2011 Preview Blitz: Big 12 Schedule Breakdown
By Kyle Kensing
The current Big 12 looks a bit more like the old Southwest Conference (Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, Texas Tech) than it does the forerunner Big 8 Conference with two of the key original members gone (Nebraska and Colorado). This restructured version might only be a stop-gap and the final incarnation before further college football landscape, if my own conspiracy theories come to fruition. Texas launching its Longhorn Network and the advent of an Oklahoma channel make both the league’s heavyweights intriguing candidates for independence, and Oklahoma State has that hefty T. Boone Pickens bankrolling. Is the rest destined for the Mountain West, Conference USA or Big East?
Granted this is a far-flung theory and at least a few years off if it ever comes to fruition. In the meatime, the Big 12 is ten members, the championship game is null and void, and each of the participants will get to meet in the regular season.
The Bedlam Biggie
November 30, 2002 marked the last Oklahoma State in the annual Bedlam Series. The Cowboys’ 38-28 defeat of No. 3 Oklahoma was actually their second straight in the rivalry. Since then, it’s been status quo. OU has tacked on eight straight to bolster that lopsided 81-17-7 record against its neighbor in Stillwater. Last season the Sooners survived a 47-41 shootout with the Cowboys’ high octane offense in Stillwater.
Thanks to the Big 12 reshuffle, the 2011 installment will again be played in Stillwater and the OSU offense is again talent rich. A sequel could be in order, this time with the Big 12 championship on the line. And the Cowboys will be gunning for a different ending.
September in Texas
Neither Texas A&M nor Baylor will play a road game in the season’s first month. Both have Week 2 byes, so the stretch constitutes just three games. Nevertheless, BU sets up shop in Waco, and Texas A&M in College Station until October.
Those coming to College Station in September are teams I like to bowl in 2011: SMU, Idaho and Oklahoma State. The OSU match-up is particularly intriguing, as the Cowboys and Aggies put on a Thursday night, offensive show last year. OSU’s win propelled it to an 11-win, top 12 finish. For A&M, the loss set in a motion an upheaval at quarterback that benched Jerrod Johnson and opened the door for Ryan Tannehill. In this edition, both teams are entering the season with high expectations and figure to be in the conference championship race. Their respective aspirations, and by virtue entire 2011 campaigns will take shape in this one.
While the following week marks the Aggies first venture beyond College Station, the team won’t play outside the state of Texas until Oct. 22. That’s because A&M faces former SWC partner Arkansas at Jerry World in Week 5, shoots over to Lubbock for the first road game the following Saturday, then returns home to face Baylor. The Aggies will take on Iowa State in Ames for their Week 8 matchup. Altogether, A&M plays just four true road games: Texas Tech, Iowa State, then Oklahoma and Kansas State in consecutive weeks in November.
As for BU, it actually plays just three true road games, benefitting from drawing its “road” game with Texas Tech at Cowboys Stadium. The Bears go to Oklahoma State, Kansas and Kansas State. Unquestionably, the slate is favorably, especially the first month with Stephen F. Austin and Rice coming to Waco. But BU is hardly guaranteed a 3-0 start despite its fortunate early draw; Week 1 brings TCU to town for a Friday night, nationally televised tilt. The Horned Frogs walloped BU by five touchdowns last season, and the 10 points the Bears scored that game were their fewest in a 2010 outing.
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The 2010 season was disappointing for both BYU and Texas — the latter moreso than the former. The Longhorns are coming off the rare postseason-less campaign with Mack Brown having to feel just a little more of that Texas heat than usual. BYU managed to salvage a bad start to finish strong, which included a win in the New Mexico Bowl. The Cougars foray into independence begins in a gauntlet. An angry and seeking to prove itself UT bunch is BYU’s Week 2 opponent, after the Cougars open at Ole Miss on Labor Day Weekend.
For Cougar fans, the stretch is exactly what they’ve clamored for, opportunities for the program to prove its worth and perhaps more imporantly, play on ESPN.
