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Tigers and the Big 12 in the NFL
Posted by Phenomenal Smith on October 15th, 2008 under Football
I don’t follow the NFL closely. I don’t even do fantasy football or participate in a survival pool like the rest of the free world ( and some of the unfree world that W hasn’t liberated yet). Part of it is because I’d classify myself a Rams fan. Enough said. A larger part is that I love college football and the NFL is so dry, so homogenized, so corporate, in comparison. There is an exception. The NFL does grab my attention when a Mizzou Tiger is playing.
Yes, that’s right. Currently there are six Tigers in the NFL, and nary a one is showing up on Sportscenter much. Justin Gage disappeared this year once VY went bonkers.
Don’t you say I can’t throw the ball.
Justin Smith is playing fairly well this year, but who watches the 49ers? Brad Smith is the greatest player in the whole world during the preseason causing NY papers to write poetically about his athletic prowess, but come gameplan time, Mangini ain’t buying it. Will Franklin was hurt, caught a pass for 8 yards, and has the Chief QB du jour throwing to him, so he’s a cipher. T-Ruck has been hurt and is behind the Soldier. CJ Mosely is a backup DT with the Jets. Who cares, right?
I used espn.com to figure out just how pathetic Mizzou having six players in the NFL is. Here are the Big 12 numbers:
|
TEAM |
NO. PLAYERS IN NFL |
| Texas | 36 |
| Nebraska | 27 |
| Texas A&M | 21 |
| Oklahoma | 19 |
| Kansas State | 19 |
| Colorado | 18 |
| Oklahoma State | 9 |
| Iowa State | 8 |
| Texas Tech | 7 |
| Kansas | 7 |
| Missouri | 6 |
| Baylor | 6 |
Pretty bad. Mizzou shows up in last with Baylor (notice I eschew alphabetization to make myself feel better). Meanwhile, the Longhorns show up strong with 36 (and one of the better ones is now a Cowboy)! Surprised to see OU tied for fourth. What does it all mean? Probably means that the Tigers were bad for a long time, while UT has been good for a long time. Here are the rankings by wins over the last five years:
|
TEAM |
NO. PLAYERS IN NFL | WINS ’03-‘07 |
| Texas | 36 | 54 |
| Oklahoma | 19 | 54 |
| Texas Tech | 7 | 42 |
| Missouri | 6 | 40 |
| Nebraska | 27 | 37 |
| Texas A&M | 21 | 37 |
| Kansas | 7 | 35 |
| Oklahoma State | 9 | 34 |
| Kansas State | 19 | 32 |
| Colorado | 18 | 28 |
| Iowa State | 8 | 23 |
| Baylor | 6 | 21 |
Tech and Mizzou rocket up the list, which could mean their NFL fortunes are soon going to change. It also could mean the spread offense is great for college football but not for developing NFL players. Five years may not be enough time, though, as good NFL players play in the league for more than five years.
|
TEAM |
NO. PLAYERS IN NFL | WINS ’03-‘07 | WINS ‘98-‘07 |
| Texas | 36 | 54 | 103 |
| Oklahoma | 19 | 54 | 102 |
| Nebraska | 27 | 37 | 86 |
| Kansas State | 19 | 32 | 82 |
| Texas Tech | 7 | 42 | 78 |
| Texas A&M | 21 | 37 | 72 |
| Colorado | 18 | 28 | 65 |
| Missouri | 6 | 40 | 64 |
| Oklahoma State | 9 | 34 | 59 |
| Kansas | 7 | 35 | 53 |
| Iowa State | 8 | 23 | 53 |
| Baylor | 6 | 21 | 29 |
Ranking the schools by wins over the last ten years somewhat normalizes the correlation of wins/NFLers. Tech is still hobnobbing with the big winners with its paltry 7 active NFL players. I take it to mean two things: the spread offense thing mentioned earlier and Tech’s weak schedule habits. The fact that OU and UT have approximately the same number of wins while UT has double the players in the NFL is arguably proof that Stoops is a better coach than Mack Brown. Brown has had more talent, same success, all that jazz.
