40 Acres Sports

Finally some football. After one week of games the top 5 in the weekly Big 12 power poll stays the same but there were a few changes in the list. [tag]Kansas State[/tag] looked good and jumps a couple of spots and meanwhile the Aggies drop big time after their loss to Arkansas State. Check out the rankings below:

1. [tag]Oklahoma[/tag]

   
   LW: 1

   Not that you can really learn a lot when you play a team like Chattanooga but the Sooners were about as dominant as you can be. They were a perfect 7-for-7 on drives to start the game and were up 50-0. Amazingly they outgained Chattanooga 343-to-10 in the first half and 487-to-36 for the game. Dominant.

2. Texas

   
   LW: 2

   The Longhorns played a much tougher opponent than OU and were pretty much just as dominant, certainly on the offensive side of the ball. Quarterback [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] was near perfect and the offense could have and did do whatever they wanted to against FAU. The pass defense looked eerily familiar to last season, let’s hope that was an aberration or the offense may have to put up 52 every week to win once in Big 12 conference play.

3. [tag]Missouri[/tag]

   
   LW: 3

   The Tigers had easily the toughest opening week opponent and for parts of their game against Illinois looked like a national title contender, but their defense made Juice Williams look like Dan Marino to the tune of 451 yards and 5 TDs. Kick returner Jeremy Maclin was electric but left with an ankle injury, Missouri fans better have their fingers crossed he stays healthy all year or they’re not going to be able to outscore every team on their schedule.

4. [tag]Texas Tech[/tag]

   
   LW: 4

   That improved defense sure looked good giving up 17 points in the second quarter to Eastern Washington. Just as troubling is that the offense “only” had 35 points after the end of three quarters. They sure looked like the same Red Raiders team who drops 4 or 5 games per season.

5. [tag]Colorado[/tag]

   
   LW: 5

   The Buffs looked pretty solid in a rivalry game against Colorado State. They played well on offense, defense, and Josh Smith had a 93-yard kickoff return for a score. Things are going get a lot tougher starting with West Virginia on 9/18.

6. [tag]Kansas State[/tag]

   
   LW: 8

   Great first win for the Wildcats and QB Josh Freeman against North Texas. Freeman was efficient and error-free throwing the ball and added two scores on the ground, an impressive game that could give him confidence for the rest of the season. The KSU defense completely shut down Todd Dodge’s spread offense attack whose only score came on a 15-yard drive.

7. [tag]Nebraska[/tag]

   
   LW: 6

   The Bo Pelini era starts off with a win but not an overly impressive one. The Huskers’ offense looked good but the defense gave up over 340 yards through the air to Western Michigan quarterback Tim Hiller. I think NU needs to control the game with Marlon Lucky and the running game in order to improve on their 5-win 2007 season.

8. [tag]Kansas[/tag]

   
   LW: 9

   The Jayhawks were in complete control of the game by halftime and cruised to an easy opening week win against Florida International. Todd Reesing threw 52 passes in a very busy and effiecent performance. The KU defense looked goosd as well, giving up only 139 total yards.

9. [tag]Iowa State[/tag]

   
   LW: 10

   San Diego State isn’t a big time opponent but Gene Chizik’s Cyclones did what they’re supposed to do against this caliber of an opponent. Last year started with losses to Kent State and Northern Iowa so a win is a win for this program. They finished the season pretty strong last year so they should be gaining confidence and a win over Kent State would give them good momentum going into the Iowa game.

10. [tag]Oklahoma State[/tag]

    
    LW: 11

    Good start for the Cowboys. Washington State is a middle-of-the-road Pac 10 team but they’re better than a lot of the other Big 12 opponents and OSU won easily. They were in control throughout the game and their return men twice set the offense up for easy points.

11. Texas A&M

    
    LW: 7

    Uh oh. I didn’t expect a huge season from the Aggies this season but not only did they lose to Arkansas State but they looked terrible doing it. Mistake-prone and average in all three phases of the game. QB Stephen McGee didn’t play well but that might have something to do with offensive line and the fact that his top two receivers in the game were the second and third string quarterbacks.

