State of The Conference

[BIG_IKE]

I think right now the Big 12 South is in great shape. OU is playing very well right now. If Texas A&M had our Coach they would actually be playing for the National Title. And even Uterus, having it's worst season in 6 years is still 9-3.
Tech is always dangerous, Baylor is on the rise...even the Pokes seem like they are getting better. The North is coming along. I can see K-State being a threat next year as well as Missouri and Nebraska.

I say next year the Big 12 will be the best in College Football. Anyone care to discuss?

[GreenSooner]

I wouldn't go so far. The Big 12 was pretty severely underrated by most folks this year, I'd agree. The South was quite strong; the North--or at least Nebraska and Missouri--a lot less weak than many thought.

But the North is still a lot weaker than the South. I'm not sure I see Missouri developing much beyond where it is now (I don't have a lot of faith in Pinkel's version of the spread offense). Kansas seems stalled. Colorado has joined Iowa State as a kind of basket-case program. It remains to be seen whether KState returns to form. Nebraska is certainly back among the living, but I'm not sure whether Callahan is capable of pushing them to the level of national title contender.

As for the South: Texas and Oklahoma are predictably top 10 programs year in and year out. Fran has a lot of players at aTM, but can he move that program to the next level? I doubt it. Tech is predictably solid, but can they really improve without dedicating some effort to defense, and is Mike Leach at all interested in doing so? Baylor is certainly less awful than they used to be, but that's not saying much. As for the Pokes...well enough has been said about them around here for the last few days. A shiny new stadium does not a program make. So that's two absolutely top notch programs, two very good programs (ought to be Top 20, outside shot at Top 10), and two so-so programs with legitimate shots at bowl eligibility (which for Baylor is actually saying a whole heck of a lot).

So I guess I'd say that the Big 12 is a very strong conference. If the cards fall right, it could be the best in college in football next year, but I'm not willing to predict that now.

[JohnnyMack]

I was just thinking how bad this conference was this year. Oh well.

[trwxxa]

I was just thinking how bad this conference was this year. Oh well.

Agreed. The Big 12 does not have any kind of "signature" win based on the final "official" score in the books.

[soonerjoker]

i think morriss is on the right track, but i feel that baylor did not make
any progress this season.