2015 College Football Preview: Big 12 Conference

The 2015 College Football Season begins this week and this will be the second year of the College Football Four-Team Playoff format.  This week I will be giving my preview of the major teams and players to watch for in 2015.  One of the elements that makes the College game so exciting is the unpredictability. There’s no preseason, always new players coming in as freshman, and past players leaving via graduation or early exit for the NFL.  Also, I enjoy watching College Football for the many different styles of offenses and defenses run on the field each week.  Unlike the NFL in which only a few different schemes are utilized each week, the College ranks over the last few decades have seen so many variants of styles and we the viewers have seen some of the greatest players succeed with these unique game plans.

Today I will highlight teams to watch from the Big 12 Football Conference:

University of Texas

2015 Projected Record: 6-6

Win/Loss Plus-Minus Variable: +3/-0

Make or Break Games: 9/5 @ Notre Dame, 9/19 vs Cal; 10/3 @ TCU; 10/10 vs Oklahoma; 11/14 @ West Virginia; 12/5 @ Baylor

Synopsis: Entering his second season at Texas, Head Coach Charlie Strong has to lead his team through one of the toughest schedules in the nation.  If playing Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana wasn’t enough, Texas gets to host one of the top offenses in the nation in California a couple weeks later.  Then that brutal inter-conference schedule: Having to travel to play at TCU, at West Virginia, and at Baylor.  What Texas has going for them is a young, but very talented defensive unit headlined by freshman Malik Jefferson who is a special player at Linebacker.  I am unsure if Texas has the offensive firepower to keep up with their competition, especially if the games turn into shootouts.  Time will tell if starting Quarterback Tyronne Swoopes is up for the challenge.

University of Oklahoma

2015 Projected Record: 8-4

Win/Loss Plus-Minus Variable: +1/-2

Make or Break Games: 9/12 @ Tennessee; 10/10 vs Texas; 10/24 vs Texas Tech; 11/14 @ Baylor; 11/21 vs TCU; 11/28 @ Oklahoma State

Synopsis: Oklahoma has a name that demands respect in the college football world for years, but this year they may have too much to overcome.  We know the offense will be talented with Baker Mayfield at Quarterback and Freshman Running Back Joe Mixon.  But the defense is still young and lacks depth at certain positions, leaving Oklahoma susceptible when facing high powered offenses like Baylor, TCU, and don’t discount that Texas Tech game.  Mayfield, who transferred to Oklahoma from Texas Tech, will have the luxury of facing his old school on the Oklahoma home field.  But don’t assume that equals a win that day because Mayfield was recruited by Texas Tech and his old coaches may make him look bad.

Texas Tech University

2015 Projected Record: 8-4

Win/Loss Plus-Minus Variable: +2/-1

Make or Break Games: 9/19 @ Arkansas; 9/26 vs TCU; 10/3 vs Baylor; 11/24 @ Oklahoma; 11/7 @ West Virginia; 11/26 @ Texas

Synopsis: While Texas Tech is still rebuilding through recruiting missteps after the saga that ended the Mike Leech era in Lubbock, Head Coach Kliff Kingsbury has many talented pieces to work with on both sides of the ball.  While not announcing who the starting Quarterback will be, both Davis Webb and Patrick Mahomes showed last season they can run this high powered offense.  While their defense is still suspect in terms of depth, they are getting better.  This season’s team will give inter-conference opponents trouble because it’s another full season for players in Kingsbury offensive system.  Senior Wide Receiver Jakeem Grant is poised for a breakout season while Texas Tech is setting up to walk away with some up upset victories in 2015.

Baylor University

2015 Projected Record: 10-2

Win/Loss Plus-Minus Variable: +1/-2

Make or Break Games: 10/3 vs Texas Tech; 11/5 @ Kansas State; 11/21 @ Oklahoma State; 11/27 @ TCU

Synopsis: In Baylor’s 56-21 win last night over SMU we got to see what makes this team so good: talented starting Quarterback in Seth Russell with dynamic wide receivers and an underrated running game opening up the offense for the Baylor Bears.  But we also saw the underwhelming defense that is Baylor’s weakness coming into the 2015 season.  No offense to SMU, but this game was closer than it should have been early on.  It is obvious that this team will have another season averaging around 40 points scored per game, but can their defense slow down high powered offenses such as Texas Tech and TCU?  I do not expect Baylor to be winning the Big 12 championship when three of Baylor’s final five games this season are on the road against tough inter-conference opponents.

