Here’s eight guys who’ll sleep well tonight … after they’re done celebrating. Kendall Hunter , RB, Oklahoma State: Hunter went nuts in his return from a frustrating 2009 season, when he missed five games with an ankle injury and was hampered by the ankle in his return. Saturday night, he reclaimed a spot as one of the Big 12’s best running backs, ripping off 257 yards and four touchdowns on 21 carries for a staggering 12.2 yards per carry average in a 65-17 win over Washington State . Hunter was running angry, and ran over almost as many defenders as he ran around. T.J. Moe , WR, Missouri: Down 13-3 at halftime, T.J. Moe hauled in the first touchdown of Missouri’s season, a 7-yarder in the back of the end zone that helped shift the momentum back to Missouri’s side of the Mississippi River. He finished with 13 catches for 101 yards to lead the Tigers to a 23-13 win . Daniel Thomas , RB, Kansas State: Kansas State’s quarterbacks were uninspiring once again (though starter Carson Coffman estimated he vomited 10 times during the game), and once again, it didn’t affect Thomas’ production. The Wildcats’ workhorse rumbled for 234 yards on 28 carries, and the second of his two touchdowns — a 35-yard run with under a minute to play– clinched the 31-22 win . Dana Holgorsen, offensive coordinator, Oklahoma State: The Cowboys scored seven points in their final two games of 2009, and hired Holgorsen to bring in his Air Raid system that led the nation in scoring last year at Houston. In his debut, with a quarterback making his first start, four new offensive linemen and a host of inexperienced receivers, his offense racked up 38 first-half points. The Cowboys finished with 544 yards and beat Washington State 65-17 , earning the status of the only Big 12 team to top 50 points on Saturday. Keenan Robinson, LB, Texas: Robinson strung together an impressive first-half highlight reel, notching an interception, a sack and a fumble return for his first Longhorns’ touchdown, all by the break. He finished with six tackles in the Longhorns 34-17 win over Rice . DeMarco Murray , RB, Oklahoma: The knock on Murray is his durability, but he looked plenty durable on Saturday night, toting the ball 35 times for 218 yards — both career highs — and two touchdowns, including a 63-yard score that put Oklahoma up 14 points in the second half. Oklahoma struggled in plenty of places in its 31-24 win over Utah State . Running back wasn’t one of those places, and Murray was one of three Big 12 backs to top 200 yards on Saturday. Taylor Martinez , QB, Nebraska: Martinez earns the sticker on his first play alone: a 46-yard score on his first carry as a Husker. Plenty of room for improvement, of course, but if Martinez thought he had Huskers fans talking already, he’s in for a surprise this week after Nebraska’s 49-10 win over Western Kentucky . Jake Knott, LB, Iowa State: We didn’t forget the Cyclones performance on Thursday night. Knott, a 6-foot-2, 240-pounder, came away with a pair of interceptions in his first start, one of which stopped a Northern Illinois drive in the third quarter and the second of which sealed the game for the Cyclones
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Big 12 helmet stickers: Week 1
Filed under Football by on Sep 5th, 2010. Comment. 
16-team leagues. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were among the primary movers and shakers in the plan to save the Big 12 Conference. Early in the summer, when Texas made it known it was interested in moving west, the Cowboys and Sooners were the first on… Source: Tulsa World
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Klein column: OSU needs viable future options about conference alignment
Filed under News by on Aug 28th, 2010. Comment.
16-team leagues. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were among the primary movers and shakers in the plan to save the Big 12 Conference. Early in the summer, when Texas made it known it was interested in moving west, the Cowboys and Sooners were the first on… Source: Tulsa World
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Klein column: OSU needs viable future options about conference alignment
Filed under News by on Aug 28th, 2010. Comment.
16-team leagues. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were among the primary movers and shakers in the plan to save the Big 12 Conference. Early in the summer, when Texas made it known it was interested in moving west, the Cowboys and Sooners were the first on… Source: Tulsa World
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Klein column: OSU needs viable future options about conference alignment
Filed under News by on Aug 28th, 2010. Comment.
16-team leagues. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were among the primary movers and shakers in the plan to save the Big 12 Conference. Early in the summer, when Texas made it known it was interested in moving west, the Cowboys and Sooners were the first on… Source: Tulsa World
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Klein column: OSU needs viable future options about conference alignment
Filed under News by on Aug 28th, 2010. Comment.
Fortunately, the Cowboys would go on to win five straight, including three-in-a-row to open conference play. The Pokes were feeling pretty good about themselves at that point, but they were badly outplayed in Halloween -day matchup with Texas , falling… Source: The Sports Network
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NCAA Football Preview – Oklahoma State Cowboys
Filed under Football, News by on Aug 23rd, 2010. Comment.
