Big 12 Recap

North

1. Kansas (9-0, 5-0) Won v. NU 76-39. Hot Toddy! As if you haven't heard that score about a million times in the last four days – it never gets old though. What's funny to me about this is Nebraska fans getting upset that KU fans are "kicking them while they're down." Excuse me? It's not like some horrible, innocent travesty occurred that has compromised their ability to utilize their walk-on program and abandon everything that worked so well the past 40 years. Prior to the September 15th, you couldn't find a Brasky fan not ecstatic about the upswing of the program, citing a superior offense, top 5 recruiting classes and anything else they could think up. Fast forward two months and now that they are 4-6 and just got 76 hung on them, people should be "taking it easy on them." What a load of Bill Callahan.

But the real story here is Kansas. I have said all year that the Oklahoma St. game was more dangerous than any other on the schedule. Missouri and (possibly) Oklahoma are better but there's no chance of a let-up in those games. Hopefully having this on ABC Primetime will eliminate that risk here as well. What sucks here is that it's a "lose/lose" nationally. If Kansas loses, they were just a fluke. If they win, all they did was beat a 5-4 team that couldn't beat Troy, even though we all know that this is a much different OSU team with athletes as good as anyone in the conference. Fortunately, it still has the potential to be a wonderful situation locally. A Kansas win would mean that they won every true road game on the season and will head home for Senior Day 10-0.

2.Missouri(8-1, 4-1) Won @ Colorado 55-10. Another very impressive victory for the piss and black. KU and MU have now officially separated themselves as the only teams that can win the North and if Missouri beats A&M and K-State, the game at Arrowhead will be a de facto semifinal for the conference – which brings me to my point. Missouri fans continue to clamor that Kansas is overrated and Missouri is getting no respect. Interestingly, KU is only 2 spots ahead of Missouri in the polls, so if Missouri fans are correct and their team is better than ours, they will have every opportunity to prove it on a neutral field. Not surprisingly, none of them can seem to get this through their skulls.

Kansas State (5-4, 3-3) Lost @ ISU 31-20. Ha! Incredible. I suppose you could argue that Iowa State has been getting better all year and they had to win one, or some bullshit like that. The fact of the matter is, the Purple HAD to have that game. They remain one game shy of bowl eligibility with Nebraska, Missouri and Fresno St left to play. There's no excuse for not getting one of those, but they are all losable and as Kansas fans found out last year, 6 wins guarantees nothing.

Colorado (5-5, 3-3) Lost v. MU 55-10. Very disappointed in the Buffaloes. I was out celebrating the glorious Kansas victory on a beautiful day in Lawrence, so I haven't seen much more than the highlights of this one. The long and short of it is that they allowed almost 600 yards and gained just short of 200. Not gonna win many that way. The Buffaloes didn't desperately need this one as they came in underdogs, but they could have used a better performance to build on with Iowa State and Nebraska left…and also still a game short of bowl eligibility.

Nebraska (4-6, 1-5) Lost @ KU 76-39. It still looks pretty. I guess I'll notch NU over ISU since they hold the head to head victory, but I'm not so sure I wouldn't bet on the Cyclones right now. The painful thing for Nebraskans to accept is; even though Callahan will be fired at the end of the season, he has effectively done this to their football program. Tom Osborne can hire anyone he likes or coach himself next year and Nebraska will still be worthless because all of these players were recruited and trained for a West Coast offense – something tells me the next staff won't continue running it. And as for defense, I'm not sure any of the current players will remember how to tackle so they will need new ones there as well. But... they have scared off all of their recruits with both their dismal play and their coaching "issues."

Iowa State (2-8, 1-5) Won v. KSU 31-20. Nice work, Cyclones. You might want to send Ron Prince a thank you letter though. Why this idiot continues to think Josh Freeman is the be all end all of their team is beyond me. I know you had an early 21-3 lead, but the key word is early and it's doubly important to note that it was 21-10 at the half. Not exactly insurmountable. However, he decided to let Josh Freeman throw 44 passes (7.8 avg.) and James Johnson only run 14 times (6.8 avg.). I heard once before that a balanced offense typically works better. And no, all the reverses that went for negative yards don't count as legitimate rushing attempts. C'est la vie.

