Big 12 Roundup: Nobody's Safe Anymore
by Peter Bean on Sep 30, 2007 10:43 AM CDT
in Texas Longhorns Football
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PrintOh how quickly things change...
Saturday was not a good day to be ranked in the Top 25.
The weekend's upsets weren't confined to the Big 12, of course, but it might have been the conference rocked the hardest.
Colorado 27 Oklahoma 24
Wow. Just... wow. The Sooners were outscored 17-0 in the fourth quarter, a collapse far more stunning than Texas' beatdown in Austin. The Buffaloes limited Oklahoma to an embarrassing 230 yards of total offense, forced three turnovers, and controlled the football for 39 out of the game's 60 minutes. Even with Colorado's improved play this season, there was just no indication that this upset was coming. I saw a lot of people take Colorado on the betting line yesterday, but I don't know anyone who took the Buffalos on the money line. If there's one thing that made yesterday's loss to Kansas State bearable, it was Oklahoma's bed wetting in Boulder.
Next for Oklahoma: vs Texas
Next for Colorado: at Baylor
Nebraska 35 Iowa State 17
Move along, now. Nothing to see here. The Huskers got back in the win column, but it was a pretty ugly affair. Nebraska suffered through three turnovers, while Iowa State gave up the ball on four separate occasions. Sadly, after yesterday, the Big 12 North jokes don't have much bite. Sigh.
Next for Nebraska: at Missouri
Next for Iowa State: at Texas Tech
Texas A&M 34 Baylor 10
I had to bet a lot of money just to cover the expense of the pre-game injury report that I purchased. (Not that Fran was selling this stuff for the purposes of aiding gamblers. Nope. Nuh-uh.)
Next for Texas A&M: vs Oklahoma State
Next for Baylor: vs Colorado
Texas Tech 75 Northwestern State 7
The Red Raiders passed for 534 yards and 8 touchdowns, and Michael Crabtree is the best wide receiver in the country that nobody is talking about.
By the way, has anyone heard of Northwestern State before? Did Texas Tech even play a collegiate team?
Next for Texas Tech: vs Iowa State
Oklahoma State 39 Sam Houston State 3
Whew. Thank goodness Tech and Oklahoma State were out there saving the Big 12 South's image. Two strong teams making two strong statements about their potency. About the Big 12's potency. About...
Okay, I can't do this. I tried.
Next for Oklahoma State: at Texas A&M
--PB--
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Oklahoma
beatdown is something of a paleative - and make no mistake, final score nothwithtanding it was a beatdown (the had got barely more yards on the Buffs than FSU 2007 Vintage!!!!!!!!!).
Still I would gladly have traded an OU rout in Boulder for a solidly played decisive victory by the Horns. As it is we've got a very angry OU team (your fear factor calculation) ready to bring the wood and we'd best make effective adjustments pronto. Importantly, I'm not sure we can mathc that anger, to say nothing of the talent.
I have to say that even with the poor play I was particularly looking forward to OU, especially after Rice. Now I'm much more concerned.
Agreed...
it's amazing, we can't even lose better than OU. Between being an OU fan and a Texas fan, that OU loss probably hurt worse, since it looked like a surefire OU victory in the 3rd quarter, only to see a Mets-like collapse occur. But the bottom line is OU's loss was on a last second field goal on the road, while ours was by 20 points at home. Obviously, none of this matters after the RRS, but a pissed off OU team is much more scary than a pissed off Texas team. Unless you're deathly afraid of the clap.
By the way, important side-note about the RRS...I believe we have the longest active top 25 streak in the country. Pretty sure that won't last if we lose to OU.
It's Pathetic
that we have to compete for bragging rights respecting the lack of quality of our losses. Still, although it's hardly a bandaid I'd contend that OU's loss was worse. Sure we lost by 20 at home and they by 3 on the road. However, we made more mistakes and gave up a ton of points on special teams. Our defense played decently - nothing to to hang my NC hat on but still. Further KSU is a decent and somewhat improving team. CU is coming of a 2 win season and fairly dominated (I only watched the 4th quarter - couldn't tear myself away - and the effect was exagerated) OU down for down and series for series. Again, something like 10 more yards than an FSU team which hasn't had a potent offense in like 7 years gained 2 week previously. The close score did not reflect that dominance. Additionally, the loss was more shocking becuase they were confident in winning even with a couple of minutes to go. Further, as you note, the shock of going from 80 to 0 in about a half.
Paultry pickings.
The anger disparity is quite startling, however.
OU got Upset. Texas got Beat.
There'a a huge difference, CU took over the momentum of the game and won on a field goal as time expired. It was a truly impressive upset victory, but if the teams played again tomorrow I'd take OU to cover the spread in Boulder. If Texas and K-State played again tomorrow would anybody be willing to argue that we would win that game? With Greg Davis running the most predictable offense in college football?
