Another week, another Big 12 Roundtable by the Big XII bloggers in the SB Nation blog network. Our host once again is Rock M Nation.
1. A solid 10-2 showing for the Big 12 this weekend. Which of these wins was biggest for the Big 12 and why?
Kansas' victory over Northern Colorado. If another lower level school in Colorado had beaten a Big XI team, nobody would be talking about the suckage of the Big Ten/Eleven.
OK, ok. Oklahoma State's victory over Georgia edges out Baylor's upset of Wake Forest. A lot has been said about whether the SEC or the Big XII is the best college football conference, and the Pokes victory is a feather in the Big XII's cap when an up-and-coming Big XII team can take out an established SEC power. Baylor's victory over Wake is impressive when you consider Baylor's history, but the ACC had nearly as bad of a weekend as the Big Ten. (Virginia losing to William & Mary? Duke losing to Richmond?)
2. Conversely, the Mountain West did its damage against Colorado and Oklahoma. What's more disconcerting -- a sleeper in Colorado coming unglued, or a power in Oklahoma getting knocked off?
I never understood the hype over Colorado and how people thought that the Buffs were some sort of "sleeper." If anything, the Buffs coaching staff looked more desperate than anything trying to salvage their jobs this season. Rock M ran the numbers, and came to the conclusion that Colorado was more likely to be a
10 loss team than anything else.
No, the disconcerting thing was watching Oklahoma's offensive line disintegrate on national television, taking out
Sam Bradford's shoulder in the process. All eyes were set to watch Oklahoma and Texas match up as undefeated national title contenders next month. Maybe the Mountain West is that good now; certainly Utah made a solid case for them last season. But eliminating one team from national title consideration right off the bat is never a good thing for the Big XII.
3. Right now, the college football world is rotating around a shoulder that can't rotate itself. What does the Sam Bradford injury mean for the conference right now?
Right or wrong, ESPN markets all of their sports by star power. It's not the teams, it's the personalities. Before Saturday night, ESPN could talk about the three quarterbacks:
Tim Tebow,
Colt McCoy, and Bradford. Now Bradford has the headlines, for all the wrong reasons this week. But next Saturday, it all becomes the Tebow and McCoy show. If Bradford can somehow get himself healed enough to play against Texas, that might turn out to be a huge boost of interest in the Red River Rivalry gam.
4. How, if at all, did your perception of your team change after week one, both for better and for worse?
I was pleasantly surprised that Florida Atlantic didn't get into the end zone; I figured that at some point, there would be a busted coverage that an NFL prospect like
Rusty Smith could take advantage of. Conversely, I was disappointed that the Nebraska offensive line couldn't open up more holes for the running backs early on. I perfectly understand that the Owls were stacking the line, but the Owls returned only 4 starters from a rather porous defense last season.
5. Give us your offensive player of the week, defensive player of the week, and coaching move of the week, including justifications for your selection. You ARE eligible to vote for your own program.
Defensive player of the week: Baylor's
Joe Pawelek, who had seven tackles, and a sack and interception of Wake Forest's
Riley Skinner.
Coach of the Week: Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Bill Young, who's defense held Georgia to just 10 points. Who said the Big XII was made-for-TV-no-defense football?
6. Big 12 Power Poll! Rank the teams from 1-12. (Again, the simple criteria for this is power, i.e. who would beat who on a neutral field?)
- Texas
- Oklahoma State
- Oklahoma
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- Kansas
- Baylor
- Texas A&M
- Iowa State
- Texas Tech
- Colorado
- Kansas State
Missouri's convincing victory over Illinois gets them props. A&M gets a bump for defeating a Bowl Subdivision foe convincingly. North Dakota is just a couple of seasons removed from division 2, so I give Iowa State the nod over Tech. And while I think Colorado is going to be bad, it's hard to forgive Kansas State for only putting 21 points on a FCS opponent, then letting them back into the game with special teams errors.