12. [tag]Baylor[/tag]

    
    LW: 12

    I thought they’d give Wake Forest more of a fight than they did but it wasn’t a terrible opening week showing under a new head coach. Best news for Baylor fans is it looks like they may have found their quarterback for the next 4 seasons in true freshman Robert Griffin.

Everything is right again in the world now that the college football season kicks off the 2008 season tonight. Since most schools schedule cupcakes for the season opener, you obviously can’t expect any marquee match-ups. But you know what? I don’t care. All that matters is that I get to watch ESPN Gameday Saturday morning and follow that with 10 hours of college football. Let’s see what looks good this weekend.

(23) Wake Forest at Baylor (+12) – 8:00 PM EST (Thur) on FSN. The Big 12 starts of the season with Baylor playing a tough Wake Forest team. Former Houston coach Art Briles takes the helm for the Bears, hopefully ushering in a new era down in Waco. Unfortunately it looks like they will be overmatched by a Wake Forest team returning 2 ACC offensive rookies of the year (QB Skinner and RB Adams), along with 9 returning starters on defense that ranked 28th in the nation last year allowing only 340 yards per game. I don’t normally like to go against home underdogs, but Baylor is not known for showing up in the first game of the season, and they just don’t have the offense to keep up with Wake Forest.

Appalachian St at (7) LSU (NL) – 5:00 PM EST on ESPN. Normally I wouldn’t really care about this match-up, but there are a couple of things that interest me here. First is obviously the fact that Appalachian St beat Michigan last year in what is arguably the greatest upset in college football history. Second is the quarterback situation down at LSU. Punk kid Ryan Perrilloux finally ran out of excuses and was kicked off the team due to “not fulfilling his obligation” as an LSU athlete, according to head coach Les Miles. I can’t say that I’m not surprised. There is no line for this game, though not surprising for a Div I school playing a Div I-AA.

FAU at (11) Texas (-24) – 7:00 PM EST. Obviously this game won’t get much national attention because it is on PPV, but is a game we all need to watch. How does Colt recover from last season? Is the defense going to be improved under Will Muschamp? How ready is the incredibly young talent? These are all questions that coming into the season. The line here is sitting at right around 24, probably my least favorite number of all. Since I don’t bet on Texas (EVER), I can’t really make a prediction here.

(24) Alabama at (9) Clemson (-5) – 8:00 PM EST on ABC. The pressure starts now for Tommy Bowden and the underachieving Clemson Bulldogs, as they are the clear favorites to win the ACC this season for the first time in school history. Unfortunately they have to start their season facing a solid Alabama, who are looking to improve in their second season under head coach Nick Saban. I think Clemson has too many offensive weapons for Alabama to handle, and their defense is set to be one of the best in the nation. Even though there are a lot of doubters on Clemson, I think they squeak by on this one and cover those 5 points.

No games have been played since our spring power rankings so there’s not much movement in our preseason big 12 power rankings below. [tag]Baylor[/tag] kicks things off for the conference and the entire country Thursday night when they host Wake Forest and everybody else finally gets underway Saturday. A week from now in our first regular season power rankings things will begin to clear up, but here’s our preseason conference rankings:

1. [tag]Oklahoma[/tag]

   
   LW: 1

   The Sooners are on many lists as a top national title contender and until at least October will likely remain the class of the conference. We won’t learn a thing about them in week one against Chattanooga .

2. Texas

   
   LW: 2

   Muschamp fever is spreading and I’ve definitely caught it. The Texas defensive depth chart is incredibly young but with Muschamp calling the shots there could be a big improvement over last year.

3. [tag]Missouri[/tag]

   
   LW: 4

   Mizzou moves up because I’ve got less and less faith in Texas Tech as we get closer to kickoff. The offense will be great, can Gary Pinkel and the defense hold up their end of the bargain?

4. [tag]Texas Tech[/tag]

   
   LW: 3

   Improved defense? Where? The Red Raiders played four good teams after the coaching change and gave up 41, 59, 27, and 28 points. They’ll be good but they’ll fade again when they hit the tough stretch.

5. [tag]Colorado[/tag]

   
   LW: 6

   I’m not the biggest Darrell Scott fan after his recruitment but I think he’s going to make a big difference for CU starting this season. They’ve got an incredibly tough schedule starting with week one so I wanted to give them some love now because they might drop fast.

