Bevo's Daily Roundup - Big 12 Media Day Two

Big 12 Media Days: Day Two

You can watch Media Day video on the Big 12 Conference site.

Missouri

Gary Pinkel on replacing Chase Daniel:

At the conclusion of spring football, Blaine Gabbert was far and away the best quarterback at that particular time. We had two freshmen that came in, Ashton and Blaine. Ashton Glaser and Blaine Dalton came in early, which allowed them really to get spring football in, learn our system and the process, and they did really well. I expect them to be significantly better, naturally after going through it, as we go into two-a-days.

Gary Pinkel knows there are high expectations for Missouri. No excuses.

"I don't think any of our fans really care how young we are or how inexperienced we are," Pinkel said during Big 12 Media Days on Tuesday. "They expect a good football team."

"Definitely. We had six guys get drafted,
those guys from other teams, I don't care if they all would have left,
they probably wouldn't have had six guys drafted. And we could have had
more than six. I put my teammates up against anybody, that's just how I
am, if I go to war with you every day, I'm going to ride with you." 
— Missouri linebacker Sean Weatherspoon, 
when asked if he said Missouri was the most talented team in the Big 12 

Baylor

Baylor is being taken seriously for three reasons — Jason Smith, Art Briles and Robert Griffin. Are they serious about winning?

"We have a chance to have a really solid defense, which you must have to win our (South) division."

Baylor thinks it can win the South Division? Yes, and the Bears aren’t joking.

Athlon Sports put Robert Griffin on 2009 Heisman watch list.

Is Griffin overexposed?

One writer asked Baylor coach Art Briles if the attention Griffin has received could hamper the progress of the team, to the point where he might be overexposed.

"The good thing about Robert is that he’s not a guy who seeks it out," Briles said. "Our players respect him for what he does on and off the football field. He’s the guy that, I’ve said it before, he’s used to having people look at him when he walks into a room, and it just didn’t start now. So as far as talking about him being overexposed, well, I hope that’s the case. I hope it’s a deal where he solidifies that kind of exposure."

The Bears are looking for some solid production from wide receiver David Gettis.

David Gettis arrived in the Baylor program as the most-heralded recruit in the program's recent history.

Gettis has struggled living up to those expectations, producing only one touchdown reception in his three-season career with the Bears and no touchdown grabs since his freshman season.

"David is a guy at this stage of his career is not to talk but produce," Baylor coach Art Briles said. "We've done enough talking and hoping and hyping. But let's start doing results and believing in it."

"There is a buzz in Waco." — Baylor linebacker Joe Pawelek, about the 
preseason excitement surrounding the Bears' program 

"What he's done for Baylor on the national football scene, we're very
appreciative of. He hasn't done it though with what he's said; he's
done it with what he's done. That's how you make noise in the football
world." — Baylor coach Art Briles, on sophomore quarterback Robert Griffin

Kansas

Kansas coach Mark Mangino believes Kansas is on the way to becoming a consistently winning program.

Dezmon Briscoe is still in Mangino's doghouse.

Kansas wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe's playing status in the program is tenuous with preseason practice set for Aug. 6.

Kansas coach Mark Mangino told Kansas fans Sunday during a trip to the Kansas Museum of History in Topeka, Kan., that Briscoe still isn't assured of playing with the Jayhawks this fall.

Why doesn't Mangino particiapte in the coaches poll?

When asked, Mangino made the admission he doesn't vote in the coaches' rankings.

"One of the reasons why I don't is because I think it takes a lot of time," he said. "And I just don't feel good about taking a couple of hours every Sunday working on a poll when I should be getting my team ready to play."

"For us to really get where we want this program to be, we have to
start winning against teams that are considered the elite teams in the
league." — Kansas coach Mark Mangino, on his team taking the next step

"I've had to fight off naysayers my whole life. Sometimes I wish it
would quit. But I've shown a little bit that I can play a little
football here and there." — Kansas' Todd Reesing, about playing quarterback in college 
despite being only 5-foot-11

Oklahoma

Sooner Sports had their own blog of OU's turn on the dais.

ESPN's Joe Schad reports on the Sooners and asks Sam Bradford about the offensive line.

When asked about the OU-UT tiebreaker controversy, Bob Stoops took a swipe at Texas.

But when Stoops stepped down from the podium, he couldn't resist one swipe at the air banners hired by Texas fans proclaiming the score of the OU-Texas game.

"They throw up the score of our game," Stoops said, "I'll throw up the score of the (Texas) Tech game."

The offensive line is still the biggest challenge for the Sooners.

With four new starters from last season, Oklahoma's offensive line is the biggest question coming into the season.

"Obviously, it's a concern because those guys have only played a limited amount," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. "What you want to see is some kind of consistency and how they work through two-a-days and through the season. You're looking for a level of discipline and a level of toughness in how they work."

"It has a chance to be good. There's talent there and potential."
— Stoops, on OU's offensive line

"Before, our d-line wasn't a standout group.
Then we went against our offensive line, which was a standout group,
and that made us better. Now, we are the standout group, 
they're going against us, so they're going to get better. That's why I'm not worried
about our offensive line." — Oklahoma defensive tackle Gerald McCoy

A few articles of interest...

Is there a big disparity in talent in the North and South Divisions?

Dr. Saturday asks when will the North rise again?

It seems the Big 12 South's season-long reign as "America's Division" survived the postseason flops after all -- even after Texas Tech and Oklahoma State were dispatched in eye-openeing second routs, Oklahoma dropped its fifth straight BCS game and Texas needed a last-minute comeback to stave off an upset at the hands of Ohio State (Todd Boeckman-led Ohio State!), the pollsters still love the South...

Those results speak for themselves. Since Kansas State's out-of-nowhere beatdown of Oklahoma in the 2003 championship game, the entire North division has managed to beat the Sooners once and Texas twice in 35 tries -- and all three wins were colossal upsets, at the hands of Kansas State (which won a turnover-marred game against Texas in '06 and shocked the Horns in Austin in '07) and Colorado (which secured Dan Hawkins' only notable win in Boulder by taking out Oklahoma in '07). The North has not come close to winning a conference championship game since KSU's triumph, and in fact hasn't been favored to win one since Nebraska beat Texas in 1999. Even Missouri, ranked No. 1 in both major polls in 2007, was a slight underdog to Oklahoma, and were trounced by three touchdowns.

ESPN's Mark Schlabach identifies his 2009 breakout stars.