Recent Posts
September 14th 2010 23:23
Forget the whole "A Little Big 12* Gossip" bit at the beginning. This title explains it all.
Recently, "Men's Health" magazine has released a list of the most sexually active cities in the country, and it will be included in their October issue.
I decided to see which areas housing Big 12* schools are ranked, and how high up they are, so let's take a looksky, shall we?
Number one on their list is of course Austin, TX
I'm not surprised at this at all. Filthy 'Horns.
Up next come the Colorado Buffaloes. Denver is ranked number 5 on the list and it's less than an hour away from Boulder. The Buffs get it on pretty well also.
Norman, OK, Home of the Sooners, is a less-than-half-an-hour drive to Oklahoma City, which is ranked eigth on the list. Keep going strong, Sooners. Keep on.
Lubbock, Texas, the site of the Texas Tech Red Raiders comes in at number 11. This I'm not surprised about, as I have heard all the rumors about the "Raider Rash". I'm not the only one. You know it.
Kansas City, Missouri is actually closer to Lawrence, Kansas then Columbia, Missouri. So that means the Kansas Jayhawks comes in at No. 20 on the list. Ruffle them feathers, you silly kids.
Des Moines, Iowa is less than an hour away from Ames. That's the place the Iowa State Cyclones call home, and they come in at number 44. Perhaps not too much else to do there?
Omaha, Nebraska, right next to Lincoln, the Home of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, arrives on the list at No. 47. Apparently corn isn't the only thing they husk.....I'm just gonna let that one sit.
And that's about all the areas closest to these schools on the list. Which means.....we got some schools left out in all the fun.
Sorry, dudes. We didn't invite you to the party.
No, in no way, shape, or form did I save my alma mater for last based on any sort of bias whatsoever.
I don't know what you're talking about.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Now we get to a team that I truly objectively believe has a chance for something really special in 2010.
The Sooners open up the season against the Utah State Aggies for their OOC.
Again, as I've said at least once nearly every Big 12 team before this last one, not much to say about this match-up. It's in Norman, Utah State is clearly outmatched on both sides of the ball, and it would take nothing short of divine intervention to grant victory to the Aggies.
The Crusader's Call: OU not only starts out the season 1-0 unlike 2009, but with this victory they also join the 800-win club.
But Oklahoma won't have too much time to be pleased with themselves, as they'll have a real test coming to Norman the week after in the Florida State Seminoles.
This will be the first time these two blue-blood programs have met since the 2000 Orange Bowl, in which Oklahoma defeated Florida State 13-2 to be crowned national champions.
Look for this reunion to be a bit on the awkward side.
Most of the trouble for the Sooners will center around this guy right here. Christian Ponder, already a possible Heisman candidate, is big and bulky and is a 2000 passing man. He also has prolific targets in Rod Owens and Bert Reed. FSU's RBs aren't too shabby either.
The overall idea is that the Seminoles have one prolific offense, and it will be up to Oklahoma's defensive line to bring the pressure and disrupt Ponder. The young backfield also needs to dig in their heels and not allow any big gains on Owen Field.
The Crusader's Call: Look for guys like Jeremy Beal, Adrian Taylor, Travis Lewis, and Ronnell Lewis to make that difference. The Sooners scrape into a hard-fought 2-0.
OU stays at home for their third game of the season against Air Force.
Air Force carries into Sooner Country a weird mojo about it. There's just something about the Mountain West and OU. It was a Mountain West team, TCU in 2005, that makes up one of Bob Stoops' only two losses at home since he took the reigns.
After pounding the Horned Frogs and ascending to number 1 in the country back in 2008, Oklahoma thought they had finally exercised those demons. But then, in 2009, OU fell to another Mountain West team, Brigham Young, in their season opener inside the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. Not only that, they had lost Sam Bradford in the fray.
So you can bet Oklahoma will be keeping a wary eye on this next Mountain West team coming into their house. The same things apply that did with Florida State, and OU must assert the dominance that has come trademark with their homestands from the first down and on.
The Crusader's Call: And I believe they will, and go 3-0.
Now comes a late ringer right here, and it falls right before Texas. The Sooners will travel all the way up to Cincinnati to fight the Bearcats.
Some have already written off this game. But, it's a road game, and the Sooners packed a wallop for it as well. The Bearcats are the defending Big East champions, and even though they lost 11 starters after last season, including staunch offensive weapons Tony Pike and Marty Gilyard, Cincinnati is still lead by upperclassmen QB Zach Colarros.
Colarros also has a veteran O-Line protecting him. Their D was very much young last season, so expect all of that to carry over into experience now. The Bearcats will try to riddle that Oklahoma defense with a proficient air attack, so they had better be ready.
