Buckeye Blogger Network
The game has featured a number of difference conferences in the past, including the WAC, Big East, and PAC-10. Starting in 2006, the game has featured a match-up between the Big 10 and Big 12.
We continue the journey across the nation to get you ready for kickoff in less than two weeks. Today, Gary weighs in on the newest incarnation of the Big 12 conference.
With all the Conference re-aligning going on it has been tough to keep track of what team is going where. Many conferences are taking on small changes while many are undergoing complete makeovers. Today, we take a look at the Big 12 conference, which has changed drastically over the last couple of years.
Baylor Bears
2011 Record 10-3
Pre-Season Rank: NR
Head coach Art Briles has his work cut out for him after losing all three of his stars from last year’s offense. QB Robert Griffin III, WR Kendall Wright, and RB Terrance Ganaway all lead the Bears at their respective positions and have all left for the NFL. The Baylor offense still returns three talented wide receivers in Terrance Williams, Lanear Sampson, and Tevin Reese. All three had 1000+ yards last year. The question is can incoming QB Nick Florence get them the ball. Only time will tell if he can and that is why they will start this season outside of the Top 25 until that question is answered.
Iowa State Cyclones
2011 Record 6-7
Pre-Season Rank: NR
Last year was a very difficult season for the Cyclones as they struggled in every aspect of their game. The lone bright spot was the unexpected upset of the Oklahoma State Cowboys (their lone loss on the season). Head coach Paul Rhodes has very few things going for him in 2012 with a QB battle between Senior Steele Jantz and Sophomore Jared Barnett brewing which we all know is never a good thing this close to the season. Rhodes also lost his offensive coordinator Tom Herman to Ohio State. One things that is going for is the return of linebackers Jake Knott and A.J. Klein to lead their defense. Look for the Cyclones to struggle against a very strong conference and be towards the bottom of the standings again in 2012. Read More
Just a friendly warning that there are only four more days to borrow money from your pops so you can buy him a gift. If you’re looking for ideas, check our friends at The Buckeye Room… And now, the news.
Buckeye 411
For The Guy Who Has Everything
We Hardly New Ye- Well, it wasn’t news to us, as we’d heard for a while that Brian Bobek was looking to transfer, but earlier this week the University made it official. Potential landing spots could be the University of West By God Virginia, and a B1G program yet to be named. Brian’s got family across the conference, so we wish him luck in all of his games except one. A bit of a sad note, since he was supposed to be “next up” after Brewster graduated; however he was jumped on the depth chart in the spring, including being passed up by the latest in the Boren Legacy (just an incoming freshman). Again, godspeed!
You know what helps most people get past hump day? A great college football bowl game! Well, a better than average one, to be honest.
Well, you've got to give them credit
The Basics: 8:00 PM ET on ESPN, from San Diego. TCU (10-2, 7-0 MWC) and Marshall (8-4, 6-1 WAC).
The History: If you ever doubted that bowls were about money and not, you know, “football”, here’s a game sponsored by a Credit Union. Seriously, it’s like they’re not even trying…
Texas Christian Horned Frogs- In their last season in the MWC, the Frogs have continued the winning that led them to last season’s Rose Bowl as the BCS Buster Du Jour. After an opening loss to RG3, TCU only stumbled in overtime against SMU… they even managed to kick Southern Idaho State out of the BCS to clinch the conference title. The ninth highest scoring team in the nation, Josh Boyce has amassed almost a thousand yards receiving on the season. TCU has been able to parlay their recent success into membership in a BCS conference; moving to the Big East Big Integer in 2012.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs – Home of Terry Bradshaw and Josh Scobee, the Bulldogs are on a seven game winning streak; and only fell to Houston by one point. Receiver Quinton Patton’s 1100 yards lead the team; quarterbacks Nick Isham and Colby Cameron have combined for 2800 yards passing.
Fun Facts- TCU and Ohio State have met six times (4-1-1 for the Buckeyes); although it should have been seven if people would have been more interested in games than soundbites. Tech and Ohio State have never met, but you can get a feel for what a trip to Ruston might have been like here- I hope her toiletries were OK…
Who We Got?
"You guys are picking like a bunch of weaklings!"
The picks return to the BBC after the interminable bye-week!
The last time we saw our intrepid pickers, Eric had the lead over Mali by two games. During week 6, our players came out with the following records:
Joe D: 4-6, Mali: 7-3, Jim: 5-5, Joe L: 8-2, Eric: 5-5, Chris: 6-4, Robby: 8-2
With his 8-2 record to tie for the lead in the week, Joe L succeeded in surpassing both Eric and Mali for the overall lead heading into the final leg of the season. The totals stand thus:
Joe L: 38-21, Eric: 37-22, Mali: 37-22, Jim: 33-26, Joe D: 31-28, Chris: 17-13, Robby: 13-7
It should be an exciting final couple of weeks!
This week’s games feature a couple of exciting divisional battles, particularly in the Big Ten race, along with a number of other fascinating matchups. Read on to find our picks!
Read More
Notes from Tuesday’s Ohio State press conference and around the realm of college sports. No soundtrack today, but we’re totally shopping for a El Camino.
More Prestigious?
Buckeye 411
Only weaklings get headaches making these picks.
I’m pretty sure that was the worst week of College Football picks for this crew in the five years of it’s existence. Maybe I’m over-exaggerating, but 75% of those who help me out with our Picks were at 0-5 as we headed into the evening on Saturday. Thanks to the Mustangs, I picked up some ground on everyone by a game! Beating those Horned Frogs like there’s no poison in their ummmm.. Bite.
It was Baylor this week that gave everyone a loss on their record. Thanks ESPN and RGIII for selling the hype on the clearance shelf. It was me digging in and looking for legendary 5 buck team.
Truth is Baylor still isn’t elite.
A team that is though is those damn Badgers. A huge win over Nebraska propels them into national contenders. As sick as it makes me to even think about a BCS championship scenerio with that team. What’s more disturbing to the mind? The Badgers holding the glass football, or Bo Ryan dancing on the court.
No Contest. I hate you Bo Ryan.
Anyways, we’re here to break down the games and talk about week six of the college football season. Let’s take a look at Week 5′s results.
Welcome back to tBBC’s weekly wrapup- random thoughts, snarky observations, random hyperlinks, and occasionally intelligent insight from the weekend in college football. As always, we aspire to bring you the best soundtracks to help you enjoy the words and pictures… so here we go- thanks to Tony Gerdeman for this week’s musical number:
I’ll admit- I was more than ready for the college football season to begin… particularly after the off season that my favorite squadron had this year. So on Thursday, when my favorite sportscaster was in the booth and the “marquee” game was a matchup at a place that I’d visited before… you can say that I was a bit excited.
Mad? About kickoff weekend? Never!
And it was totally worth it- the TCU/Baylor game exceeded my expectations as merely the appetizer for the weekend’s game, and launched officially the Robert Griffin Heisman campaign… man, the kid can play. To be perfectly fair, if he and Luck and Jones and Moore have similar numbers, you’ve got to go with RG3 simply because his supporting cast is more ‘cast’ than ‘supporting’.
Remember when everyone was super excited about TCU and their unique defensive strategy? Yeah… about that. Like many have said, it certainly looked like they’d decided to play Big lEast caliber D in preparation for their new home. That’s not to take anything away from the Bears, who absolutely did what they needed to do to set the college football season off on an amazing foot. ‘Sic ‘em!
The theme of the week, though, had to be everyone’s awesome back to school clothes… who would be the fashionistas this year, and who would be stuck at the loser’s table? Let’s take a look, shall we?
