Athlon Sports Big-12 Preview is out

[Mac94]

Since olevetonahill was such a big fan of the last thread regarding the Sporting News ... I'll post this as a follow up ;)

Their top 10:

1) Bama
2) Ohio St.
3) Oregon
4) Georgia
5) S. Carolina
6) Clemson
7) Stanford
8) Notre Dame
9) Texas A&M
10) Louisville

Others of note:

16) Oklahoma St.
17) Oklahoma
18) Texas
19) TCU

Big-12 Conference and Bowl Predictions:

oSu 10-2 (7-2) Fiesta vs Boise St
OU 9-3 (7-2) Alamo vs Stanford
Texas 9-3 (6-3) Cotton vs LSU
TCU 8-4 (6-3) Meineke vs Indiana
KSU 8-4 (5-4) Holiday vs Arizona St.
Baylor 8-4 (5-4) Buffalo Wild Wings vs Northwestern
TTech 7-5 (4-5) Heart of Texas vs Rice
WV 6-6 (3-6) Pinstripe vs Rutgers
ISU 5-7 (2-7)
KU 3-9 (0-9)

Four Sooners and the All Big-12 1st Team: FB Trey Millard, C Gabe Ikard, OT Daryl Williams, and CB Aaron Colvin

[badger]

No offense to our friendly resident Pokes, but it continues to surprise me that the national media holds Gundy's leadership and the OKLAST program in such high esteem.

I know that they nearly beat us last year and actually did beat us the year before last, but holy brightest orange hell, Gundy's luck will run out!

[olevetonahill]

No way in hell does OsU finish higher than OU

[Mac94]

Nationally, I agree they are over ranking oSu and under ranking TCU and under estimating Kansas St. (as long as the mad scientist is there KSU will be dangerous).

They have OU at 9-3 and 7-2 in conference. So that's a loss at South Bend and a loss to oSu and a win over Texas. Any ideas who they think the third loss is?

[cleller]

This is going to be a tough year to predict for sure. OU seems very mediocre right now, compared to earlier Stoops teams. OSU has been steadily improving and cutting down of the bone-head losses.

HOWEVER, I feel like, and hope that OU will display some added gut this year. Bell (or other) will be fired up to make a statement. I think OSU won't bounce back from losing some of their stars as well as people expect.

[badger]

Any ideas who they think the third loss is?

NP has said it'll be TCU, and he's probably right. Those froggies have our number. :(

I hope they have LSU's too :les:

Don't go full-SEC on us, you're probably hoping the same thing!

[Mac94]

TCU's suspension of their DE will hurt against LSU ... still think the Frogs can win that one, though. LSU lost pretty much it's entire defense so I think TCU can and will move the ball. Honestly ... would love to see TCU win that one ... I can't stand LSU.

[KantoSooner]

I can't stand LSU.

Who can?

[olevetonahill]

Nationally, I agree they are over ranking oSu and under ranking TCU and under estimating Kansas St. (as long as the mad scientist is there KSU will be dangerous).

They have OU at 9-3 and 7-2 in conference. So that's a loss at South Bend and a loss to oSu and a win over Texas. Any ideas who they think the third loss is?

Aint gonna be a THIRD loss , Hell aint gonna be ANY as far as Im concerned.

[picasso]

Athlon's makes good cosmetics.

[Tulsa_Fireman]

Athlon makes good buttwipe.

[Widescreen]

Those froggies have our number. :(

How so? We've beaten them the last 2 times we've played them (including last season).

[thecrimsoncrusader]

When OU gets their act together on defense, those Baylor/OSU/WVU style games will go by the wayside. Oklahoma has a history of defense and has a desire to fix the defense, programs like Baylor/OSU/WVU do not. The pass defense was fixed last season (200 passing yards per game and only allowing a 52% completion percentage despite a zero pass rush) with more aggressive secondary play and better coaching, the rushing defense will be fixed by using no less than 2 linebackers in every game this season along with going to a one-gap, which will suit the up-front personnel much better, especially with their level of experience or lack thereof.

[picasso]

Very true. oSu didn't have a defense when they had a defense.

[SoonerinLA]

Has there ever been a year when no B12 team was in the preseason top ten?

[SoonerorLater]

Has there ever been a year when no B12 team was in the preseason top ten?

Not many but if there there ever was such a year then this is it. If anything they may be kind to the Big 12. Where should OU be rated? They lost a lot of the proven cogs on offense and the defense doesn't appear to be certifiably better. OSU and Texas, who knows. They both have a lot of question marks. TCU should be solid and be a tough team to beat. That said nothing that really stands out about them. At least TCU does seem to put some emphasis on defense. Until the Big 12 as a whole plays better defense we are going to find ourselves slipping further down the rankings.