Thoughts on the Rest of the Big 12 (Week 2)

Ranked in order of who’s proven the most...

1. Oklahoma

Holy crap. If they hadn’t fumbled twice while driving, this score could have been even worse. Even without a dominant running game, they moved the ball on a (supposedly) excellent defense all day long. I was watching Sam Bradford as critically as possible on Saturday, and really the only critique of him I could muster is that he telegraphs his passes a bit too much. So far, he’s been so accurate with those passes that it didn’t matter, but that might jump up and bite him at some point. Still, though...wow...they were supposed to beat Miami-FL on Saturday...but nobody (not even OU people) picked them to put up 50 on them. Upset bids are happening everywhere you look, but not in Norman. They’re the second-most impressive team in the country right now, behind only LSU.

Crimson and Cream Machine projects a wee bit...and starts looking at the BCS...

2. Texas

Had proven absolutely nothing in their first six quarters of the season, but the switch was flipped in the second half against TCU. Usually I make teams prove more than this before assuming the ship has been righted, but this is Texas. They'll get the benefit of the doubt until they pull a 2007 Michigan on us. They have three more games (at UCF, Rice, Kansas State) to find fifth gear for the Red River Rivalry.

Burnt Orange Nation reviews the UT offense and defense.

3. Nebraska

So far Nebraska has proven that they will probably beat the teams worse than them and lose to the teams better than them. I know...really deep analysis there...but as I mentioned on my ‘Scouting Report’ post on Saturday, they have talent, but they don’t have someone who can make something out of nothing. If your D-Line isn’t better than their O-line, Sam Keller and Marlon Lucky will tear you up. If it’s not, you don’t have much to worry about. If you have a solid gameplan and a composed QB, you can rack up some yards on them. If you don’t (as Wake Forest didn’t), they’ll force some mistakes out of you. Their talent level is such that they’ll have a really strong record this year, but they’re not what I would call an elite team. They’re really of no danger to the USC’s and Texas’s of the world at this point. Of course, watch them prove me wrong this coming Saturday.

Corn Nation with some quick hits.

4. Kansas

They faced two bad teams and whipped them both. No telling how good KU actually is, but they’ve done their job both weeks, and they haven’t lollygaggeed (lollygaggers!) in doing so...unlike most of the conference outside Norman.

Rock Chalk Talk is PUMPED UP!

5. Texas Tech

Not sure what to think about the UTEP game. UTEP shouldn’t have provided as much of a challenge as they did, but a) Tech still won, and b) Michael Crabtree emerged as Joel Filani’s replacement as go-to WR. As I’ve said before, Danny Amendola is great as a #2 or #3 guy, but if he’s your #1, you’re going to struggle at some point. With Crabtree assuming the #1 role, things might be looking up for Tech.

Double T Nation with a Tech Report Card.

6. Missouri

They’ve proven three things so far: 1) their offense is murderous (they’ve only been able to run the ball in 2 of 8 quarters so far, and they’re averaging 500 yards a game), 2) their D-Line is as bad as we feared, and 3) they’re professional lollygaggers during the period between minutes #35 and #50 of a game. But they’ve proven more than...

7. Texas A&M

...this team, which really doesn’t have an excuse to have almost lost at home to Fresno State. FSU is supposedly better this year than the last couple, but ATM’s defense was far too porous. They don’t have as many question marks as Tech or (probably) Mizzou in that category, but the fact is, Mizzou farted around away from home but won by 6 and 13. ATM farted around and almost lost at home.

ATM also proved, however, that you really shouldn’t go into a 3rd OT period with them—they’ll just crush you with Jorvorskie Lane at that point.

The 12th Manchild with some postgame quotes.

8. Kansas State

The close Auburn loss looks a little less impressive after South Florida was able to go in and finish the job, but the ‘Cats did exactly what they needed to do against a not-good-but-not-terrible San Jose State squad, so kudos for that.

Bring On the Cats with a Game Wrap-up.

9. Oklahoma State

Georgia’s poor offensive performance against South Carolina makes you think that OSU’s defense is right there alongside that of Tech and Mizzou so far. That said, they did TCB against Schnellenburger Atlantic, and I still expect big things (okay...maybe not big...maybe mid-sized) out of the ‘Pokes this year.

Still no blog presence in Stillwater.

10. Colorado

CSU made Colorado look pretty good by hanging with California all the way to the end, but Colorado made Colorado look quite poor in the final three quarters of a 33-14 Arizona State pasting of the Buffs. CU jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead, but their offense completely and utterly failed, putting up only 204 yards.

Buffs.tv with the post-mortem. Good to see that Dennis Erickson teams immediately turn thuggish. Seven personal fouls? Come on...

11. Baylor

Blake Szymanski with the first strong game of his career. Only took about 8 starts. Hope Rice enjoyed that bowl game last year.

BearMeat has more on Blizzle Szyizzle’s big game.

12. Iowa State

I almost jokingly picked Northern Iowa in this game. Oops. Suddenly Bret Meyer might only have one or two starts left before the reins are handed to Austin Arnaud...and suddenly 0-12 enters the realm of serious possibility.

Clone Chronicles takes a look at the ugly ugliness.