The 2014 season was a bit of a nightmare for the Big 12. The conference had two teams emerge as candidates for the inaugural College Football Playoff, but that left the conference brass in a pickle when it came to naming a conference champion as both finished with identical 11-1 records.
The hottest seat in the Big 12 might belong to coach Dan Holgorsen who has not been able to get the Mountaineers to compete well in their new conference.
The Cyclones are rarely a threat in the B12 and 2014 looks no different. What they are is a hard nosed physical football team that always plays with max effort. This year with some changes to the coaching staff they are hoping to the offense.
There is no doubt that Kansas is the worst program in the conference right now. They thought they were making a splashy hire with Charlie Weis but success hasn’t followed.
The Big 12 conference has a lot of momentum entering the 2014 college football season. It’s true that Texas is coming off of a Bowl loss to the Pac-12 Oregon Ducks, but the Oklahoma Sooners are riding high after their defeat of the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Baylor Bears are looking like a true contender at this point in their post-Robert Griffin III rebuild.
Their last year in the Mountain West TCU won 11 games. It took them two seasons to reach that total in the Big 12 as things have not gone all that smoothly for the Horned Frogs.
This season will really test what Mike Gundy has been building in Stillwater. In three of the last 4 season they have won 10 or more games but there is a lot of turnover this year so the question is whether they have been recruiting the kind of depth that will let them reload instead of rebuild.
Last year the Red Raiders wilted big time, losing their final 5 regular season games against the better teams in the league before a surprising win against Arizona State.
It is time for a reset down in Austin. There were definitely some good times for Mack Brown but is seems like things got a little stale so in come Charlie Strong to rattle some cages.
The Wildcats fell a notch or two last season but still finished at 8-5, pretty impressive given they lost the best player in program history in Collin Klein at QB.
Oklahoma is thinking big this season and they should be. Last year finished on a high note, Trevor Knight is looking like the answer at QB and a top 25 defense should finish in the top 10 this season. Most important of all they have a great schedule to go a perfect 12-0 and grab a spot in the playoffs this season.
The fans in and Waco have to be wondering just how long the Bears can keep up this level of success. Fueled by an awesome offense they have been on a real good run the last few seasons and it should continue for at least one more. QB Bryce Petty is back and he has more than enough weapons to put up more Nintendo numbers.
Baylor Bears
Head Coach: Art Briles
2013 Record: 11-2
Gambling Odds to win National Championship: 28/1
Gambling Odds to win (B12): 5/2
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The defense won’t keep them from winning 10 or more games so they will be in the hunt.
There are only 6 returning starters but there is little reason to think the Bears will not be as explosive as they have been the past few seasons. Bryce Petty is back and so are three receivers, led by Antwan Goodley who burst on the scene as a junior with more than 1300 yards and 13 TDs.
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This year it will be Shock Linwood’s turn to tote the rock. Like Lache Seastrunk before him Linwood is strong and fast and as a freshman he averaged almost 7 yards per carry.
The Bears are committed to running the ball and he could easily double his 800+ yards from a year ago. He is on the preseason All B12 team.
The Bears may not use him as much as other teams but senior punter Spencer Roth is considered the best in the conference. Their defense may not be as strong as it was the season before so they are going to need him to pin down opponents in those rare occurrences when the offense stalls.
The Bears gave up just 24ppg last season outscoring opponents by nearly 30 points per game. This season only three starters return on defense, testing the depth of the program big time. Linebacker Bryce Hager is going to have to inspire a very young defense to back the offense up to win.
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This is going to be an awfully young team this season. 9 sophomores are expected to start including 4 in the back seven of the defense. As good as coach Art Briles is if he can keep the Bears on their lofty perch he may have done his best coaching job yet with this group.
The key will be using the early part of the season to build confidence.
Their schedule is not very kind this season and could be their undoing. They have to travel to both Norman and Austin this year and their lone regular season loss a year ago was on the road.
They have good leadership but beating both of those teams to capture a title is probably too much to expect from this group.
Gambling Prediction: 10-2
The Bears are not going to fade away just yet.
They should be 4-0 when they venture into Austin but as the third road game in a row I think they will fall just short – which might be a spot to play the Longhorns if they are not the favourite. Look for a massive rebound performance in their shiny new digs against TCU who they play well against.
Against Oklahoma they will likely lose again but it will be close thanks to their offense and some conservative play calling by Big Game Bob.
The Big 12 has been one of the most unpredictable conferences over the last little while. Kansas State shouldn’t threaten to win any major conference but they seem to be in the mix every year while Texas, with all the advantages in the world, has been in a serious down cycle.
The Baylor Bears are coming off of a Big 12 title from the 2013 college football season, but the question is: Can they defend that title with the likes of the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns on their tails?
The next National title game is nearly a year away, and the format with which a championship game will be decided will be drastically different, yet odds are out and that means an opportunity to identify value.
There is profound enthusiasm over the announcement of Kliff Kingsbury taking the reins as head coach in Lubbock, as Kingsbury is a former record-shattering Tech pivot himself. Undoubtedly, this move has fired up the Red Raiders’ fan base.
