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Big 12 North – the Pride of the Conference
Posted by Phenomenal Smith on January 2nd, 2009 under Football
As the Big 12 South drops bowl games by double digits to underdogs, the Big 12 North swept its three games. The conference now stands 3-2, thanks to the Titans from the North. If Texas and OU lose, we should stage a coup.
North rides in to seize control of the Big 12
I did not get to see all of the Nebraska and KU victories, but saw enough. KU is good and will be really good again next year. Skill-wise with Reesing, Briscoe, and Meier, that team is set. The line is young and should be good enough. Luckily for Mizzou and Nebraska, KU has a killer schedule again next year.
Nebraska didn’t look great against Clemson, and Clemson didn’t look like a very good football team. Still, it’s hard to ignore Pelini and nine wins in his first year. There may be a dropoff next year, but I’m afraid NU’s sustained demise was the wishful thinking of Mizzou fans and the rest of the Big 12 North.
The ‘09 season will be fun. And, until then, let’s rise up Northern brothers and subdue the South. The conference shall be ours!
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Big XII Championship said:
January 3rd, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Yep, the Big XII North KATN.
Phenomenal Smith said:
January 3rd, 2009 at 10:21 pm
I had to look up KATN, but yes, thank you for noticing, Big XII Championship. I’d feared you were tired of us and wouldn’t watch the North’s bowl games. See you next year.
hiphopopotamus said:
January 4th, 2009 at 12:45 am
Next year is hard to figure in both divisions. Obviously Texas and Ou will hinge on Bradford and McCoy staying. And Tech is sure to see a pretty big dropoff. Okie State will probably still be Okie State, but who knows.
As for the north, KU has a chance to have the best offense in the conference, but how will their defense be? MU and NU are loaded with athletes, but will be breaking in new QBs. And I guess Colorado could be seen as a wild card.
Phenomenal Smith said:
January 4th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Agree on CU – while they had a hugely disappointing season, the defense overall was pretty good and they have great athletes at RB and LB. QB is a problem, though.
Gene Claude said:
January 4th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Hiphop, I agree. I’m looking forward to Mizzou being an underdog next year. I think with the way Nebraska, KU and Mizzou finished the season, Nebraska and KU will be the co-favorites, which is just fine by me. Obviously, Mizzou goes as Gabbert goes. However, I think you’ll see (at least the appearance of) a marked improvement in the Missouri defense, with a chance for real improvement.
I say “appearance” because I think it likely we play a more ball control offense with more runs involved. That would improve the defensive stats considerably and shorten games some.
If Gabbert (and Glaser and Dalton) suck, it won’t matter much. I see a weighted mean for Missouri next year at about 8.5 – 3.5. Getting Nebraska at home is big, but OSU on the road and Nevada on the road, along with Texas at home, KU and Illinois are tough.
Nebraska actually has the best schedule of the three, with road games against MU and KU, but also Baylor and Colorado. Home dates with Tech and OU.
Bill in San Diego said:
January 9th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
With Mizzou finishing #19 in the AP I’m now wondering if beating KU would’ve have left us unranked, as I think we would’ve gone to and then lost The Holiday Bowl (and ended with the same 10-4 record.)
hiphopopotamus said:
January 12th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
GC – I’d very much agree that Missouri will benefit from being the underdog again. I do wonder about your expected (appearance of) improvement for the defense though.
For one thing, I think Sulak, Moore, Hood and even Christopher will be tough to replace. Plus, I’m not sure I see the ball control thing working, if only because I think Washington and the running game greatly benefitted from teams honoring Daniel, Maclin, & Coffman. I’m not so sure Gabbert, Alexander and Perry will garner the same respect.
Chet Gristler said:
January 13th, 2009 at 2:09 am
Hippo, I agree about the defense…very concerned. I think QB09 (not giving it to Gabbert yet, though it looks that way) will keep it on the zone read much more than Chase did his last two years. Daniel had one game this year (OU) with 10 carries. As a soph, he had at least 9 carries in every game. 6 10+ attempts in 2007. Attempts, by year: 2006, 147; 2007, 109; 2008, 69.
As he became more valuable as a passer, he ran less. I figure we will see quite a few QB keepers next year, and if that’s an effective play, it should open things up for Washington as well. At least that’s my hope.
Gene Claude said:
January 13th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Hood and Moore will be difficult to replace, yes. I think there is a very good chance that Sulak, Chavis, Christopher, Bridges, Garrett and, perhaps, Gettis’s spots will be upgraded. In short, an important thing to remember is that those guys didn’t play 100% of snaps, those “spots” are filled by some combination of 1st and 2nd team players. The defense next year everywhere but DT will have more depth, and there are more highly skilled athletes waiting in the wings. Many of those players got snaps that I thought they might not have deserved based solely on skill.