South

1. Oklahoma (8-1, 4-1) Won v. A&M 42-14. It looks like this one is the straw that finally broke Fran's back. So I guess Texas A&M owes you a solid. No real surprises here, but I continue to have questions with this bunch. They are more talented than any team in the conference and just as well coached, but they have looked less than stellar away from Norman and we have seen this before from them. With Baylor, Tech and OSU left, Bedlam is the only thing between them and San Antonio. Then again, it's been that way since they got by Missouri.

2. Texas (8-2, 4-2) Won @ OSU 38-35. Again, maybe another thank you is in order. That was a valiant effort on Texas' part to score 24 points in the final 11+ minutes, but I have a hunch OSU had something to do with it as well (more on that below). The fact of the matter is, Texas has absolutely no excuse not to go 10-2. Let's all just pray that some of these bowl reps have watched a few of these games and awards the at-large BCS (if one is given) to either: Kansas, Missouri or OU because all 3 are much better than Texas.

3. Oklahoma St.(5-4, 3-2) Lost v. UT 38-35. Aside from missing a 32 yard chippy that would have given them back the lead with 1:33 left, OSU decided to pull a Nebraska and not bother tackling. Texas' last 2 TD drives were 99 and 91 yards spanning 1:31 and 2:11, respectively. Not to mention the preceding 8 play 59 yard TD drive that took 2:37. Those are point-shaving numbers. If you are going to play conservative to protect the lead, you have to do it all out. You can't just try and protect the ball. Had OSU used proper clock management, this game would have been over no later than OSU 35 UT 28. You need to burn clock by running the ball and by using the play clock. What OSU did was run their offense, they just ran it sheepishly and still snapped the ball with 15 seconds on left on the clock. Said Mike Gundy afterwards, "Ultimately, what it came down to, their guys made the plays in the second half and the fourth quarter and our guys didn’t.” I'm glad to hear that they are no longer just children - of mothers! And I guess it was them that called a reverse on 4th and 3 in the 4th quarter with a 21 point lead? This one is on you - not them. It was lost with bad play calling, clock management and tanning habits - he looks like a douchebag Richard Grieco wannabe. Even so, I fear OSU – especially in Stillwater. Adarius Bowman is a freak and Dantrell Savage is a great runner who just produced his 6th straight 100 yard game. And I haven't even mentioned their monster tight end, Pettigrew. Despite not being able to close this one out, they did rack up 594 yards, 430 of them passing – and running is supposed to be their strength. Kansas has their hands full alright, and it should be an interesting one to watch.

4. Texas Tech (7-3, 3-3) Won @ Baylor 38-7. I can't say I'm very impressed with only putting up 38 on Baylor. It's ironic that until a few weeks ago, everyone (including me) thought this was the best Tech offense yet, but since then they put up 10 and 26 in losses to Missouri and Colorado and a rather pedestrian 38 on Baylor. With UT and OU left, they will be lucky to win again. And at 7-5 and 3-5 in conference, they won't exactly be looking at a top tier bowl.

5. Texas A&M (6-4, 3-3) Lost @ OU 42-14. And for the second week in a row, it wasn't that close. Also for the second week in a row, they were shut out into the fourth quarter. On brighter notes, they did get back over 100 yards rushing (with 128) and have begun buyout talks with Fran. With only 6 wins and Missouri and Texas left, they are not in great shape. Six should be plenty for a bowl with their name and fan base, but not the bowl they were hoping for. Winning either of these last two would be a welcomed finish to another disappointing season.

6. Baylor (3-7, 0-6) Lost v. Tech 38-7. With OU and OSU left and ISU taking advantage of Josh Freeman it's looking like Baylor will be the only winless team in the conference. Shocking.

By the way, I stole some of that OSU stuff from here.