6. [tag]Nebraska[/tag]

   
   LW: 5

   I like Bo Pelini but I’m starting to get a bad feeling about his tenure in Lincoln. It’s just incredibly quiet up there and with a program with the history and prestige of Nebraska I don’t think that’s a good thing.

7. Texas A&M

   
   LW: 7

   With the way they’re “recruiting” for 2009 Aggie fans better hope they overachieve this year or Mike Sherman is a coaching god because it’s going to get worse before it gets better. I like Stephen McGee, can he remember how to pass now that he’s in a real offense?

8. [tag]Kansas State[/tag]

   
   LW: 8

   Something is still missing about this team, I thought they’d have turned a corner by now. I’m still glad they’re off our schedule this year. Can Ron Prince and Josh Freeman lead them to any upsets and get them in a bowl game this year?

9. [tag]Kansas[/tag]

   
   LW: 9

   I thought I might be alone on my opinion of the Jayhawks return to the bottom third of the league but I haven’t really seen too many national experts expecting them to come close to repeating this season. We won’t know anything about them till week three.

10. [tag]Iowa State[/tag]

    
    LW: 10

    Probably the easiest schedule of any Big 12 team. They play Iowa in non-conference play but they manage to avoid Texas, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech. Gene Chizik is thanking the scheduling gods every morning.

11. [tag]Oklahoma State[/tag]

    
    LW: 11

    I don’t know what happened to Oklahoma State… oh wait I do: Mike Gundy. As much as I thought Les Miles was a dufus he had the Cowboys headed in the right direction before he left.

12. [tag]Baylor[/tag]

    
    LW: 12

    Art Briles looks like he’s going to put things in true freshman QB Robert Griffin’s hands early and reports are he’ll be a good one. I think Briles’ has the offensive mind to take advantage of his great size and speed.

Deadspin previews #14 Texas Tech and takes shot at Aggies: I **** you not that most Aggie fans think A&M has a top 15, if not top 10 program.

CFN previews the Big 12 and picks all the games. They predict Texas losses to CU, OU, Texas Tech, and Kansas.

ESPN has up a great write up from Ivan Maisel on the talented crop of Big 12 quarterbacks as well as a poll to rank them.

Maisel thinks Texas signal caller [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] is the fourth best QB in the conference behind Chase Daniel, Graham Harrell, and Sam Bradford. I can’t argue with the top two but I think Kansas’ Todd Reesing and McCoy could be in the top 3 but Bradford deserves consideration as well.

Currently in the fan vote Daniel is leading with McCoy at number 5. If you don’t like the list go vote in their SportsNation poll and order them yourself.

Stewart Mandel thinks Texas Tech could plummet and talks about Big 12 quarterbacks.

Has the Red River Shootout declined? Stewart Mandel believes so & thinks the Horns have something to prove.

In his latest blog entry ESPN’s Bruce Feldman shows some love to the Big 12 and Texas quarterback [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag]. Feldman is ranking his top quarterback conferences for the 2008 season and puts the Big 12 conference at the top.

Feldman loves the conference’s depth at the position and believes four QB’s have a legitimate shot to win the Heisman Trophy, including McCoy. It is surprising (and sad) to see the Pac-10 and ACC so far down in the rankings. The Pac-10 will bounce back quickly (especially if USC would share some of their QB talent) but I’m not sure what it will take for the ACC to rebound.

Check out his conference quarterback rankings below:

1. Big 12: This is a clear top choice thanks to a lot of heady leaders who make smart decisions and have proven to be very accurate with the ball. The league has four guys with legit Heisman hopes in Chase Daniel, Sam Bradford, Graham Harrell and Colt McCoy. A fifth, Todd Reesing of Kansas, is as tough and as sharp as they come, although I expect KU to backslide some this year. Behind those five is plenty more talent that probably could merit all-conference consideration in any other league save for the SEC. In fact, 10 of the league’s top 11 passers return. Depth-wise, this is better than it’s ever been for the Big 12.
2. Big Ten
3. SEC
4. Big East
5. MAC
6. Pac-10
7. WAC
8. ACC
9. MWC
10. C-USA
11. Sun Belt

Big 12 teams as hot celebrity women. Texas is Jenny McCarthy & Oklahoma State as Anna Nicole is awesome.