Signing day has come and gone. NFL decisions have been made. Coaching staffs — the major moves, at least — have been settled. The league membership looks close to being settled. With all that stuff behind us, it’s time to update our Big 12 Power Rankings with spring football quickly approaching. I mentioned this in our last update, but I’ll reiterate just how wide open the Big 12 is going to be in 2012. That won’t change for a while. In 2011, the league only had three teams that could realistically win the Big 12: Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M.

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Post-signing day Big 12 Power Rankings
Filed under Football by on Feb 6th, 2012. Comment.
Every week, your humble college basketball hoops blogger (er, me) will respond to your questions, comments and nonsensical rants in this here Hoopsbag. To submit a query, visit this page by clicking the link under my name in the upper right-hand corner of the blog. You can also email me or send me your entries via Twitter . (Honestly, the best way to get me is Twitter.) Per the usual, we begin with video. @ Purdidit writes : Each year has one or two: Which preseason top 10 team is most likely to fail to live up to expectations? Eamonn Brennan : This one’s actually pretty easy. It’s Memphis. For much of the summer, I thought the Tigers’ preseason ranking was going to be too high; with all this young talent, it’s easy to forget that Memphis was basically a so-so C-USA team for much of the 2010-11 season. Sure, the Tigers finished strong, and there’s reason to expect scaled improvements from a team that features so many sophomores that played big minutes as freshmen. The addition of highly-touted recruit Adonis Thomas helps, too. But top 10? Didn’t that seem just a little optimistic? What was I missing? I put Memphis at No. 17 in my preseason top-25 ballot . I thought that seemed fair. Then Ken Pomeroy released his preseason rankings (Memphis is ranked No. 20) and ESPN Insider and Basketball Prospectus maven John Gasaway broke things down in this Monday piece for Insider , and I’m more convinced than ever that Memphis isn’t a top-10 team. As John wrote, that doesn’t mean they won’t be a top-10 team by the end of the season. It may even be earlier than that. But the team with the worst offense in Conference USA — the only team to score less than a point per possession in C-USA last season — can’t possibly be the ninth-best team in the country. It may happen at some point, but I’d be shocked if the Tigers didn’t struggle at times, especially early in the season. People will say they were overrated. But whose fault is that? (Speaking of Memphis, by the way: Josh Pastner just keeps snatching up elite recruits . The present was already bright, but jeez, that future! Look out.) @ LakeRosenberg writes : In honor of The Mid-Majority , what team from below The Red Line can go the furthest in the NCAA Tournament? Brennan : It’s a new season with (hopefully) new readers, so I won’t assume everyone knows what The Red Line is. You can get up to speed right here . The short version: The Mid-Majority’s Kyle Whelliston wanted to define what, exactly, a mid-major is. He cut through the usual nonsense about tournament bids and school enrollments (people used to come up with some really wacky mid-major arguments) and instead created an intuitive, simple mechanism: The Red Line. If your conference’s average athletics department spends more than X number of dollars, you’re a high-major league.

Filed under Basketball, Football, News by on Nov 9th, 2011. Comment.
The 2010 season wasn’t a great one for Big Ten running backs. The league’s best running back played quarterback (Michigan’s Denard Robinson ). Illinois’ Mikel Leshoure flew under the radar but was a nationally elite back in every sense of the word. But after those two, meh. The league boasted some solid backs — Edwin Baker , James White , Dan Herron , Adam Robinson, John Clay — but no one you had to watch every time he took the field. The Big Ten’s real star power could be found on the defensive line, as five players went on to become first round picks in the NFL draft. This season, it’s all about the running backs in the Big Ten. The league boasts four players averaging more than 105 rush yards per game, all of whom rank among the nation’s top 21 rushers. No other league has more backs in the top 25 nationally than the Big Ten. So who’s the Big Ten’s best running back in 2011? It’s already one of the more spirited debates around the conference. Let’s meet the candidates (in alphabetical order): Wisconsin junior Montee Ball Nebraska junior Rex Burkhead Iowa sophomore Marcus Coker Penn State sophomore Silas Redd Now let’s take a closer look at each player and how they stack up.

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The great debate: Big Ten’s best RB
Filed under Football by on Nov 9th, 2011. Comment.
The Big 12’s board of directors met on Monday, but Missouri did not express its desire to withdraw from the Big 12 . The news was a mild surprise since Missouri chancellor Brady Deaton was expected to use the opportunity to inform the rest of the conference of the school’s planned departure. Deaton was given the power last week to make decisions on the future of the university’s athletic program. An excerpt from the ESPN.com item: Big 12 interim commissioner Chuck Neinas told the Kansas City Star that Missouri did not submit a letter of conditional withdrawal or notify the Big 12 that it planned to leave. “The conference encouraged Missouri to stay in the Big 12,” Neinas said, according to the report. And in a news release, the Big 12 said “a strong desire for the University of Missouri to maintain its Big 12 affiliation was expressed” at the meeting. The Tigers’ expected departure for the Southeastern Conference has been reported as “imminent and inevitable.” The league also discussed the possibility of a conference-wide network. On Monday, the board reaffirmed a previous resolution in which the league’s members pledged to grant their Tier I (over-the-air) and Tier II (cable) media rights to the Big 12. Texas A&M announced it would leave the Big 12 to become the SEC’s 13th member last month. Last June, Nebraska and Colorado left the Big 12 for the Big Ten and Pac-12, respectively.

