Not so. I've watched the Big 12 since its inception and have been to more than 100 Big 12 games over the years.
- I have a graduate degree from TCU, have a wife who worked there, live five minutes from campus and pay close attention to them. The Frogs are not the same team they've been, which is why they've been blown out a couple of times already this year. Their defense is inexperienced and, quite frankly, just not very good this year. They have a starting, freshamn QB who who was converted to RB two days before Pachall got kicked off the team.
- Baylor has always sucked and, after a brief, RG3-inspired interlude, is right back to being horrible.
- WVU's defense is horrible; everyone knows this.
- Landry Jones has melted on the big stage time and again. Everyone knows this. Jarvis Jones is a stud along the same lines as Manti Te'o. He would give OU's offense a lot of problems, without question.
- Ole Miss has a new coach, a new system and is playing with a lot of confidence. I'm not sure they would beat Okie State (nor did I say they would) but I do think Ole Miss would give the Pokes a run for their money because neither plays defense very well and both have explosive offenses.
If you object with these premises, that's fine, but perhaps you have a pro-Big 12 (or anti-SEC) bias you need to get in check.
1) TCU's D might be down, but they're still better than Ole Miss - a scrub SEC team. A scrub B12 team, Texas, threw up 60+ on them.
2) Baylor is still racking up 50 points a game, while Arkansas let an equal (at best, Texas A&M) offense rack up 58. You're crazy.
3) LSU has nowhere near the offense to put up 47 again - maybe 17 if they're lucky. Plus WVU put up 21 on perhaps the #2 defense of last year and their D isn't as good this year. I'm sure LSU forces turnovers, but not enough to win.
4) Ask Texas how Landry Jones did. Then ask Georgia where they were against S. Carolina.
I still feel pretty fine with my picks and would put money on them. I'm a B1G fan, so I have little care for the Big 12 or SEC.
