Big 12 South Previews - Week 1

• Boone State at Washington State - Washington State has never lost to Boone State, beating them twice in the early 1950s while Boone Pickens was a recent college graduate working at Phillips Petroleum. If the Pokes are not able to beat the Cougars, Pickens has vowed to destroy the economy of another small city in Oklahoma. Pick: Pokes
• Wake Forest at Baylor - This will be the inaugural game of the Art Briles era in Waco, and the game is sponsored by the Southern Baptist Convention. The first four contests between the schools, played between 1949 and 1961, were part of the Baptist Bowl series. Now that the Baptists are trying to reach a larger audience, the clash has been renamed the Post-Modern Protestant Performance. Baptist Press recently featured an in depth article titled, "Baptist Football Resurgence - the Catholics suck at football now, too", which celebrated the downfall of Fisheater Football, WFU's ACC championship and Briles' hiring. WFU is ranked 23rd in the AP, and Baylor is ranked 11th or 12th in the Big 12, depending upon the poll. Baylor is still unsettled at quarterback, with Kirby Freeman, Blake Szymanski, Robert Griffin and Ryan Roberts all vying for the starting position. The Big 12 South hasn't seen such a wide open QB race since 1998, when Jake Sills, Eric Moore, Jarrod Reese and Patrick Fletcher battled it out for the Sooners QB spot. With apologies to my Baylor readers, I think that pretty much sums up the Bears season right there. On the other hand, tell me when the last time was Baylor had the most compelling game of the Big 12. Pick: Demon Deacons, albeit cheering to be wrong.
• Eastern Washington at Dust Pirates- many of you are wondering why TT is playing the Eastern Washington Eagles to open the season. People, this is simple. TT and CU got a 2 for one special, and Colorado gets 'em next week. Pick: Dust Pirates.
• Florida Atlantic at Texas - Schnelly, while at FAU, is 6-0 against teams from Texas. Of course, that's Texas State and North Texas. FAU is 0-5 against teams from the Big 12, getting outscored 36-188. The skills that helped me obtain a CPA certificate tell me that's an average of 7-35. Being that Howie called the Horns soft, I think a 28 point loss would be a moral victory for the Owls. Pick: Longhorns.
• Arkansas State at Cash Machine U - Sooner great Larry Lacewell went 69-58-4 from 79 to 89 at Arkansas State. He's the last coach at ASU to have a winning record. Jorvorskie Lane has a headache, but it shouldn't matter, as the Aggies will ride the emotional boost of the revealing of Reveille VIII to the adoring masses at Kyle Field. On the other hand, ASU gave Texas quite the game last year. Pick: Aggies.

We'll have the official LandThieves analysis of the Sooners-Mocs game by close of Thursday.