College Football: Week 12 Shows that the Big 12 Conference is Weak

The loss by No. 2 Oklahoma State and No. 5 Oklahoma this weekend sends an overdue wakeup call to the rest of the nation that the Big 12 is a weak conference this year.

All OSU had to do is win one game against an unranked team. The unranked team they had to beat owned a record of 2-4 in conference and 5-4 overall entering the game. This was an unranked team that lost four straight games to Texas, Baylor, Missouri, and Texas A&M earlier in the year. No. 2 Oklahoma State lost to an Iowa State team that held on for a 13-10 home win over 2-9 University of Kansas the week before.

Not surprising, this is not the first team in the Big 12 with a Top 10 ranking to fall to an unranked team this season. This loss was actually worse than Oklahoma State’s. No. 3 Oklahoma lost at home to Texas Tech 45-40 October 22.

Texas Tech was 4-2 entering the game with back-to-back losses in-conference to Texas A&M and Kansas State at home. Since beating Oklahoma, the 5-6 Red Raiders have lost four in a row.

Wait, Oklahoma did it again. Ranked in the Top 10, OU fell to a team that had not been ranked in the Top 25 in over five weeks? No. 5 Oklahoma upset loss to No. 25 Baylor Saturday night to help further prove that the 2011 Big 12 conference is overrated and weak. There are no dominate teams in conference.

What’s the problem in Big 12 country? Is parity in a tough conference the reason why the teams are cannibalizing each other within the Big 12?

Based off preseason rankings… no, the Big 12 is not that tough of a conference.

Preseason rankings included four teams from the Big 12 in the AP Top 25 and five in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll. Oklahoma was ranked No. 1 in both polls.

Of the four teams ranked in the AP preseason only two of those teams are currently ranked Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Texas A&M and Missouri are no longer ranked. Texas was the fifth team ranked in the preseason USA Today Coaches’ Poll. Texas is also no longer ranked in either poll as of end of week 12.

What about K State?

Kansas State has been one of the bigger surprise teams in the nation. The Wildcats won their first seven games of the season and was ranked as high as No. 10 in the nation. During their seven-game winning streak the only ranked team they beat was then No. 15 Baylor. The other two ranked teams KSU has played this year ended in defeats to OU and OSU. Not really an impressive record.

In times like these Big 12 conference apologist will turn to the non-conference schedule to settle the debate. What marquee victory can show that the Big 12 is truly a power conference and parity is the reason for the upset losses?

Here’s the list of Big 12 teams versus other power conference teams: Iowa State beat 7-4 Iowa and 4-6 Connecticut, Kansas State beat 6-5 Miami, Oklahoma State beat 2-8 Arizona, Texas beat 6-5 UCLA. The biggest win would have to be Oklahoma’s win over 7-4 Florida State.

What about Big 12 losses in non-conference games?

Texas A&M lost to 10-1 Arkansas, Kansas lost to 8-3 Georgia Tech, and Missouri lost to 6-5 Arizona State.

We could add Mountain West or Conference USA wins to pad the victories we can but this is about being a power conference with quality wins.

Strength of schedule rankings that exists for college football fans should have no part of this clear cut point of view. The difficulty of the Big 12 schedule is not that difficult. Florida State was the only ranked power conference team that was defeated by a Big 12 school and now FSU is 7-4.

Hopefully voters, the media, and college football fans will come to understand that no matter how one looks at it, the Big 12 is not an elite conference this year.

This year’s Bedlam Series will be hyped by the media but will prove nothing that we do not already know about the Big 12, it’s a weak conference. 

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2012 Houston College Classic Field Announced

The 12^th Annual Houston College Classic lineup was announced today. University of Arkansas, University of Tennessee, University of Houston, Rice University, University of Texas, and Texas Tech University will compete in the round robin early season tournament. The three day tournament will be held at Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros.

The 2012 lineup features three teams that played in regionals, Arkansas, Texas, and Rice, with Texas advancing to the College World Series.

