Big 12 reality check
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3
Published: July 23, 2008
Colorado
What they said: "You have to have those breakthrough moments. You can't just keep coming close all the time. At some point, you've got to get yourself over the top.” — coach Dan Hawkins on his team's needed improvement
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Kansas
What they said: "We've always said that we want our program to be able to compete against the best teams in the league. The fact that we're picking up Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech on the schedule is something that we look forward to. That's the test for our program. We will never truly get over the hump, in my eyes, until we're able to defeat those teams.” — coach Mark Mangino on his team's schedule
Reality check: In addition to playing arguably the Big 12 South's top three teams, the Jayhawks play at South Florida, at Nebraska and face Missouri in Kansas City. Scheduling benefited Kansas in its 12-1 season a year ago, but that won't be the case this year.
Kansas State
What they said: "Jordy Nelson was a great player, but I'm not going to miss him. He did a lot for us, but we have guys that can step up. I'm going to miss him as a person, but not as a player.” — quarterback Josh Freeman on the loss of Nelson, the team's top receiver and offensive threat.
Reality check: Let's ask Josh Freeman again in three months if he misses Nelson. The guy was only a consensus All-American who grabbed 122 passes for 1,606 yards — both K-State records. Who needs him, right?
Oklahoma State
What they said: "We're building from last season and we learned from it. We're getting better day-in and day-out, so it's definitely an attainable goal. We've bonded real close, real well as a defense, even with a lot of new guys coming in.” — defensive back Ricky Price on coordinator Tim Beckman's stated goal of being among the top 50 defenses in the nation.
Reality check: Only three Big 12 teams were in the top 50 in total defense last year. And the conference appears to be more potent offensively this season. To reach the top 50 this year, OSU will have to trim 75 yards off its 443 yards-per-game average (101st nationally) last season.
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It's funny how a team can lose a big player and suddenly, there's another kid that has just as much talent...or the entire team actually picks up the slack.
The Cowboys will be better defensively this year. Count on it.
In last season's bowl win over Indiana, the entire OSU defense looked completely different from what we saw during the regular season.
It's as if Beckman programmed a different defense overnight.
The D was more aggressive, more cohesive and much improved.
Sure, there's a lot more room for improvement, but now that Beckman has had some time to implement his system with the players he's got, it's as if a switch was turned on.
Gone is last year's proclamation of, "World's Most Dangerous Offense" going into the year. The offense was awesome for the most part, but without a defense to back it up, the scoring did little to help boost the overall W/L totals.
My prediction is that the Cowboy D will be vastly improved. Top D in Big 12? No. Not nearly. Not yet. But enough to provide for some chances at making it a great year.
If you recall, the Cowboys, last year, had a shot at winning the Big 12 title only to come up short.
And that was with a terrible defense.
The Cowboys are going to pull off some huge surprises (well, not that big of a surprise to Cowboy fans or players) in the Big 12.
Go Pokes!