big 12 predictions (football)

[acefin]

I usually dont pump sunshine at you characters but I am making a exception to the rule here.
if things go right and with a lot of luck here is how the big 12 standings could be if all goes well .

big 12 north
1. Missouri ( great offense and good defense my reason)
2. Colorado (good defense and returning players but just a hunch)
3. Nebraska ( new coaching and better recruits )
4. Kansas (the loss of cb Alib Talib hurts plus it doesnt feel right)
5 Kansas State ( I expect them to have trouble this year ,explain later)
6 Iowa State they dont have the talent this year .

big 12 south

1. OU ( I wished this wern't so but it is so I will leave it be)
2. OSU ( I am going by the voices in my head, and with our qb and te who knows but our defense will need a big improvement plaus our special teams was subpar for the last two years but we shall see improvement.)
3. Texas Tech (this wr crabbtree and a improved oline is why i put them here.)

4. Texas ( I put them here because my crystal ball foresees it. seriously i just dont think they will be as good as usuall.)

5. Texas A&M they lost alot of playmakers so thats why i put them here.

6. Baylor they will be better defense but i just dont see them moving up at for this year.


now I know that most people are going to say this is a bad forecast but I think if our special teams will do something they havent the last two years and get turnovers and returns for tds plus if our defense can hold down our opponets to 17 points or less we have a chance.
the problem that is holding us back is that gundy doesnt have a good track record against the south opponents and if osu is to do anything we need gundy to get our guys more prepared which was my biggest grip last year.
the three factors in getting into the top three in the south will be as follows.

1. the health of our dline and linbackers.
2. more passes to our tightends namey Pettigrew
3. better play from our oline namely pass protection.

well my crystal ball just broke so i am off to wal mart . be back later in the week. have a great day unless you want to be knucklehead.

[CaliforniaCowboy]

it's interesting to me that you downplay some other teams for their changes, but don't seem to account for OSU having a new OC, and new position coaches all over the field... compound that with what was at best an average defense and the loss of Bowman and Savage and Koenig, and I'm having a hard time understanding how OSU could move up that quickly.

Our special teams have been bad; mostly on coverage. Our kicking and returns have been okay, but coverage has been horrible, and I haven't seen anything to suggest that will change.

Back in the day when our Special teams were very good, we had a bunch of the starters playing on Special teams, but we haven't done that under Gundy; hence I don't see it changing dramatically.

I think that OSU could have a very good season, but as you said, to get as high as you've ranked us, we'll have to have a whole lot of luck... it's hard to generate that much good luck when you have as many new faces in the 2-deep as we have (especially on defense).

If you want a wild-card, this might be the season that TTech breaks through and wins the South, even if it's via tie-breaker.

[OSU-DNA]

Thanks for providing your reasoning. The North looks on target except I would swap KU and NU. KU no doubt lost a huge amount of talent, but offensively they should continue to be strong and NU will need more than one recruiting season to turn things around. Your positioning of CU also reflects the nice job done by Hawkins in a limited amount of time. If he were in the South he would still be battling for recognition.

TT could the be team in the South. They have made substantial strides on the D side, plus we don't get them in Stillwater this year and I believe they get UT at home. It will be interesting to see what OU has. Their D should be less intimidating and without Kelly the receiving corp should not be as good. They have that huge O-Line and may become a pound it out offense.

I see us battling UT for the 3 spot in the South with them the favorite.

We win 2 more non-conference games, and we reverse last year's outcome for the A&M and TT games. UT is an away game, it would take the perfect situation for us to win there.

The OSU-MU game could be a national broadcast, we both have very good chances of entering it undefeated but I have to forecast this in the loss column. The cruical game for us is CU late in the year. Do we go 2-1 versus the North or 1-2?

[CoachOSU]

This would be easier to do after the first two non-conference games to see strengths and weaknesses... but here is my take on the Big 12.

South(since it is the more important side of the two)

1.OU - I hate doing this more than any one can image but they always seem to reload and for the first time in two or three years they have the QB position stable... good group of OL and ALWAYS Strong on D... going to make them a top 8 or so team.... will lose again in Arizona... hehe sorry had too

2. Texas Tech- I put them here because OU has had problems with them and OSU has to go to LUBBOCK to play TT which is a place that is very unkind to us.. good QB, great OL, suppose to be a really improved defense... plus when they say home field advantage it really applies to having to go to Lubbock

3. OSU - Would have put them 2 if we didn't have to play in Lubbock... same breakdown as TT.. good QB, decent OL, suppose to be an improved Defense

4. Texas- Lost a ton of talent (mainly Charles who single handley beat OSU) but with Texass they just reload so not so comfortable putting them here even with all the lost talent

5. Texas A&M- new coach, new system, will take a year or two to get it down plus lost several key pieces of that defense...

6. Baylor- will be better but refer to A&M breakdown.. will take a couple of years to get system going

North-

1. Missery oops I mean Missouri- just a solid team with possibly the best overall QB in the Big 12

2. Nebraska- Think they are back on the upswing plus they really believe in Pelini

3. Colorado- Got a huge incoming freshmen at RB... Up and coming QB.. we will see could be up and down for them

4. Kansas- lost Talib but also several key Offensive guys... past years make it hard to trust them

5. Kansas State

6. Iowa State

[acefin]

you guys are right Texas always seems to reload every year. the more realistic prediction will be more like.

1. OU
2. TECH
3 TEXAS
4 OSU
5 TEXAS A&M
6 BAYLOR

but the big question is , if we only go 6-5 ; will I be the only one mad as hell.
I feel it would be great season if we went 9 wins .
i think going 8 wins would show thatwe are improving.
I feel that going 7 wins would be ok but how would rate this season.
I am going to ask that if mike doesnt beat a team besides baylor or losing to baylor would that have bad ramifications to the rebuilding process.

I am just throwing these sinarios out there to see how others view the expecations.
i think if we win 8 games plus a bowl game i would be happier then a polititian laying in a boat full of money.
the one thing i want say is this we have lost too many games in the last 5 years due to our coaches going into shells and running the damn ball too much , case in point the Georgia game last year , had we went downfield more we could have won that game and the troy game maybe as well.

[CaliforniaCowboy]

an 8 win regular season would be "okay" with me (8-4, 4-4), it would at least show that we stayed even with other teams.

It would show NO progress other than UGA in Athens is harder than WSU in Seattle, and Troy minus their QB and home field is not better than OSU at home and not going through a QB change... I don't really count that as "progress", do you?

WSU, Troy and Houston are "decent" teams, but in all honesty, they should not pose a real threat of defeat for a Cowboy team that is in it's 4th season under a coach.

I want to know what happened to all the "rants" about the North being so "weak", and the Big 12 needing to realign the conference, etc. etc..

Now we're sitting here bemoaning how tough it's going to be to win 2 of three from CU, MU and ISU. (after losing to KU last year and barely squeaking by KSU).

[PlatteCoPoke]

North:
1. Missouri
2. Kansas
3. Colorado
4. Nebraska
5. Kansas State
6. Iowa State

South:
1. OU
2. Texas Tech
3. Texas
4. OSU
5. Aggy
6. Baylor

Championship: OU over Mizzou (again)