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Move Over SEC; Big 12 Is The King
Published by MoonDog on October 14, 2008
As many already know, I’m an SEC guy, but I love college football and recognize other conferences produce an exciting brand of football each week. As fans, that’s what we want to see.
This season the Big 12 is exactly what most believed it would be - absolutely brutal. I made it clear before the season began the Big 12 would probably be better than the SEC this year and there’s no questioning that now.
The Big 12 has supplanted the SEC as the best football conference in the nation, at least for this year. No other conference can boast six teams among the ESPN/USA Today Top 25, with all six in the Top 15.
Texas Longhorns QB Colt McCoy
With No. 1 Texas getting a huge win over Oklahoma and Oklahoma State’s victory over Missouri, the Big 12 showcased four of their marquee teams this past Saturday. Both games were tightly contested and the outcomes weren’t decided until the fourth quarter.
There isn’t a conference in the nation that has as many outstanding quarterbacks, four of which are legitimate Heisman Trophy candidates.
Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell, Missouri’s Chase Daniel, Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford and Texas’ Colt McCoy could all be invited to the Downtown Athletic Club for the Heisman presentation ceremony.
Let’s not forget Oklahoma State’s Zac Robinson and Kansas’ Todd Reesing, either of which could start for any team in the nation.
This will be the year when voters give preferential treatment to a one-loss or even a two-loss Big 12 team over an SEC team, or any other team for that matter.
Missouri Tigers QB Chase Daniel
As we saw the past two seasons, voters gave SEC teams more love in the polls and that eventually led to Florida and LSU playing for the BCS championship.
At present, Alabama is the only undefeated SEC team with Florida, Georgia and LSU each having one loss. The Tide is the only SEC team that has any margin for error because if the Tigers, Gators or Bulldogs lose another game, they’ll all be out of contention for the BCS title.
Even though it’s unlikely one team will emerge from the Big 12 undefeated, there are more teams that can absorb a loss. Looking at the contending teams’ schedules, Missouri has the best shot at making it out of the Big 12 into the BCS championship.
I know, Missouri just lost to Oklahoma State and they face Texas on Saturday in Austin. But if the Tigers can get by the Longhorns, their remaining schedule is the easiest among the other contenders.
Take a look at Missouri’s schedule here, then take a look at the remaining schedules for Oklahoma State, Kansas, Texas Tech, Texas and Oklahoma.
You’d be hard pressed to identify which of those teams has the most difficult remaining schedule, but on the surface I’d say the Red Raiders have the toughest road to hoe.
Oklahoma Sooners QB Sam Bradford
Unless Alabama can remain undefeated and perhaps a team like Penn State can survive without a loss, there’s going to be a strong case for the Big 12 champion to be in Miami.
The overall strength of the conference would warrant a one-loss and perhaps even a two-loss Big 12 team earning a shot at college football’s ultimate prize.
What about USC, Utah and BYU? Forget it. Don’t waste your breath or my time. Not one of those teams will have competed against better competition than what the Big 12 teams will have faced.
USC certainly has the talent to win their remaining games, but their loss to an unranked Oregon State team and the disadvantage of not playing a conference championship game will prevent them from appearing in Miami.
I realize the Buckeyes have a shot too, especially if they can get past Penn State on October 25. But frankly, I’m tired of watching Ohio State get their asses handed to them in BCS title games.
Texas Tech Red Raiders QB Graham Harrell
The Buckeyes will do us all a favor if they lose another game so we don’t have to see them fail in epic fashion on the big stage.
BYU and Utah square off on November 22 so one of those teams will be eliminated. Regardless of which team wins that game, neither will have even remotely earned a shot at the BCS championship.
Remember last season when everyone was talking about Hawaii? They went undefeated in a weak conference and ended up getting their doors blown off in the Sugar Bowl against Georgia.
Some may go as far to throw the Tulsa Golden Hurricane into the mix for the BCS championship. For any of you that do, please submit yourself for an immediate urinalysis.
When it’s all said and done, the BCS national championship game will pit the champions of the Big 12 against either Alabama, Penn State, Ohio State, Florida, Georgia or LSU.
So take a bow Big 12, it’s good to be king - at least for now anyway. We’ll find out in January if you’ll continue to wear the crown.
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GoPurple on Tue, 14th Oct 2008 12:03
Excellent piece, Moon. Agree with every bit of it.
Yup, the Big 12 is really good, and probably going to stay that way for a while. Now that Mack Brown has figured out how to win big games, the Texas-OU rivalry has become what Florida State-Miami was back in the ’80s and ’90s. And the rest of league is trying to keep up with that.
The secret to the offensive might? The Big 12 schools get first pick of the enormous wealth of skill position talent found in Texas, where high school football is king. The switch of high school offenses away from the option to more passing-oriented attacks and the proliferation of year-round 7-on-7 leagues there has created a wealth of talented - and experienced - skill players. They are playing a different brand of football than what you see in the SEC, but that is ok.