University of West Virginia

2015 Projected Record: 9-3

Win/Loss Plus-Minus Variable: +1/-2

Make or Break Games: 10/3 @ Oklahoma; 10/17 @ Baylor; 10/29 @ TCU; 12/5 @ Kansas State

Synopsis:  Never did I ever expect the day to come I would to say or write the following: West Virginia may have the best defense in the Big 12 Conference.  The West Virginia Mountaineers have for years before known for their offensive skill players, only sending one major defensive NFL prospect to the profession ranks in the last several years.  But with eight returning starters on defense, a unit that includes Safety Karl Joseph, Linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski, and Cornerback Daryl Worley, West Virginia has a chance to be the foil of the Big 12 power teams in 2015.  Also don’t forget about the two headed running attack lead by Running Backs. Rushel Shell and Wendell Smallwood have the chance to frustrate many opponents who lack the linebacker depth to compensate.  The biggest question in Morgantown is if Junior Quarterback Skyler Howard is ready to be the starting Quarterback for a full season after spot duty last season?

Texas Christian University

2015 Projected Record: 11-1

Win/Loss Plus-Minus Variable: +1/-2

Make or Break Games: 9/26 @ Texas Tech; 10/29 vs West Virginia; 11/21 @ Oklahoma; 11/27 vs Baylor

Synopsis: Entering the 2015 College Football season as the number two ranked team in the country, TCU has come a long way under Head Coach Gary Patterson.  Several years ago TCU was playing in a mid-level conference causing National upsets with great defense and an underrated offense.  This year the script has flipped with a high powered offense led by starting Quarterback Trevone Boykin, who is considered an early front runner for the Heisman Trophy.  The defense is not at the caliber of past TCU teams and that is what may be the tripping point for Gary Patterson’s team who is on a mission to be the Big 12 Conference champions and get into this year’s College Football Final Four Playoff.  Matchups with high powered offenses like Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Baylor will be major tests of TCU’s defensive depth and efficiency.

The BS of the BCS

Now that the College Football regular season is over and the final Bowl Championship Series (BCS) standings have been revealed with all of the bowl game matchups, still everything is a mess.

While most people wouldn't dispute the National Title Game matchup between the two teams considered the best in Division I football, Oregon and Auburn, the rest of the matchups are bit head scratching.

Lets start with the Big East Conference Champion Connecticut facing Oklahoma (the Big 12 Champion) in the Fiesta Bowl. Some people may look at this as a "David versus Goliath" matchup, when in reality it more so resembles car race between a Minivan and a Corvette (Connecticut is the Minivan and Oklahoma being the Corvette). Connecticut won the Big East Championship because they won two close games against West Virgina and Pittsburgh, then finished the season with the best in-conference record. But they did not finish with the best overall record in the Big East (West Virgina finished the season at 9-3; Connecticut finished 8-4). West Virgina lost their three games by 6 or less points, one of those losses being to SEC powerhouse LSU. On the other hand, Connecticut lost three of their four games by 14 or more points, one of those losses being a 26-0 shutout against a Louisville team that finished the season 6-6.

There is no Big East Football Championship game, so the conference champion was awarded to Connecticut because they held the tie breaker over West Virgina since they beat them earlier in the season. As a result, Connecticut will face a Oklahoma team that is ranked 7th overall by the BCS college football rankings and has possibly four players on their offense that could be picked in the first round of the NFL draft. But because there is a rule that states that the Champion of the Big East gets an automatic berth in a major Bowl Game, Connecticut gets the opportunity to be overmatched against a very talented Oklahoma team.

Another conference that has thrown out a mess onto the college football landscape is the Big Ten. Three schools ended the season as co-Conference Champions: Wisconson, Ohio State, and Michigan State. Again, they have no conference championship game. All three schools finished with the same 11-1 overall record and the same 7-1 in-conference record. According to the BCS rules, the team that finished with the highest ranking in the final standings will get a trip to the Rose Bowl and the team with the second highest rank from the Big Ten can get an automatic berth into another major Bowl game. So Wisconson will play TCU in the Rose Bowl, Ohio State will play Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl and Michigan State gets left out of a major bowl, being selected to play Alabama in the Capital One Bowl.

And why was Wisconson and Ohio State ranked ahead of Michigan State? Beware, this gets complicated: Since Wisconson beat Ohio State and Iowa they get the highest ranking, even though Michigan State beat Wisconson they lost badly to Iowa who was beaten by Ohio State and since Michigan State didnt play Ohio State, the Michigan State Spartans get left out of the top 2 rankings of schools from the Big Ten conference. Confussed yet?