For Texas, BYU is a worthy adversary that will serve as a gauge for how much UT has improved from last year’s 5-7 debacle.
Loaded Cards
Week 4 is stacked with what should be four great games featuring Big 12 games. Some are league matchups, as Missouri travels to Oklahoma in a rematch of last season’s great primetime meeting. In that meeting, OU choked on a handful of red zone opportunities, and the Tigers capitalized. A&M and OSU square off in another great rematch as mentioned above. Out-of-conference, Texas Tech hosts Nevada and Chris Ault’s explosive ground-based offense, while Kansas State travels to Miami. Furthermore, conference basement lurkers Iowa State and Kansas are off. OK, that’s probably unfair…
Schedule Superlatives
Toughest Schedule
With six road games, five in conference and all against bowl game participants and two BCS qualifiers, Iowa State’s schedule is brutal. It actually could have been, as ISU was originally scheduled to travel to Utah, but the conference shake-ups eliminated the second half of that home-and-home for now. Out-of-conference, the Cyclones travel to Connecticut, but no before playing home games against in-state rivals Northern Iowa and Iowa. ISU has struggled mightily against its Big Ten neighbor, and annual FCS contender UNI has posed a stiff challenge to the Cyclones every time they meet. In fact, the Panthers came into Ames in 2007 and won 24-13.
Cupcake Trophy
There isn’t a Big 12 member that plays an embarassingly easy schedule. The league itself is good enough from top-to-bottom, and all 10 facing each other means there’s no ducking the heavyweights. That said, Texas Tech and Kansas State are in running with each facing an FCS opponent (Tech plays Texas State, K-State draws Eastern Kentucky) and an FBS dog (New Mexico for Tech, Kent State for KSU). However, Baylor’s aforementioned slate has to be considered the most manageable. It’s not that it’s necessarily a cupcake schedule — Stephen F. Austin is a very good FCS, and Rice should be much improved from a season ago. But with only three true road games, BU has a freshly paved road ahead of it.
Best Non-Conference Games
1. Oklahoma at Florida State, Sept. 17
Not only is OU playing FSU in Tallahassee the best non-conference game among Big 12 teams, it might be the marquee OOC matchup all season. Both teams have very real BCS aspirations — not just BCS bowl aspirations, but BCS championship. Should the Sooners stumble, their title game chances might very well be shot, a direct repercussion of the Big 12 losing its title game.
2. Texas A&M vs. Arkansas (in Arlington, Tex.), Oct. 1
There are obvious parallels between the Aggies and Razorbacks. Both are tempting dark horse BCS candidates out of their respective conferences. It will mark A&M’s return to Cowboys Stadium after laying an egg in January’s Cotton Bowl vs. LSU. Arkansas is a chance at both redemption vs. the SEC, and an opportunity to exhibit itself a player on the national level.
3. Missouri at Arizona State, Sept. 10
Both these teams come into 2011 as wild cards, for different reasons. MU has change in a roster that excelled; ASU is an experienced bunch that somewhat underachieved and extended the program’s bowl-less streak to three seasons, but finished the year strong. The Sun Devils’ tenacious pass rush will be the first test for new Tiger quarterback James Franklin.
4. Oklahoma State vs. Arizona, Sept. 10
OSU routed Arizona for win No. 11 in December’s Alamo Bowl, but UA did rack up 370 yards, gave up four turnovers and failed on three red zone chances. With the weapons each side is returning on offense, this could be a high scoring affair — and if the Cowboys can replicate their 36-10 dominance, it will be a perfect foundation for a possible BCS bowl campaign.
5t. Texas vs. BYU, Sept. 10; Texas Tech vs. Nevada, Sept. 24
Best Conference Games
1. Oklahoma at Oklahoma State, Dec. 3
2. Oklahoma State at Texas A&M, Sept. 24
3. Missouri at Oklahoma, Sept. 24
4. Texas A&M at Oklahoma, Nov. 5
5. Texas at Missouri, Nov. 12