Last year the Big 12 stunk in premier non-conference games. The Sooners "lost" the Oregon game, and were beaten by Boise St. The Bugeaters lost to Southern Cal. Willie and Friends and Cash Machine U laid eggs in their bowl games. Texas lost to Ohio St and looked pedestrian against Iowa. Tx Tech lost to TCU, and Cash Machine U barely beat Army. Kansas lost to Toledo. For the Big 12 to return to prominence this year, the games below are the games most important for the conference to re-establish themselves as a top BCS conference.
We'll start the posting with Sep 1. Cupcake games are not previewed, here, with limited exceptions.
Boone State at Georgia - Boone St is a darling pick of many pundits for the Big 12 South. Admittedly, scoring 34 points against the Tide is impressive. I'll be surprised if the Pokes can prevail in Athens against the top 15 rated Bulldogs. I anticipate Georgia to be considerably improved this year as Stafford develops as a QB under Mark Richt. Prediction: Georgia.
K State at Auburn - Kansas State struggled last year in their opener against the Illinois State Redbirds, needing a punt return for TD and a defensive score to overtake ISU. This opener should be a little tougher. The Coach formerly known as Prince has a lot to prove this year, as they had a high point of upsetting Texas, but low points in struggling against Illinois State and being blown out by Rutgers in their bowl game. Auburn has only 12 returning starters this year, so this is a huge change to have a win against a credible opponent that may be down this year. Prediction: Auburn
Later in the weekend we'll take a peek at the other premier nonconference matchups in September.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
1 comment:
I usually refer to them as the Mighty Illinois State Redbirds. We get to take down Mizzou this year. Lok for the usually over-rated Tigers to lose 6 games and Pinkel to be gone.
Post a Comment