And on the road too. This will prove to be quite a test indeed. Forget the new coach excuse, for it was an interim-coached West Virginia team that decimated OU in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl.
The Crusader's Call: But I really do think the Sooners can pull it off if they keep their current angry, vindictive atttude and lose the stigma of having so many road losses.
You'll call me biased, but I call OU going undefeated in their OOC and I give them the ranking of 4 OUT OF 5 STARS. They have a great blend of OOC opponents.
Well if it ain't another storyline from the Big 12 North? The Kansas State Wildcats, the team that brought the NFL Terrence Newman and perhaps one of the most coordinated stadium chants beneath the fanaticism of Texas A&M.
On that note.....why the heck is their mascot a cat's head on a human's body? That's a form of inbreeding that I don't even want to pretend to discuss.
But on to their OOC, they being the second to last team The Crusader must cover before the major kick-off in these last few waning hours.
The Wildcats will start off at home hosting the UCLA Bruins
Kansas State becomes the second Big 12 team to tango with the Bruins this season. They had their behinds pasted at the Bruins' stadium in 2009, 23-9, but this is where I think home-field advantage will play a big part.
The bottom line is, many Big 12 North teams have found themselves in a jam when it comes to conference expansion. They are now forced to do whatever Texas, Oklahoma, and Texas A&M want to do. Once Nebraska leaves after this season and Colorado the following year, the entire future of the remaining four North teams is in jeopardy. Once this new deal unravels in four or five years (and it will once Texas' greed grows once more), if the North teams don't turn themselves into forces the future Superconferences want, they're just out of luck.
KSU will be looking to make a statement this season, and it all starts with a game like this. The 'Cats have what I believe to be truly an up-and-comer rushing star in Daniel Thomas, who has both the speed and the strength to give any defensive line and secondary trouble if given the chance.
The problem is, UCLA has lost five defensive starters on the front seven, including the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year.
The Crusader's Call: At home, under the reigns of Bill Snyder, I gotta give the close edge to the 'Cats. It'll be a close one, a bloodbath, but KSU comes out on top and goes up an immediate 1-0.
Then, the 'Cats remains at home to take on the Missouri State Bears.
Oooooooooooooooooooooooook. Just because the Bears got done taking care of Eastern Kentucky, 31-9, the MVC is still the MVC. I tried looking up some stats to help with my argument, you know, make it sound more intelligent? But even ESPN has gathered nothing on these guys.
Is that how insignificant this football team is? Seriously?
The Crusader's Call: This is a game the 'Cats should and will win. 2-0.
Again, KSU stays inside Bill Snyder Stadium and battles it out with the Central Florida Knights.
Now, the Knights pack a bit more of an offensive punch on the KSU home turf with the help of Brett Hodges and Brynn Harvey, who are a 1000 passer and rusher, respectively. But as long as the 'Cats keep them held at bay, UCF is outmatched.
The Crusader's Call: Indeed. Kansas State goes up 3-0.
And finally, K-State travels to Denton, TX to take on North Texas on the road.
This is essentially not a road game at all, in my mind. KSU faced the Mean Green back in 2008, and crushed them in Manhatten 45-6. This is probly just an agreement the two schools had to play each other. KSU will have as much success at North Texas as they would at home.
The Crusader's Call: What else is there to say? 'Cats improve to 4-0.
So KSU goes undefeated with their OOC. All in all, not much to write about at all. When I think of what K-State needs to accomplish with this OOC, I start thinking negative, but when I think about the level the team is currently playing at, the skill level seems right, so 3 OUT OF 5 STARS.
Yeah, you heard me, you heard the "Jersey Shores" reference. Texas Tech will try their hand at reality T.V. this season
[ Click here to read more ]
I promise the opening image of this blog shall be the only prejudice I exhibit toward the Texas Longhorns because I graduated from OU. It’s done, it’s out of my system. It’s over
[ Click here to read more ]
In a new idea for blogs here, The Crimson Crusader wants to open up the writing inside his blog to online Internet users, people like you who enjoy reading my stuff
[ Click here to read more ]
Regardless of what a lot of people are thinking, the Missouri Tigers are not derelict by any means. This season they return 16 starters and QB Blaine Gabbert, who in '09 threw for more than 3500 yards and 24 TDs. With that kind of experience they could make a splash in the Big 12 North once again, but let's take a look at their OOC as the next part of this in-depth series
[ Click here to read more ]
|
|
|
Add Comments
Read More
Comment by The Crimson Crusader
on The OOC Teams of Texas A&M
The Crimson Crusade