I’m sure you’re wondering if any non-BCS schools have more current NFL players than Mizzou. Well, a few: Boise State (10), BYU (14), UCF (12), Colorado State (9), E. Carolina (7), Fresno State (17), Kent State (7), Marshall (9), Memphis (8), N. Iowa (7), So. Miss (7), TCU (8), UTEP (7), Utah (16).
Other BCS schools with fewer than Mizzou? Sure: Duke (3).
I believe Mizzou’s NFL fortunes are going to change. On the one hand, can they get much worse? Not really. On the other hand, Moore, Maclin, Spoon, and Coffman are sure-fire bets to play in the League. Others like Hood, Sulak, and Chase will definitely get looks. I sure hope it changes because I’d like to care about the NFL.
So, what do those tables mean, if anything, to you?
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UTHornFan014 said:
October 15th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Those tables made it move
MoJo said:
October 15th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Dude. You could’ve made your point without throwing Duke under the bus.
Scipio Tex said:
October 15th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Very interesting post. Thanks for doing the work.
A few observations:
- Mizzou and Tech are great examples of the value of being an early spread adopter. Winning with no talent can attract the talent you need to sustain yourself once some magical senior graduate – i.e. Gabbert, Sheldon Richardson
- The dropoff in wins from Texas and Oklahoma to the rest of the league is fairly startling. Tech is third. Have to admire their consistency.
- Compare the 5 year win total to the 10. This is program momentum. Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma St all trending very favorably. KSU, Nebraska, Colorado in steep decline. Very important from a perception standpoint when you recruit down in Texas.
Phenomenal Smith said:
October 16th, 2008 at 9:09 am
You know, I’d like to supplement my assertion that the meaning of it all wrt Tech was spread offense and weak schedules, with this: Tech’s position is pretty impressive and speaks highly of Coach Leach, who has consistently won over the last ten years with arguably inferior talent. I can’t bag on Brown (as compared to Stoops) without giving Leach his due.
steven said:
October 16th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
This list should be telling for all those the “B12 is better than the SEC” crowd. Tell me, how the hell could the B12 be better than the SEC when if a list was made, Texas would not even make into the top 3 of the SEC, and ten or eleven SEC teams, if not all of them, would rank better than the four or fifth place B12 team? Isn’t the LOGICAL implications of this simpleton fact obvious, GC?
As far as OU’s separation from Texas, that is not too surprising. As I have been saying, NateHeupel, UT and Mack has been outrecruiting OU and Stoops for some time now. The only reason why the fortunes of the teams have not shown this is because of that ever present sports enhancement program of OU’s. Without that, OU could never have competed along the lines and they have never competed with us with the DB’s and the other skill players, outside of a few exceptions. Hell, without those ‘roided up players along the lines, even the Mizzou stuffed Tiggars could probably give them a run for their money and hand them a loss.
Phenomenal Smith said:
October 20th, 2008 at 11:08 am
My brothers, Justin and Brad, actually generated some stats this past weekend. Brad had four catches and four rushes for about 90 yards total and Justin was in on five tackles. The others – Rucker, Franklin, Gage, and Mosely – don’t show up in the box scores.
Are there going to be any defensive coach changes? said:
November 16th, 2008 at 10:30 am
[...] permalink Originally Posted by ajk4st8 I hope you are kidding. We lost THREE guys to the NFL. THREE. That for Iowa State football is HUGE. Bowen, Banks, Rubin. We also lost Chris Brown and Bailey Johnson with injury. So yeah we lost 5 of our best players on D. Chizik is stuck playing the freshman that he recruited vs having the luxury of playing quality backups that he was NEVER left from Coach Mac. I wasn’t kidding – just ignorant. I didn’t know McCartney was still recruiting NFL talent at the end. I can only really obsess about one team. FYI – Iowa State currently has more NFL players than TT, KU, MU, and Baylor. MU and Baylor have 6 – only Duke has fewer among BCS conference teams. I wrote something about this earlier this year. Atomic Teeth
Are there going to be any defensive coach changes? - Page 2 said:
November 16th, 2008 at 10:31 am
[...] – only Duke has fewer among BCS conference teams. I wrote something about this earlier this year. Atomic Teeth
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