After last weekend’s debacle, massacre, or abysmal showing by the Big Ten Conference, a new focus has been placed upon college football in terms of generalization: the conference hyperbole. This whole new playoff system has opened up a fresh can of words and phrases in which to draw up comparisons wrought with inflated exaggerations and ‘death bells’ in just Week 2. But let’s face it, the Big Ten really did start digging an early grave for itself last week, which will have to muster up some quality wins in order to make it to the ‘4 Team,’ which is one of the many new shorthand references you’ll see throughout.
And so now we’re on to this weekend in college football, one where there’s only one Top 25 matchup and that’s in the SEC between 6 Georgia at 24 South Carolina. It promises to be a decent game, but far from where it could have been if they were both undefeated.
Where does that leave the focus? Which conference will be on alert this week? Who will be eliminated from playoff talk? It lies with the Big 12, who’s trying to not get ‘Big Tenned’ out there on the gridiron but has the possibility of losing the most ground this Saturday in terms of ‘strength of conference.’
Afternoon Update
Four games could decide the Big 12’s fate starting with West Virginia at Maryland. The Terps come in as (-3) favorites at home and it looks to be one of the more intriguing games of the day. If the Mountaineers can take this one early, it could set the tone for the rest of the Big 12 as a group. Prediction: Too close to call.
At 3:30 eastern is when the bells start ringing though, with 3 Big 12 games going off at the same time. At Cameron Indoor in Durham, Mike Krzyzewski and the Duke Blue Devils welcome the Kansas Jayhawks for a trip to the Final Four…wait, wrong sport. That’s the game we want to see but instead we’re treated to the ‘dustbin’ of the Big 12 in Kansas and the ‘always upcoming’ Duke, who surprised everyone last year in the ACC with their greatest year ever. Duke is favored by 14 in this one. Prediction: Duke will start burying 3’s early and often. Big 12 prediction tally so far: 2-1, with Baylor’s 63-21 drubbing of Buffalo on Friday night thrown in there.
More from College Football News
- Michigan State vs. Maryland: Location, time, prediction, and more
- Ranking college football’s top 10 quarterbacks after Week 3
- Things are going to get much darker for the Houston Cougars
- Biggest winners and losers from College Football Week 3
- #10 Alabama football: 3 takeaways from close road win against USF
And now the ‘must win’ game of the day for the Big 12. The SEC in the Arkansas Razorbacks comes to Lubbock in what promises to be a shootout between ‘wanting to get back to prominence’ Arkansas, or the ‘underperforming’ Red Raiders of Texas Tech. The line is at (-1) in Tech’s favor, but the flavor of the week pick has been put on backing the Razorbacks straight up to win outright. Prediction: 48-42, right down to the wire in favor of: Arkansas. Big 12 tally: 2-2
The Big 12 has some can’t win games as well. The aforementioned Kansas and then you throw in the Prog-Rock Easy Listening Favorite Iowa State Cyclones, who will lose to the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday, and now that tally is at 2-3.
College Gameday is in Fargo, North Dakota this Saturday, all thanks to the Big 12. Since 2010, the Bison of North Dakota State have more wins in the Big 12 with 3, than the Kansas Jayhawks, who have 2. They beat Iowa State earlier this year, as well as Kansas State last year. With that bad luck harbinger lingering over the conference, let’s move on to another ‘can’t win’ game in UCLA vs. Texas in primetime. Freely admitting that his team wasn’t ready to play last week, Charlie Strong and the Texas Longhorns look to rebound from a program devastating blow it took from BYU last week 41-7. A defeat of UCLA might be exactly what the doctor ordered and resurge the conference, as well as Texas, back onto an even keel. Like Texas, UCLA has underperformed. Once a preseason lock to make it to the Pac 12 championship, the Bruins have still won their two games, but haven’t looked the greatest in doing so versus just okay teams. They’re still looking for their ‘breakout’ game. Prediction: 31-17 UCLA. Big 12 tally: 2-4
With TCU, Oklahoma State, and Oklahoma as heavy home favorites in that they’re at least 2 touchdown faves, we’ll pencil in W’s for them. Oklahoma State shouldn’t sleep on UTSA though, and with TCU’s struggles on offense, it has to rely on their D to get them a win over Minnesota. The bottom line is this: 5-4. If they go 3-6, we know that Tech, West Virginia, and OSU or TCU lost. If the Big 12 can make it to 5-4 they won’t be ‘Big Tenned.’ Luckily we already have that phrase. If the Big Ten took care of business last weekend and the Big 12 doesn’t this weekend, we could’ve been saying, ‘Don’t get Twelved’ for weekends to come.