The 2011 lineup included: Baylor, Rice, Houston, Utah, Texas A&M, Kentucky. Utah came into the tournament 0-5 but managed to upset Texas A&M and Baylor while losing to Kentucky to tie at 2-1 for a share of the championship. Baylor also went 2-1 beating Houston and Rice.

Rice, the 8^th seeded team in college baseball before regional play began, Baylor, and Texas A&M all made regional appearances with A&M making the trip to Omaha this year.

Pairings for the tournament have not been announced.

This will be the Razorbacks first appearance in the Houston Classic. 

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Updates for Day Four of the College World Series

Bracket Two Scores and Highlights from Tuesday

South Carolina Gamecocks vs. Virginia Cavaliers

South Carolina brought the bats and the pitching to this much anticipated CWS showdown. The defending NCAA Champions were able to stay in the winner’s bracket by beating the 2011 #1 seeded University of Virginia 7-1 Tuesday night.

South Carolina shredded UV’s pitching collecting 13 hits, 5 for extra bases, and benefited from 3 Cavaliers’ errors; two by 3B Steven Proscia, a 7^th round draft pick of the Seattle Mariners. Four USC players had multiple hits, 1B Christian Walker 2-5 with 2 RBIs, CF Jackie Bradley Jr. 2-5 with 1 RBI, 3B Adrian Morales 3-5 2 runs and 1 RBI, and DH Brady Thomas 3-4 with 1 RBI.

Will Roberts pitched 3.1 innings for UV giving up 3 ER, 6 unearned, on 8 hits taking the loss for the Cavs. Virginia threw 5 other pitchers to slow the Gamecocks offensive onslaught combining for 5 hits, 1 ER, over 5.2 innings of work.

Colby Holmes started for the Gamecocks throwing 4.1 innings of 1-hit, 1 run ball while striking out 7. Holmes gave up a solo home run to Cavs’ C John Hicks in the 4^th inning. John Taylor came in to relieve Holmes and threw 4.1 innings of shutout ball, only allowing one hit. Matt Price threw to one batter, getting CF Kenny Swab to fly out to center in the 9^th to end the game.

Cavs’ lead off hitter SS Chris Taylor went 2-4 in a losing effort. UV went three and out 5 times Tuesday night.

University of California Bears vs. Texas A&M Aggies

The amazing Bears continued their unlikely march in the CWS and added to the Big 12 disappointing CWS. The Bears eliminated the Aggies 7-3 Tuesday night behind solid pitching and timely hitting.

Offense Highlights

The Bears were outhit by the Aggies 9 to 10 but A&M committed two errors that led to 3 unearned Bear runs which proved to be too much to overcome. Tony Renda led the Bears attack going 2-3 with a run and RBI and 2B Derek Campbell contributed a 2-4 effort with a run and 2 RBIs for the Cal Bears.

The Aggies had great plate performances from CF Krey Bratsen (2-5), C Kevin Gonzalez (3-4), and LF Brandon Wood (2-4). A solo home run by 3B Adam Smith (1-4), a New York Yankees draft pick, in the 4^th inning put the Aggies up 1-0 but in the top of the 5^th the Bears would show the fighting spirit they’ve had all season long by putting up 3 runs to take the lead.

Pitching Highlights

Michael Wacha threw 108 pitches and faced 32 Bears’ batters. He gave up 9 hits, 7 unearned runs and 4 ER, while walking 2 and striking out 5. Kyle Porter went 6 innings for the Bears giving up 3 ER on 7 hits while striking out 4 for the win. Matt Flemer threw 3 shutout innings in relief for the Bears to earn the save.

Virginia and California will meet Thursday in another elimination game for the Bears. South Carolina will play the winner of the Cal vs. Cavs game on Friday. If South Carolina loses Friday’s game, an elimination game will be played on Saturday for the right to play in the NCCAA Championship game against the bracket one winner.

Wednesday’s Game

In a bracket one elimination game, UNC Tar Hills (51-15) face the Vanderbilt Commodores (53-11) for the right to play the Florida Gators for the NCAA Championship game. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. EST. 

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