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No Big 12 withdrawal for Mizzou
Filed under Football, News by on Oct 24th, 2011. Comment.
Kevin McGuire is a member of the Football Writers Association of America and host of the No 2-Minute… Source: Examiner.com
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Examiner.com College Football Power Rankings – Week 7
Filed under Football, News by on Oct 10th, 2011. Comment.
It doesn’t get any easier this week for Texas . The Longhorns will battle an Oklahoma State team that is rolling right now. Texas Tech lost this week but still moves up two spots in the… Source: Bleacher Report
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Big 12 Conference: Week 6 Power Rankings
Filed under News by on Oct 10th, 2011. Comment.
If you don’t like where you are in the power rankings, play better. See last week’s power rankings here . 1. Stanford : Stanford dominated; Andrew Luck was brilliant (skip). Stanford dominated; Andrew Luck was brilliant (skip). Stanford dominated; Andrew Luck was brilliant (skip). 2. Oregon : Is it just me or did few notice that Oregon pitched a second-half shutout against California? Sure, the defense gave up some yards — 465 — but holding the Bears to one touchdown and no second-half points is pretty tough. And that D will need to step up with running back LaMichael James out. 3. Arizona State : The Sun Devils were impressive at Utah — who knew this roguish bunch could be the crafty, opportunistic team? — but they can make a national statement at Oregon on Saturday. There’s no hard-and-fast rule, by the way, that says the Pac-12 championship game must be played in the home stadium of the North team. 4. Washington : The Huskies are not good enough to overlook Colorado on Saturday while anticipating their Oct. 22 visit to Stanford. But that visit to The Farm could become a big moment in the Huskies return to national relevance

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Pac-12 power rankings: Week 7
Filed under Football by on Oct 10th, 2011. Comment.
All week, ESPN.com has been breaking down the nonconference schedules of each and every team in a dozen different leagues. On Tuesday, we began with the ACC , SEC and C-USA . On Wednesday, we continued with the Big East , Atlantic 10 and Colonial . We devoted Thursday to the West, with the Pac-12 , WCC and Mountain West . Friday is all about the Midwest. We began with a look at the Missouri Valley and continue with the Big 12 … BAYLOR Toughest : at BYU (Dec. 17), vs. Saint Mary’s in Las Vegas (Dec. 22), vs. West Virginia in Las Vegas (Dec. 23), vs. Mississippi State in Dallas (Dec. 28) Next-toughest : San Diego State (Nov. 15), at Northwestern (Dec. 4) The rest : Texas Southern (Nov. 11), Jackson State (Nov. 13), South Carolina State (Nov. 22), UT-Arlington (Nov. 23), Prairie View A&M (Nov. 29), Bethune Cookman (Dec. 14), Paul Quinn (Dec. 19) Toughness scale (1-10): 6 — Baylor is one of the favorites to win the Big 12, but this was a team that didn’t make the postseason in 2011 and has to play the first five games without Perry Jones III. True road games against likely NCAA bubble teams BYU and Northwestern will be a struggle. Saint Mary’s and West Virginia in Vegas are winnable and should be if we’re to take the Bears seriously. A rebuilding SDSU is no given at home, but my favorite game is against MSU in Dallas with Jones III going against Arnett Moultrie and/or Renardo Sidney . IOWA STATE Toughest : at Michigan (Dec. 3) Next-toughest : Northern Iowa (Nov. 30), Iowa (Dec. 9) The rest : Lehigh (Nov. 12), at Drake (Nov. 15), Western Carolina (Nov. 20), Northern Colorado (Nov. 22), vs.

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Nonconference schedule analysis: Big 12
Filed under Basketball by on Oct 7th, 2011. Comment.
But it’s their bed, and the Longhorns and Sooners should make the most of it and do everything in their power to bolster their relationship, build on it and recreate… Source: Tulsa World
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OU-Texas marriage necessary for Big 12 survival
Filed under News by on Oct 6th, 2011. Comment.
For the rest of the week, ESPN.com will be breaking down the nonconference schedules of each and every team in a dozen different leagues. On Tuesday, we began with the ACC , SEC and C-USA . Let’s begin Wednesday with the biggest league of them all (for now), the Big East … CINCINNATI Toughest : at Xavier (Dec. 10), Marshall (Nov. 25) Next-toughest : at Georgia (Dec. 2), at Wright State (Dec. 14), vs. Oklahoma at US Bank Arena in Cincy (Dec. 29) The rest : Alabama State (Nov. 13), Jacksonville State (Nov. 15), Presbyterian (Nov. 19), Northwestern State (Nov. 21), Miami-Ohio (Nov. 29), Radford (Dec. 17), Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Dec. 21), Chicago State (Dec. 23) Toughness scale (1-10): 2 — The Bearcats are a top-25 team but this isn’t a top-25 schedule. Xavier is the best game by far and we can’t give the Bearcats too much credit for an annual game against a crosstown rival. Marshall is going to be a challenger in C-USA, but rebuilding OU and Georgia sound good in name only. Cincinnati should be an NCAA team, but it will likely have to earn it in the Big East. CONNECTICUT Toughest : Battle 4 Atlantis (Nov. 24-26), Arkansas (Dec. 3), at Tennessee (Jan. 21) Next-toughest : Harvard (Dec. 8), Fairfield (Dec. 22) The rest : Columbia (Nov. 11), Wagner (Nov. 14), Maine (Nov. 17), Coppin State (Nov

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Nonconference schedule analysis: Big East
Filed under Basketball by on Oct 5th, 2011. Comment.
