Everyone should keep up over at Football Outsiders where I preview every week’s top six games and make picks against FEI’s projection model. This week I’ll have Bedlam and Farmageddon amongst the games that get previewed and picked. But I wanted to hit on a few different smaller topics around the league that I couldn’t … [Read more…]
We have our championship game contenders locked in now with Baylor vs Oklahoma now preparing to reprise their fascinating battle from the other week. Interestingly, both teams leaned very heavily on the QB run game to make round one a close battle and both teams continued to lean on that dimension of their offense to … [Read more…]
One of the most impressive and interesting storylines in the Big 12 this season has been Oklahoma’s evolution into a really high level, power-option team. Since Lincoln Riley came to Norman the Sooners have been much more run-oriented than certainly I would have guessed considering Riley’s Air Raid background. From the start of the year, … [Read more…]
It’s easy to forget now that Baylor vs Oklahoma has really been the defining series of the 2010s in the Big 12. The 2011 Heisman bid by RG3 was propelled by a home win against the Sooners. Then the 2013 and 2014 Big 12 titles for Baylor came alongside a pair of shellackings administered to … [Read more…]
There were only three games in the Big 12 this week, but all of them were pretty significant and a couple of them had lines that I thought were pretty silly heading into the week. Oklahoma and Baylor both -11 was a bit much and sure enough, neither covered although both pulled out some wins. … [Read more…]
The action is really starting to heat up in the Big 12 now. We got three particularly clarifying games in the second week of in-conference play and then a customary but likely satisfying (for the winner) blowout of the Kansas Jayhawks. The national scene was pretty interesting too. Mack Brown’s UNC nearly upset Clemson before … [Read more…]
Over at Crimson and Cream Machine you can read an excerpt from my new book, “Flyover Football: How the Big 12 became the frontier for modern football.” The selection is from Chapter 9: Bob’s last gift and the no-D league. The chapter discusses how Stoops pushed the Big 12 forward with one final offensive hire … [Read more…]
No doubt Lincoln Riley has been winning every round up till now. Dana Holgorsen went 0-7 against Oklahoma as a head coach and the scores after Riley joined the Sooner staff went: 2015: OU 44, WVU 24 2016: OU 56, WVU 28 2017: OU 59, WVU 31 2018: OU 59, WVU 56 That last one … [Read more…]
The Sooners will have a different sort of team in 2019, that much is clear. Jalen Hurts will bring a new flavor to Lincoln Riley’s offense and Alex Grinch is hoping to transform the Oklahoma defense. The former is likely a one-year stopgap before Spencer Rattler assumes command of the offense and steers it back … [Read more…]
In a series I’m doing at footballstudyhall.com I broke down the chess games between Patterson and the Buckeyes that took place early in 2018. Going in I figured that Dwayne Haskins and the passing game would be too much for the Frogs, and he definitely did some real damage throwing it around but TCU had … [Read more…]