner of the nation’s No. 1 rushing
attack, and it cranked out 224 yards and
pushed Tech well into the fourth quarter
in a tough 35-19 loss. Murray and Brown
each went over the 100-yard mark against
Texas A&M.
Who to watch: The Heisman likely
won’t be won in this game, but one
almost certain finalist will be
eliminated from the top spot. This is a
game for the two stars; the two
quarterbacks. Bradford is second in the
nation in passing efficiency, and first
in the Big 12, while Harrell is the
nation’s leader in total offense.
Bradford was 2-of-3 for 11 yards in last
season’s game before getting knocked out
with a concussion. This year he has been
nothing short of magnificent, completing
68% of his passes for 3,406 yards and 38
touchdowns with a mere six
interceptions. Interestingly enough, he
has thrown two interceptions in just
three games over the course of his young
career. The first time was in last
year’s loss to Colorado, the second was
in this year’s win over Cincinnati, and
the third time was in the loss to Texas.
As good as Bradford has been, Harrell
has been better. At the top of his game,
Harrell has thrown for 4,077 yards and
36 touchdowns with five interceptions.
He has had two, two interception games
(Nevada and Texas A&M), and outside of
the win over the Aggies, he hasn’t
thrown an interception since September 6th.
Getting sharper as the season has gone
on, he’s coming off his magnum opus
against Oklahoma State with 456 yards,
six touchdowns, and no interceptions
while completing 80% of his throws.
What will happen: It’s Oklahoma
at home and with revenge on the brain.
Texas Tech is the real deal, but for the
first time all season long Harrell will
have a few problems under pressure.
Meanwhile, the balance of Oklahoma will
turn out to be the different. There will
be over 800 passing yards, a lot of big
plays, and a giant statement made by the
Sooners.
CFN Prediction: Oklahoma 48 …
Texas Tech 37 ... Line: Oklahoma
-6.5
Must See Rating: (5 Valkyrie
– 1 Paris Hilton’s My New BFF) …
5
-
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Saturday,
November 22 |
|
Iowa State (2-9) at Kansas State
(4-7),
3:35 EST
Why to watch: There’s
Texas Tech vs. Oklahoma, and
then there’s this. It’s the
final game of the Ron Prince era
at Kansas State, while Iowa
State’s Gene Chizik is hoping to
come up with a win in Iowa
State’s final game of the year
to cool off any hot seat talk
going into the off-season. With
all due respect to Texas A&M,
who lost to Kansas State in
mid-October, these are the two
worst teams in the Big 12 at the
moment with the Wildcats losing
five straight since the win over
the Aggies and the Cyclones on a
nine-game losing streak. Neither
team is playing any defense, so
for good and bad, this might be
a fun shootout.
Why Iowa State might win:
Iowa State is still pushing.
Kansas State hasn’t quit, but
being in a lame-duck situation
hasn’t exactly helped the team’s
overall situation. The Iowa
State passing game might not be
efficient, but it puts up plenty
of yards, mostly in comeback
mode, with a decent offensive
line and a mobile quarterback in
Austen Arnaud providing the time
to work. Kansas State’s run
defense has been abysmal, the
worst in the Big 12, so finally,
this might be a chance for Iowa
State to stretch its running
game legs.
Why Kansas State might win:
Iowa State’s secondary is
getting picked clean by
everyone. It’s one thing to have
problems with the passing
attacks of Missouri or Oklahoma
State, but Colorado, who’s doing
nothing through the air, cranked
out 274 yards and four
touchdowns. The Cyclones haven’t
given up fewer than 245 passing
yards in their last nine games.
Over that span they’ve allowed
24 touchdowns with just four
interceptions. With little pass
rush to affect Josh Freeman and
the KSU passing attack, expect
at least 300 yards through the
air as long as ....
Who to watch: … Freeman
is okay. He suffered a
concussion in the third quarter
of the Nebraska game and has
been limited in practice time
over the last week. Backup
Carson Coffman isn’t a bad No. 2
option, he completed 5-of-8
passes for 74 yards against the
Huskers, but this is Freeman’s
team. On the other side, Arnaud
is trying to carry the ISU
offense, throwing for 326 yards
and two touchdowns with two
interceptions last week against
the Tigers. A good runner, he’s
at his best when he’s able to
mix things up a bit. While he’s
not Freeman, he’s an emerging
playmaker who’ll be the star of
next year’s team.
What will happen: Prince
will go out with one decent
hurrah to end a limited era that
just didn’t work. His team will
put up a big number on the board
and then it’s too the off-season
and the changes that’ll ensue.
CFN Prediction: Kansas
State 40 … Iowa State 27 ...
Line: Kansas State -10
Must See Rating: (5
Valkyrie – 1 Paris
Hilton’s My New BFF) … 2
-
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