Spring Preview 2009
The 20 Big Questions ...
No. 16
By
Pete Fiutak
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2009 Big 12 Spring Preview
With spring ball underway, it's time to start diving into the 2009
season ... no, it's not way too early. Here are the 20 Big Questions to
start off the offseason.
16. Did the bowl season
expose the Big 12 as overrated?
Not really, because to
quote the man, they are who we thought they were.
The big
question was whether or not the Big 12 offenses were rocking because
they were great, or if they put up big numbers because the defenses were
awful. As it turned out, it was a little bit of both.
Take the
Oklahoma loss to Florida out of the mix. National title games are always
a different animal considering teams with the better defenses almost
always beat the teams with the better offenses. In the title game, OU
had a chance to pull out with a good break or two late and it hardly
deserves to be criticized for losing to a team as good as Florida was.
Texas might have
struggled a bit to beat Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl, but Colt McCoy
threw for 414 yards against a defense loaded with future NFL players.
Kansas rolled up 446 yards of total offense in the easy win over
Minnesota, Missouri woke up late to beat Northwestern, and Nebraska’s O
came through when it needed to against Clemson.
Remember, Texas
Tech struggles in bowl games, needing epic comebacks to beat Minnesota
and Virginia in its previous two post-season games, and it faced an Ole
Miss team with an NFL defensive line. Graham Harrell still threw for 364
yards in the loss. Oklahoma State wasn’t expected to show much in the
way of defense in the Holiday Bowl against Oregon, and it didn’t in the
42-31 loss. However, the offense was fine rolling up 469 yards.
So no, the Big 12 wasn’t exactly exposed as overrated, but it didn’t
come through as well as many expected meaning the league won’t
automatically get the benefit of the doubt in the national respect
department without a big non-conference season.
This year, it’ll
be important to take a more critical eye when it comes to looking at the
league considering the rebuilding job needed to be done by teams like
Missouri and Texas Tech. It’ll also be important to keep an eye on
Texas, a certain preseason top three-ranked team, and not just judge on
its record. The schedule is light enough to make it a two-game season
against Oklahoma and at Oklahoma State.
It’ll be vital to keep a
record of how the North does in non-conference play to see how much it
matters if and when the South fattens up on the lesser division. Texas,
Texas A&M and Texas Tech don’t have anyone of note in non-conference
play, unless you consider Tech’s date against Houston and A&M’s date
with Arkansas impressive, so be wary of big, fat records by some of the
South’s stars. However, there are several chances for the Big 12 to
shine. For example …
- Baylor plays at Wake Forest and hosts
Connecticut
- Colorado goes to West Virginia
- Iowa State hosts
Iowa
- Kansas State goes to UCLA
- Missouri plays Illinois and
goes to Nevada
- Nebraska goes to Virginia Tech
- Oklahoma plays
BYU and goes to Miami
- Oklahoma State hosts Georgia
No, there
aren’t a ton of great games, the Big 12 isn’t shy about fattening up on
non-BCS teams, but there should be enough to establish early on just how
strong the league is compared to the rest of the country. Out of those
11 games just listed, the Big 12 will probably be favored in five of
them, maybe six. If the league wins six or more of them, and the
offenses start to roll in conference play, then the hype machine might
get rolling again. However, don’t be shocked if fans of other leagues
will want to see more, and don’t be shocked if there’s a bit of an
uproar if the Big 12 squeezes out teams like USC, or a hot team with a
big record from the Big Ten or Big East when BCS title talk kicks in.
The Top 5 Players Who
Need A Big Spring
1. Taylor Potts, QB Texas Tech
2. Blaine
Gabbert, QB Missouri
3. Darrell Scott, RB Colorado
4. Paul Freeney,
DE Texas A&M
5. Carson Coffman, QB Kansas State
The Top 5 Position
Concerns/Battles
1. Oklahoma offensive line
2. Nebraska
quarterbacks
3. Kansas linebackers
4. Oklahoma State safeties
5. Baylor offensive tackles
The 5 Biggest Big 12 Spring
Storylines
1. Can the Oklahoma offense get back to its
record-setting pace with a rebuilt offensive line that replaces four
NFL-caliber starters?
2. Missouri’s lost stars. How will the team
replace Chase Daniel, Chase Coffman, Jeremy Maclin, Stryker Sulak,
William Moore, Ziggy Hood, and Jeff Wolfert?
3. Sergio Kindle
potentially moving from linebacker to defensive end to try to replace
Brian Orakpo as the new Texas pass rushing star.
4. Bill Snyder’s
return to Kansas State. Can he ever get the program back to a Big 12
title level?
5. The Oklahoma State offense. With everyone back from
one of the nation’s top attacks, will this really be a top ten team …
maybe even top five?
The
Spring Big 12 Team Rankings
1. Texas
2. Oklahoma
3.
Oklahoma State
4. Nebraska
5. Kansas
6. Texas Tech
7.
Missouri
8. Colorado
9. Texas A&M
10. Kansas State
11.
Baylor
12. Iowa State
The Pre-Spring Call For Player Of The Year
1. Colt McCoy, QB
Texas
2. Sam Bradford, QB Oklahoma
3. Todd Reesing, QB Kansas
4. Sergio Kindle, DE/LB Texas
5. Dez Bryant, WR Oklahoma State
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