Mike Leach deserves a lot of credit for the aggressive brand of offense now seen in the Big 12, something he brought with him when Bob Stoops hired him as his first offensive coordinator at Oklahoma back in 1999. A year later he was hired as the head guy at Texas Tech, and his competitors in the conference have had to change their approach to offense just to keep up. OU’s offense has evolved to a more classic pro-set, but still follows some of his principles. Mizzou under Pinkel has gone to a more classic spread, and other Big 12 schools are using their own versions of pass-happy offense. Now we hear that Leach would like to find work elsewhere, out of concern that he will never be able to recruit the kind of defensive talent needed to beat OU and UT to come to Lubbock, Texas. Mac Davis once sang that “happiness was Lubbock, Texas in my rear view mirror”; having been to Lubbock on several occasions, I must say there is something to that. Alas, last year he was reported to be considered too weird for Southern California by the administration at UCLA, which should tell you volumes. The conference has more than its share of wacky coaches, and Leach is their king. For examples of what I am talking about, just look him up on YouTube…
Patterson on Tue, 14th Oct 2008 16:07
Can’t go with you on this one Moon. They have great offense and qb’s in the Big 12, but there defensive play is suspect. Defense still whens championships, and the Big 12 would have a hard time against the smash mouth style of the SEC.
MoonDog on Tue, 14th Oct 2008 16:24
Dude, I don’t disagree with you on the surface. A point I failed to make within the post was just how prolific the offenses are in the Big 12.
While I agree the defenses are a little suspect, I don’t know if there are too many defenses out there that can keep Mizzou, OK State, Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Kansas from scoring less than 21 points.
Here’s an example: LSU scored 21 on the Gators with a freshman QB. How many points do you think an offense run by Chase Daniel or Colt McCoy could score?
These offenses in the Big 12 are so good, I don’t know if anyone can stop them. Special teams become very important and you’d better be able to score points or you’re going to lose.
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Mo on Tue, 14th Oct 2008 20:10
Moondog — I agree! Right now. But, in the end, Florida will win the BCS Championship and the SEC will be #1 again. One thing that has hurt them is simply that we are now into the heart of the conference schedule and so SEC teams are knocking each other off. That happened the past two years. Last year, LSU lost 2 SEC games. Yet, no one doubts they were the best in the country in the end.
Same thing will happen this year.
There is some discussion about this at http://www.secsportsfan.com/sec-vs-big-12-football.html
MoonDog on Tue, 14th Oct 2008 21:45
Mo - I don’t disagree that an SEC team could win the BCS title. As far as the conference itself, I believe the Big 12 is better overall than the SEC - this year at least.
But the Gators or maybe even the Tide can win it all. I’m not so sure about Georgia or LSU. I know this much, outside of Penn State, I don’t see a team outside of the Big 12 or SEC winning the title.
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Patterson on Tue, 14th Oct 2008 22:34
I still say we just don’t know how prolific those offenses really are. Ohio State’s offense was suppose to be a monster in 06, and once they felt the wrath of an SEC defense, they crumbled.
Have Big 12 quarterbacks been hit the way an SEC defense would hit them?
I do see your point though. I’m still weary of Florida’s secondary, and I wonder how a good qb with time would do against them. In truth, we haven’t faced that yet.
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Gatorpastor on Wed, 15th Oct 2008 08:46
I really like you’re blog. Nice work and great articles. While I do agree that the Big-12 is a really good conference, I don’t totally agree with everything you said here.
1. I agree with you about the Big-12 offenses and how prolific many of them are. But I’ll repeat what everyone has: No defense to play against = prolific offenses. Remember Hawaii’s prolific defense? Then they played against an actual defense (UGA). I think we also saw a glimpse of that in the Missou/OSU game.
2. Having more teams in the top 25/15 at this point in the season proves nothing. The Big-12 just started their cannibalism, the SEC has been at it for 3 weeks now. Simple mathematics says that the Big-12 and the SEC will be roughly equal in terms of teams in the top 15 at the end of the regular season.
3. I have never been impressed by they beat them and those other guys beat them, therefore . . . or A scored 21 points against B and B only scored 10 against C, therefore. . . Experience almost always showed that stuff doesn’t mean anything. Too many other factors involved.
My bottom line is the Big-12 is a great offensive conference, just like the WAC and the Mountain West. And my answer to that is “So what.” If the BCS has any sense and integrity left it will put the Big-12 champ and the SEC champ together and then we’ll see who the king conference really is. I am very glad that there is another conference that is really good.
MoonDog on Wed, 15th Oct 2008 09:17
Patterson - Again, I don’t disagree. I made an effort not to sound like a homer because in the end, I’m convinced the SEC is the best conference in the nation.
Perhaps it’s because so many offenses in the SEC this season are bad (Auburn, Tennessee, Vandy, Miss. St.) that it appears the SEC isn’t quite up to snuff.
But I agree the defenses in the SEC are better than the Big 12’s and any other conference for that matter.
MoonDog on Wed, 15th Oct 2008 09:50
Gator - Thanks for the props. I don’t disagree with what you wrote. I’d love to see the Big 12 champ and the SEC champ square off in the BCS title game.
Penn State may have something to say about that, and as of now they look like a very worthy candidate.
We’ll get a better view next week when the first BCS rankings are released.
LSU Fan on Fri, 9th Jan 2009 11:18
Well then … NOW how do you feel?
MoonDog on Fri, 9th Jan 2009 11:26
I feel great! I’m an SEC guy through and through. When I wrote this in October, it was hard to argue against the Big 12 being the best at that time.
In the end, it was the SEC being the dominant conference - as always.
Good Call on Sat, 10th Jan 2009 15:52
Good call - SEC 2 Big 12 0. Massively overrated Texas Tech loses to a 500 middle of the road SEC team…in TEXAS. OK State - loses to the Ducks. The “emergence” of these 2 teams was the baseline for the Big 12 argument, but now that the season is over, it’s the same conference it’s been for 15 years - Oklahoma and Texas, who get to the big games by playing high school defenses all year. Once they leave their safe house (in conference games), they get owned. Argument over.