Dont worry, it gets better. The Orange Bowl will matchup the ACC Champion, Virgina Tech, against a top ranked non-conference champion, which according to the BCS is Stanford. The reason why Stanford is ranked 4th by the BCS is because their only loss was to Oregon, one of the two undefeated teams playing for the national title. Atleast this matchup is between two talented, high powered offenses and their isn't any great disparagement in talent or level of play during the season.

All of this chaos only accentuates the point that college football needs a playoff instead of this mess of bowl games that are selected matchups according to the computer results of the BCS. The BCS is basically a system that enables the universities and their conferences to make lots of money. Its not about the best matchups or the best teams playing for the title. Its not about the student-athletes, the fans, or what is fair. Its all about money. Although I love watching college football, I know that in the end, the BCS is just a bunch of BS!

The Big 12 stays intact: Reaction

So after the drama of the last couple weeks, officially the Big 12 Athletic Conference will stay in existence. There were rumors that the top football schools who are members of the Big 12 (University of Texas, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech) would leave to join the Pacific Athletic Conference (PAC-10).

So instead of rehash everything that has happened to the college sports landscape, I’ll do a quick overview and then my thoughts:


*University of Nebraska leaves the Big 12 and joins the Big Ten Conference

-Nebraska left the Big 12 because they wanted a better share of the TV revenue from the conference and they wanted more media exposure. I know some experts say this is a good move for them but I am still scratching my head about it. They leave because of money, yet they will not be a major player in their new conference. They were one of the top three football programs in the Big 12, while in the Big Ten they are maybe the 5th best football program. Since college football is the biggest money maker for college athletics I do not see how Nebraska benefits except that the Big Ten has their own TV Network so their school’s other athletic programs will have more exposure.


*University of Colorado leaves the Big 12 and joins the PAC-10

-The PAC-10 is well known for having high academic standards. The Universities of Washington, University of California, and UCLA are all well known research schools while Stanford University has some of the toughest academic standards among major universities in the nation. So the PAC-10 invited a university that has been cited four times by NCAA for multiple violations of collegiate athletics rules in the last thirty years. Some of these violations have involved academics. So how does Colorado fit in with the PAC-10? Colorado has a decent football program, weak men’s and women’s basketball programs, and their best sports historically are Cross Country and Skiing. The real reason Colorado is a part of the PAC-10 is for the exposure in the Denver media market.


*The Big 12 is staying intact, with ten teams.

-The Big 12 now has ten teams, the Big Ten has twelve teams, and the PAC-10 has eleven teams. My first reaction is why don’t these “smart” people who run these conferences come up with better names? Universities are places where students go to be educated and enlightened, obviously such education and enlightenment does not extend to those who come up with the names for such organizations. Furthermore, the Big 12 has been weakened in their athletics with the departure of Nebraska and Colorado. What the Big 12 should do is invite Texas Christian University (TCU) and the University of Houston so they can revitalize the conference. Both schools have good athletic programs. Then the Big 12 can have a north division consisting of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State and a south division with Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor, Houston and TCU. THAT would be interesting, but I’m just speaking as a sports fan.


*University of Utah is rumored to be going to the PAC-10

-So since the PAC-10 couldn’t get Texas, Oklahoma and half of the Big 12, many experts suspect that Utah will be invited into the PAC-10. I am unsure how they will divide up the conference with the inclusion of Colorado and Utah, but having Utah is a better prospect than Colorado for the PAC-10. Utah has good football, men’s basketball, and women’s gymnastics programs along with a good academic tradition. Utah is a good fit for the PAC-10.


*Notre Dame University Football is staying Independent

-I have had enough of Norte Dame demanding to be independent. The school has not won a major bowl game since 1994 (Cotton Bowl). Schools such as Alabama, Oklahoma, USC, Miami, Nebraska and Ohio State have been football powerhouses for decades and they are not independent from an athletic conference. I cannot wait for the day that Notre Dame Football stops putting their nose into the air towards the college football world and they join an athletic conference.

Yes, they have won eight national championships in the National Poll era (since 1936), but their last championship was in 1988. Alabama has also won eight national championships and they have won two since Notre Dame’s last championship. University of Southern California (USC) and Oklahoma have won seven national championships while Ohio State and University of Miami have won five national championships. Also, since Notre Dame was national champion in 1988 Miami, Nebraska and Florida have won three championships while Alabama, Louisiana State University (LSU), Florida State and USC have won two championships. So Notre Dame needs to get with the times; the other great football schools have.