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By Pete Fiutak
The SEC East is the best division in all of college football. Vanderbilt and Kentucky are each bowl worthy to go along with Florida, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina. The Big 12 South isn’t far behind.
Baylor screws things up with a rebuilding team (again) trying to find new pieces to fit into the Guy Morriss high-octane passing game (or at least an attempt at one), but the rest of the division is loaded with the potential for the best race since the Big 12 was formed.
As always, Texas and Oklahoma are the big dogs, but while their each going into the year as their usual national title contenders, they’re not quite jaw-dropping killers; each has various flaws. Texas Tech might be missing receiver experience, but the defense will be better and QB Graham Harrell has the time in the system to bomb away. Texas A&M gets almost all the key parts back from last year’s 9-4 team led by a tremendous backfield that’ll run on everyone. And then there’s Oklahoma State.
Always the second-fiddle in its state, the Cowboys are on the verge of having the type of team no one has any interest in playing. The offense could be the most balanced and explosive in the conference with a vast array of stars, while the defense is aggressive and athletic. As good as OSU might be, and it might be good enough to pull off a season-opening upset at Georgia, it still could turn out to be the South’s fifth best team.
The North isn’t the South, but it’s slowly bouncing back after years of mediocrity. Iowa State has major rebuilding to do under new head man Gene Chizik, but it still has one of the league’s best quarterbacks (Bret Meyer) to work around. Kansas was able to get to 6-6 with the nation’s worst pass defense, which should be a bit better, Kansas State’s young, young, young team has enough talent to beat anyone on any given day (just ask Texas), Colorado will be better, Missouri will be far better, and Nebraska appears to be just on the verge of being a national super-power again.
The league is finally back to being a killer again, even if it is, at best, number two behind the SEC. Whatever. It’ll be a week-in-and-week-out dogfight with plenty of wild games, upsets, and a fight to the last day for the spots in the title game
The SEC East is the best division in all of college football. Vanderbilt and Kentucky are each bowl worthy to go along with Florida, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina. The Big 12 South isn’t far behind.
Baylor screws things up with a rebuilding team (again) trying to find new pieces to fit into the Guy Morriss high-octane passing game (or at least an attempt at one), but the rest of the division is loaded with the potential for the best race since the Big 12 was formed.
As always, Texas and Oklahoma are the big dogs, but while their each going into the year as their usual national title contenders, they’re not quite jaw-dropping killers; each has various flaws. Texas Tech might be missing receiver experience, but the defense will be better and QB Graham Harrell has the time in the system to bomb away. Texas A&M gets almost all the key parts back from last year’s 9-4 team led by a tremendous backfield that’ll run on everyone. And then there’s Oklahoma State.
Always the second-fiddle in its state, the Cowboys are on the verge of having the type of team no one has any interest in playing. The offense could be the most balanced and explosive in the conference with a vast array of stars, while the defense is aggressive and athletic. As good as OSU might be, and it might be good enough to pull off a season-opening upset at Georgia, it still could turn out to be the South’s fifth best team.
The North isn’t the South, but it’s slowly bouncing back after years of mediocrity. Iowa State has major rebuilding to do under new head man Gene Chizik, but it still has one of the league’s best quarterbacks (Bret Meyer) to work around. Kansas was able to get to 6-6 with the nation’s worst pass defense, which should be a bit better, Kansas State’s young, young, young team has enough talent to beat anyone on any given day (just ask Texas), Colorado will be better, Missouri will be far better, and Nebraska appears to be just on the verge of being a national super-power again.
The league is finally back to being a killer again, even if it is, at best, number two behind the SEC. Whatever. It’ll be a week-in-and-week-out dogfight with plenty of wild games, upsets, and a fight to the last day for the spots in the title game
No mercy on those Huskers hey rc.
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