Let's add another truly elite offensive skill player to the Greg Davis List of Wasted Talent: Limas Sweed. There is a reason why Limas came into the season as the #1-#3 receiver on every conceivable magazine list: He's awesome. But in the line of Roy Williams (did Roy ever even get a single 1000 yard receiving season) Greg has managed to waste a considerable talent.
Oregon
I wouldn't quite put a nuclear detonation on that state. It's always tough to lose at home, but they lost to #6 California, who now should jump up to #3.
by goingforthecorner on Sep 30, 2007 1:49 PM CDT reply actions
Post game malicious intent
In noticing the placement of the bomb blasts, the one allocated for Boulder is actually placed over Kansas; a little unconscious malicious revenge, eh, or a Manhattan project of a different sort?
On anger: The old rule was that if OU or Texas got whipped in the RRS, their next opponent would get wiped off the map, ala TT vs. Northwestern State. However, moving to the game before the RRS changes the dynamic.
How mad can the coaches get? Or afford to get? You can't work the teams' butt off because you want their legs to be relatively fresh for the RRS. And real physical manipulations take about two weeks to take hold (ala track), so there are real limits. You can run their butts on Monday and a little of Tuesday/Wed., but not later.
You can tear them down psychologically, but only as much as you can build them up to a confident level by game time Saturday.
OU needs an attitude fix more than a change in attack or serious personnel changes, and normally Stoops can manage that in a week.
Texas needs a whole remodel job, personnel, tactics, strategy and attitude. That can't be done in a week; only some personnel and some stop gap efforts can be accomplished in a week.
Prognosis. Not good. OU can run the short, quick passing game ala KSU but has a better ground attack. Their D should be better than KSU even if they run a reasonable facsimile of what KSU did.
Texas must get pressure on Bradford, early and often, before he regains his confidence. The kid is vulnerable and the Horns need some new junkyard dogs to chew his ass right up.
New polls are out
How can KSU have the same record as Texas, and be ranked much lower after going into Austin and whooping them? KSU's only loss was AT auburn, which just beat a damn good Florida team?
KSU still not even ranked in the coaches poll
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/rankin...
Who would have ever thought...
That less than two years after winning a NC game, we would be ranked farther back in the Top 20 than Hawaii and Missouri (AP Poll). That is sad, sad, sad, and there is just something perversely wrong with that. But I guess we deserve it.
Because as much as...
you might not like it or agree, that is how the polls work. There is only a finite number of spots a team will fall in a given week, especially four weeks into the season when that team is entering the week ranked #7 with a 4-0 record. I know and understand what your argument is but it doesn't typically work that way (logically) as far as the polls are concerned.
A much better question is how does Texas drop 12 spots when Florida only drops 4 spots and Oklahoma only drops six spots in the Coaches Poll? I know neither team lost as "badly" as Texas did but they did lose. And they lost to teams that are not as good as you might think.
You might suspect Auburn is an elite program this season but remember, they lost at home to USF and Mississippi State. Colorado lost at home to Florida State and at Arizona State. So these two teams aren't exactly "world beaters" this year. I know K-State lost to Auburn but from what I heard, it was at Auburn and that game could have gone either way.
Florida lost to an unranked team (Auburn) who remains that way after beating Florida in the Swamp. How good do the pollsters really think Auburn is? And as you might expect, Colorado is not ranked either. Where is their respect?
Yes, Texas lost by 20 but if you are going to penalize them a 12 spot drop in the polls, at least apply a similar penalty to the Oklahoma's and Florida's of the world.
it's because...
Texas hasn't looked good all season, and they got exposed....and the pollsters are giving us the old, "I told you so".
Florida and dOUchebag on the other hand have looked great all year, and their losses are considered mere slipups in the grand scheme of things.
by bleed burnt orange on Oct 1, 2007 5:42 PM CDT up reply actions
Texas Tech
I was at this TTU vs NW St. (possibly a high school team), apparently this school is in the Sun Belt Conference. Although, TTU put up a lot of points I would ahve to say that I was not overly impressed with them yet. NWSU was getting pressure on Harrel pretty much up until the middle of the 3rd quarter, u could really see the talent gap then. The Tech D cannot stop the run to save their lives. NWSU moved the ball well in the 1st half, but didn't do much the second half, they must have dropped at least 15 passes. Very Boring game, huge blowout, altough not very impressed with Tech. We'll have to see how they fare the next 2 wks with Iowa St./aTm. Who are both a little better than NWSU.
by LonghorninRaiderland on Oct 1, 2007 7:52 AM CDT reply actions
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