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J-W staff’s Big 12 bowl picks
The Journal-World sports staff predicts scores for the Big 12 bowl games.
Boomer beating? History on side of OU at Arrowhead Stadium
Here’s a quick glance at the Oklahoma Sooners scoring output in the last four games: 62 points, 66, 65 and 61. So the question to Missouri before Saturday’s Big 12 Championship game in Kansas City, Mo., is: How in the heck do you stop this juggernaut?
OU will be too much for MU in Big 12 Championship
Sorrentino's lightning round
Oklahoma enters Saturday’s Big 12 Championship a 17-point favorite and there’s no reason to think the Sooners won’t cover the spread.
Big 12 football notebook
Arrowhead downer: If you’re keeping track, the Border War at Arrowhead II drew fewer fans than the inaugural Kansas-Missouri game at the Kansas City facility. Saturday’s announced attendance was 79,123. School officials called last year’s crowd 80,537.
South supremacy: Tech, OU to battle with huge implications
The Texas Tech football program has made a habit this season of silencing doubters and controlling a Big 12 South division considered the toughest of any in America.
Big 12 football notebook
Kansas is bowl-eligible, but only one of the Jayhawks’ six victories has come against a team with a winning record. Louisiana Tech, a team KU blanked, 29-0, in the second week of the season, is 6-4. Sam Houston State and Florida International are both 4-5, Colorado is 5-6, Kansas State 4-7 and Iowa State 2-9.
Heisman hopefuls
Trophy near-lock to land in Big 12
Three players in the Big 12 era have won the Heisman Memorial Trophy, awarded to the most outstanding player in college football at the end of each season. Barring any outrageous circumstance, the conference will add a fourth in 2008. This player would join Ricky Williams (Texas, 1998), Eric Crouch (Nebraska, 2001) and Jason White (Oklahoma, 2003) in striking the famous pose.
Big 12 football notebook
Nebraska nose tackle Ndamukong Suh may have been the first Big 12 football player ever to earn defensive player of the week award for a game in which he also scored an offensive touchdown. Suh had a career-high 12 stops in Saturday’s 45-35 win over Kansas, including 2.5 sacks. Suh also plays fullback in goal-line situations and caught a two-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.
Captains of the comeback: Erasing deficits becoming normal at Texas Tech under Leach
The art of the comeback is not a new concept to the Texas Tech football program under coach Mike Leach. Last week’s 39-33 triumph at home over then-top ranked Texas made for spectacular theater. It was the most significant victory in Tech’s 83-year history.
Big 12 football notebook
Defense: Who needs it? Oklahoma avoided giving up 30 points in a fourth straight game for the first time in school history in its 62-28 victory over Nebraska. Then again, when you’re scoring at a league-leading 49.8 points-a-game clip, who’s counting?
Tech turnaround: Defense, run game suddenly present for Raiders
In the eight seasons Mike Leach has completed as head coach of the Texas Tech football program, the Red Raiders have led the nation in passing yards in seven of those years. But Tech never seemed to be an elite national program. The Red Raiders were fun to talk about at parties in terms of how their offense scored at the prolific rate of Bo Jackson in the original Tecmo Bowl.
Cowboys fired up for challenge of No. 1 Texas
There’s a different feeling in the air around Oklahoma State these days. Quarterback Zac Robinson noticed it when he ran into star receiver Dez Bryant before weightlifting Monday morning.
Scoreboard boosters: Will defenses ever catch up to high-octane offenses in Big 12?
Lamenting the demise of defense in college football? Get used to it. Some coaches in the high-octane Big 12, with its ridiculously rich crop of great young quarterbacks and four of the top eight teams in the country, say there’s been a fundamental shift in the game and the pendulum might never swing back.
Big 12 notebook
Iowa State coach Gene Chizik is keeping his fingers crossed now that backup quarterback Phllip Bates has quit the team. The new No. 2 is true freshman Jerome Tiller, but Chizik doesn’t want to burn Tiller’s redshirt. He’ll have to, however, if starter Austen Arnaud goes down.
A New No. 1: Texas maturing into punishing force
No more than a few weeks ago, the University of Texas football program wasn’t even ranked in the top 10. The Longhorns were: ¢ Too young and inexperienced. ¢ The third-best team in the Big 12 on a good day. Maybe fourth best if Texas Tech lived up to expectations. ¢ Unable to punish teams with a power running attack like classic Texas teams of the past. Coach Mack Brown even called the Longhorns “under the radar” at No. 11 before the season. He said it was a positive for his young team. Oh, what a victory over a top-ranked Oklahoma team can do in the national title picture.
GameDay Cram Session: Oakland November 25, 2009
Mangino says KU remaining focused November 24, 2009
KU volleyball defeats Texas Tech on senior night November 24, 2009
Mark Mangino press conference, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009 November 24, 2009
Aldrich must wait months for tooth replacement November 23, 2009
