Around the Big XII. Part 3, Baylor

Last entry I was talking about Iowa State, a team that had a young coach that had broken a bowl drought in '09 only to fall back last season, and not a lot of hope for this year.  Today I'd like to talk about the Baylor Bears, a team with a not nearly as young coach that broke a 15 year absence with an appearance in the Texas Bowl.  The two schools share a lot in common in that they're both hard to recruit to and don't spend the money on athletics like their competition.  However, Baylor is still in Texas and that's going to give them a big leg up with the Texas kids, which is a main component of Big XII football.  Their future looks a little brighter right now.  Last year the Bears stood at 7-2 with a win over Texas before falling flat to end the year with 4 straight losses, including aa 38-14 trouncing to Missouri's favorite whipping boy, Illinois.

Head coach Art Briles is a native Texan who moved from the job at Houston to Baylor in 2008 and began the slow process of trying to make a small, private college competitive with the like of Texas, Oklahoma and the other south powers.  Probably nothing he accomplished that first year was bigger than recruiting a kid named Robert Griffin.  Griffin was a highly rated, highly sought 4 star recruit who chose the Bears over a host of better known schools.  He's turned out to be Coach Briles version of what Brad Smith was for Gary Pinkel.  A star on a team full of somewhat average players that gave them some credibility.  Frankly, I'm kind of surprised he returned this year, but it's good for Baylor as well as the rest of the Big XII.  Recruiting has since picked up and I expect them to remain competitive as long as they can hang on to Briles.

Their schedule this season is still very respectable as it will be with all conference teams with the new round robin format.  In addition to the conference games, the Bears open with a biggie, TCU at home before settling down with games against Stephen F. Austin and Rice.  Road trips to Oklahoma State and Texas A&M will certainly be tough, but they also travel to kansas and Kansas State which won't be nearly as daunting.   Their home schedule is very tough with Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech and Missouri coming to Waco.  The only breather there is an Oct. 8th match up with Iowa State.  It's not going to be easy for the Bears to make a second straight bowl game without a little help and an upset or two.  Right now, I'd pick them to go 2-1 in the non conference schedule, and hope for a 4-5 conference record.  The final 2 games of the season, at home against UT and Texas Tech will be critical.  They, in my opinion will have to at least win one of those games.  But regardless, the Bears are going to be fun  to watch and for some reason, those lily white cheerleaders of theirs have always been among my favorites.
Next time, we'll talk about another north team, the Kansas State Wildcats and head coach Bill Snyder.

Week 7 recap:Sorting things out

Well, it's probably safe to say that basketball season has begun at the university of kansas.  Thursday night they met their cross state rival, the Wildcats of Kansas State at Memorial Stadium in lawrence.  This time last year the beaks were 5-0 and Mark Mangino and Lew Perkins were regarded as the 2 saviors of ku football.  What a difference a year makes huh?  Now Mangino is gone after being terminated for player abuse, Perkins suddenly retired and spends his time debating on which country he might want to visit that has no extradition treaties with the United States.  K State took control in the 2nd quarter as they blasted the hawks 59 to 7.   In my predictions I stated that I thought it was ridiculous that beak nation was favored in this game and I called for the upset.  To be fair though, I never saw this coming.  I see no one on the rest of the beaks schedule that they should be favored against and they may well have a 15 game conference losing streak by the end of the year.  Next up for the beaks is Texas A&M coming to town while K State travels to Baylor.

Speaking of A&M, my Tigers traveled to Kyle Field Saturday morning and were viewed as underdogs for the first time this season.  A&M is a tough place to play and it wouldn't be surprising to see a Missouri team that had superior talent lose there.  However, the Aggies have been prone to turnovers this year while the Missouri defense has been solid and opportunistic.  That was my logic for picking the Tigers in an upset.  Well, that and the fact that I'm a shameless homer.  However, A&M held on to the ball well on Saturday, which was the only way they were able to keep the game somewhat close.  Blaine Gabbert, coming off a hip injury was outstanding and had his best game distributing the ball as he discovered he had other targets beside TJ Moe and Michael Egnew.  Wes Kemp particularly had a big day as he caught 10 balls for 89 yards and 2 touchdowns.  The defense remained lights out as they didn't give up a touchdown until midway through the 4th quarter.  I fully expect to see college gameday in Columbia next Saturday when the Sooners come to town.

In Norman, those same Sooners blasted the Iowa State 52-0.  Demarco Murray rushed for 109 yards and 2 touchdowns as they scored early and often against an overmatched Cyclone team.  The OU defense held Iowa State to less than 200 yards to add insult to injury.  Things don't get a lot easier for the Clones next week as they travel to Austin to take on the Longhorns who showed yesterday that they weren't quite ready to write off this season yet.

Nebraska opened as 9 1/2 point favorites at home against that Texas team that was reeling and desperately needed a win.  This was the game that hick nation had circled since the Big XII title game last fall.  They were ranked 5th in the country and had a young quarterback, Taylor Martinez, that was the type of option QB that had made them a power in the 70's through the late 90's.  However, when push came to shove they were unable to move the ball when Texas proved to be athletic enough to stop their running attack. Martinez was held to 34 yards rushing and managed only 63 through the air and looked exactly what you'd expect a freshman quarterback to look like.  The corn are going to have problems with teams that can line up and shut the rushing attack down.  UT gave a blueprint how to do it yesterday and I wouldn't be at all surprised if the corn weren't subjected to another anal probe next week when they travel to Stillwater.  This was the only game I missed on this week and I couldn't be happier about it.
In Lubbock the Red Raiders played host to the Cowboys who have surprised this season.  Tech opened as a 3 1/2 point favorite which I just didn't see.  Okie Lite jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and held on for a 34-17 win.  Kendall Hunter rushed for 126 yards and Brandon Weeden threw for 356 and a touchdown.  Tech travels to Boulder next weekend to take on the Cowboys in what has to be a must win game for them. 

Home cooking didn't work that well for the Buffs yesterday as they fell to Robert Griffin and the Baylor Bears, 31-25.  Griffin threw for 236 yards and rushed for another 135 as the Bears overcame a slow start to pull away for the win.  Next week the K State Wildcats travel to Waco where one of these teams will become bowl eligible for the first time in quite a while.
This was a very good week for me as I went 5-1 both against the spread and straight up.  For the year I moved to 52-10 straight up and 29-24 against the spread.   This kind of luck against the spread is strange territory for me so I'm going to sit back and enjoy it.  I also have an extra day or so to take a look at next weeks games since we don't have a Thursday night game for one of the few times this season.  It's a beautiful day here in Kansas City and I'm going to get out and enjoy it.  Have a great week folks.

 
       
 

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