Texas, OU tough in stout Big 12 South

Van Wade

If you can’t get fired up about the Big 12 football race this season, you’ve got to be from another planet.

The Big 12 North, you can almost forget about it. It’s going to be all about the South again.

After all, just last year three teams in Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech all finished the regular season 11-1. Doesn’t that sound impossible for one half of a conference. Oh, yes, let’s not forget about Oklahoma State, which went 9-3.

It was tough, very tough, for Baylor and Texas A&M; fans and it should be just as tough or tougher for them again this year.

Why, you may ask?

Well, Oklahoma and Texas return a Heisman Trophy winner and its runnerup in quarterback Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy. Texas should be much stronger on defense this season while the Sooners almost have their entire dynamic offense back.

Expectations are high at Oklahoma State with a ton of record-breakers back on offense. Texas Tech may have lost a slew on offense but Coach Mike Leach always seems to bounce back.

I bet many folks don’t know that Texas Tech is the only program that has had a winning season every year since its been in the Big 12.

Both Baylor and A&M; should be much-improved as well but it’s going to be so hard for both to climb up the ladder.

So when the season begins, the Big 12 South, alone, may have three teams in the AP top 10, with both Texas and Oklahoma in the top three.

There will be some old-fashinoed “slobber-knockers” in the near future. Count on it.

Last year will be hard to top, but it can happen.

During last season, during a four-week span, four Big 12 Soth teams were ranked in the top eight in the country. Amazing.

No other conference, let alone a conference division, has ever produced four of the top five finishers in the 74-year history of the Heisman. The South did it with Bradford winning it, followed by runnerup McCoy, Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell fourth and his teammate Michael Crabtree fifth.

The Big 12 North, they have some talent as well, but teams like Nebraska and Kansas would finish no higher than fourth in the rugged South.

Last season the South held a 15-3 advantage over the North. With oklahoma’s 62-21 trouncing of Missouri in the Big 12 title tilt, the South has claimed the last five Big 12 titles by a whopping 233-51 margin.

It’s going to be hard to decipher the South and it will be a week-to-week deal but it will probably all boil down to Oct. 17 when Texas meets Oklahoma in Dallas.

The Longhorns might have a slight edge going in.

Thy were just a dropped interception away against Texas Tech from being perfect last year and the computer system, which was probably developed secretly at Texas A&M;, got them as well.

The Longhorns will be playing with somewhat of a chip on their shoulders.

For Oklahoma, mkost of its offense is back intact but the Sooners lost several key defenders. Heck, Texas beat the Sooners and that offense last season.

Oklahoma State should push both the Horns and Sooners to the limit and the Longhorns have to go to Stillwater on Halloween.

Everyone feels that Texas Tech just reloads each year but guys like Harrell and Crabtree are going to be very tough to replace. Believe it or not — the Red Raiders might rely on a much-improved defense early on before Coach Leach gets the offensive machine rolling again.

The Baylor Bears might just push for a bowl bid. Everyone in the football business knows that Baylor coach Art Briles is a born winner from his days at Stephenville High School and The University of Houston. The Bears have a strong offense led by crafty quarterback Robert Griffin. If the Bears can slow down anyone, they could land a bowl bid.

At A&M; Mike Sherman’s unit should show vast improvement as well. However, the five teams above them, with the exception of Texas Tech, are just as good on paper or even better then they were last season.

It’s going to be a crapshoot and one well worth the wait as we’re just lingering now, watdching Wimbledon and seeing if the Astros can climb over the .500 mark.

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