So far this preseason, we’ve ranked the conference’s best quarterbacks , running backs , wide receivers and linebackers . We’ll even out the offense-defense balance a little more this afternoon with a ranking of the Big 12’s top 10 defensive linemen. This will encompass both ends and tackles, so get ready. The next few minutes you spend reading this could be among your life’s most intense. 6. Adrian Taylor, DT, Oklahoma Taylor faces an uphill battle after recovering from an ugly dislocated ankle in the Sun Bowl, but when he’s at 100 percent, he’s definitely one of the league’s best. Overshadowed by NFL first-round talent Gerald McCoy last year, Taylor played nearly every snap alongside the star, finishing with 36 tackles, including seven for loss and 3.5 sacks. He’ll line up next to former blue-chip recruit Jamarkus McFarland this year in the center of a defense that will try to stop the run like it did in 2009, when the Sooners ranked 10th nationally in rush defense. 7. Ugo Chinasa, DE, Oklahoma State Chinasa should be one of the rocks of defensive guru Bill Young’s defense in his second year in Stillwater. Chinasa’s excellent speed off the edge helped him reach 6.5 sacks in 2009, including a strong finish against Ole Miss in the Cotton Bowl, with 2.5. 8. Jake Laptad, DE, Kansas One of the bright spots on a defense that struggled to a 10th-place finish in 2009, Laptad made 6.5 sacks as a third-year starter, earning All-Big 12 honorable mention. A better performance in conference (only two of his sacks came in Big 12 play, and one was against Colorado, who gave up 43 in 2009) would move him up this list in the postseason. 9. Pierre Allen, DE, Nebraska Nebraska fans and coaches don’t see a defensive dip in the team’s future, and Allen is a big reason why. One of the new leaders of a defense that lost four starters from last year’s team, Allen will get a chance to showcase his talents outside two good tackles once again in Jared Crick and Baker Steinkuhler. He’ll be a third-year starter as a senior and by now, has seen about everything Big 12 offensive lines have to offer. 10. Kheeston Randall, DT, Texas He’s been called the key to the middle of Texas’ defense, and the Longhorns’ coaches expect a big season from their big 6-foot-5, 295-pound junior. He’s got lots of talent around him, but after taking over as the starter last season, expect him to surpass his 25 tackles and two sacks from last season. Honorable mention: Marquez Herrod, DE, Colorado; Lucas Patterson, DT, Texas A&M; Alex Okafor, DE, Texas; Frank Alexander, DE, Oklahoma
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The Big 12’s top 10 defensive linemen
Filed under Football by on Aug 17th, 2010. Comment.
Three players from the Big 12 made the watch list for the Mackey Award, presented to the nation’s best tight end at the completion of the season. Tim Biere , Kansas Ryan Deehan , Colorado Andrew Jones , Missouri I’m going to take a leap of faith here and assume that unless one of these three players plays for your team, you’ve probably never heard of them. I say that because the three Big 12 players on the list combined for 32 receptions, 317 yards and no touchdowns last season. Also, Jones no longer starts for Missouri; fellow junior Michael Egnew has assumed that role. It’s worth noting that none of the three earned any sort of All-Big 12 distinction in 2009. Here’s a look at their numbers from 2009: Biere: 14 rec, 183 yards Deehan: 10 rec, 91 yards Jones: 8 rec, 43 yards I should mention, with a new quarterback, Biere is probably the most likely of the three to have a breakout year, but don’t count on any of these three making the trip to Orlando for the awards ceremony as a Mackey finalist this winter. Obviously, if a guy like Texas’ Barrett Matthews or Egnew has a big year, they won’t be excluded from contention for the award, but more than anything, what the list reveals is this: If the conference’s figurative tight end talent pool were a literal pool, you wouldn’t be able to buy enough “No Diving” signs to get your point across. That’s a big change for a conference used to big-time talent at the position. Just in recent years, Oklahoma’s Jermaine Gresham, Missouri’s Chase Coffman and Martin Rucker, Oklahoma State’s Brandon Pettigrew and Texas A&M’s Martellus Bennett have been dominant at the position. A quick look across the conference doesn’t reveal anyone who touches that group. If a tight end for any team wants to step up in 2010, they won’t have to beat out much for people to take notice. Egnew and Matthews look like the two most likely candidates to do it.
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Big 12 tight end talent lacking in 2010
Filed under Football by on Aug 17th, 2010. Comment.
Every conference has at least one. Each year, fans and media crown a team outside the current powers with a chance to upset the order. Last season, Oklahoma State earned the tag, entering the season with a remarkably talented trio in running back Kendall Hunter , quarterback Zac Robinson and receiver Dez Bryant. Injuries and eligibility afflicted all three, but the Cowboys still managed a second-place finish in the South. This year, a similarly talented set of triplets will be on display for the Big 12’s 2010 “hot team” in College Station: Texas A&M. By now, non-Aggies fans are at least a little tired of hearing all the reasons a team that’s won 10 games in two seasons and never finished higher than fifth in its six-team division is going to challenge for a South title in 2010. Call Texas A&M a dark horse, but the shade of the Aggies’ coat has lightened with an avalanche of coverage and expectations from the media over the offseason. Seventeen starters return, including linebacker Von Miller and quarterback Jerrod Johnson , two of the Big 12’s best talents . Joining them are a highlight-making corps of receivers and two of the conference’s best running backs in Cyrus Gray and Christine Michael . They’ll get a chance to build some early steam with a back-loaded schedule that saves the Aggies’ toughest tests for November.
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Measuring up the Big 12’s ‘hot team’
Filed under Football by on Aug 10th, 2010. Comment.
Then there’s that little game versus Texas . The Cornhuskers have a favorable schedule that includes getting Texas at home and not playing Oklahoma at all. Nebraska will be tested at Oklahoma State and A&M, but I see them advancing to the Big XII title… Source: Bleacher Report
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2010 College Football Predictions: Boise State Plays Nat’l Semi Sept. 6
Filed under Football, News by on Aug 9th, 2010. Comment.
