Nebraska
I had expected Nebraska to win the Big 12 North. I thought it would be
less of a struggle for them to get there, though. Zac Taylor had a strong
Senior year at quarterback, arguably having the best season of any Big 12 QB.
Their defense was good, but not quite as dominant as many thought they would be.
Their front seven is still one of the best in the nation, but I don't know how
they gave up 41 points to Oklahoma State. Bernard Jackson had a breakout
year, and impressed on many runs this season. Nebraska has some serious
talent at running back, with Marlon Lucky and Cody Glenn in the backfield as
well. I honestly think that Nebraska could have won some more games if
they had kept their offense simpler and used a little bit more of the good ol'
Nebraska rushing attack. Still, they are headed to the Big XII
Championship game to take on Oklahoma in what should be one of the best
Championship games that the Big XII has seen in a while. As for next
season, it seems likely that Arizona State transfer Sam Keller will take over
the reins of the O from Taylor, who graduates this year. How well he picks
up the offense will be key for their success next season. All the running
backs return, as do most of the receivers. The big question for Nebraska's
future is if they can replace Jay Moore, Adam Carriker, and Dontrell Moore.
Bo Ruud must use his talent and take on a leadership role next year to make
Nebraska's defense cohesive. If they can get that done, and Keller figures
out the offense, watch out.
Missouri
The Tigers started out the year on fire, looking nearly unstoppable until
they lost a close game to A&M at Kyle Field. From there, it was mostly
downhill. Aside from expected wins over Kansas and Kansas State, they
struggled against the end of their schedule, with double-digit losses to
Oklahoma and Nebraska, followed by an embarrassing loss to Iowa State.
Even with all of that, all it would taken for the Tigers to win the North and
have a shot at the Big 12 title was a victory over the Cornhuskers, so that puts
things in perspective a little bit. The future looks bright with Chase Daniel at the helm, as he truly was impressive this season. Daniel might
have the best NFL potential of the young Big 12 QBs, and that's saying something
with the strengths that players like Graham Harrell bring to the table.
The Tigers return most of their skill position players, so if they can get the
job done in the trenches and keep up their aggressive defense, they could keep
challenging Nebraska for the North title for a few years to come. Their
offensive scheme is difficult to defend if they are executing well, as they
bring multiple threats by using Daniel's talents to their full potential.
Chase Coffman is one of the league's best tight ends, and punishes teams that
lose sight of the TE because they are worried about Daniel's scrambling
abilities. Gary Pinkel will be coaching for a while longer despite
finishing the year poorly, so the program will have some stability over the next
couple of seasons as well.
Kansas
State
The Wildcats were two games that they should have won away from having a
great season. An early loss to Baylor and a late loss to Kansas are the
only reasons that everyone isn't talking about how Kansas State is back.
They had the big win over UT, as QB Josh Freeman proved to the nation that he
has some serious potential. Freeman reminds me quite a bit of Texas
State's Barrick Nealy from a few years back, in that all the tools are there,
but he needs to just develop a bit more consistency. That may very well
come with time, and if it does, Kansas State will be a team not to be taken
lightly. KSU is a relatively young team, and should only improve next
year. Combine that with coach Ron Prince's aggressive mentality, and
anyone who doesn't take them seriously next season could easily be in for a
surprise. Offensively, they need to improve on execution and consistency.
The defense needs to improve a bit with the linebackers and secondary, but the
defensive line did well this year with their many sacks. The ingredients
are there for the Wildcats to take that leap back into contender status next
season. Whether they get it done or not will depend on Freeman's
progression as a quarterback and minimizing mistakes as a team. The team
needs to focus on fundamentals and techniques in the offseason, which is
indicative of how close KSU is to getting back to the next level. It's the
little things that kept this season from being Kansas State's big year.
Maybe next year is the year.
Kansas
The Jayhawks keep hitting a talent glass ceiling. I believe that
Mangino is actually doing a great job with the program. Kansas was a
better team than their record suggests, as they suffered many close losses.
The middle of their schedule was cruel, as they lost to Nebraska by seven, A&M
by three, Oklahoma State by ten, and Baylor by one. So it is basically
only 21 points that separate Kansas from possibly being 10-2 instead of 6-6.
Kansas' only bad loss of the season was to Toledo, and even that was an away
game early in the season. The only game that they didn't have a chance to
win was at Missouri. Jon Cornish had a fantastic year, but few people know
about the way that he rushed for 1,457 yards with an average of 5.8 yards per
carry. All the attention at KU revolves around basketball. Such is
the plight of the Kansas football program. When I think Kansas, I think
about the round ball, and so do football recruits. Until Kansas throws
more money at supporting and promoting their football program, they will be a
basketball school. They are really close to being a good program, but will
probably get snubbed from a bowl game this year despite arguably deserving one.
The Jayhawks might struggle to replace the production of Cornish next year,
especially considering the quarterback issues that they had this season.
They must select a QB early in the offseason and stick with him. It looks
like next season will be a rebuilding year for KU, but don't count their program
out just yet.
Colorado
The Buffaloes got off to an abysmal start, losing their first six games.
However, in some of those losses, you could see a bit of potential. After
the Montana State disaster, they managed to nearly pull an upset on Georgia and
gave decent efforts against Missouri and Baylor. Then, they had the good
fortune of catching TTU at a time when we were demoralized as a team and a
fanbase following our struggles against Missouri, and CU got a much-needed win
for their program. They weren't able to keep it going, though, as the
Oklahoma game the following week brought them back down to earth. The
Buffs would only end up getting one more win on the season against an extremely
disappointing Iowa State team, and Dan Hawkins' first year with the program
wasn't nearly as good as anyone thought it would be. It remains to be seen
how the team will respond to the struggles of this season, but if I had to
guess, I would predict that next season will be more of the same, with a three
or four win season this time. They may surprise another team that doesn't
take them seriously the way that we did, but I don't see the talent, fan
support, or coaching necessary to have a winning season yet. Judging by
his comments throughout the season, Hawkins is either really apathetic or
extremely resilient. Hopefully, it is the latter if you are a Colorado
fan. Bernard Jackson made some decent strides as a QB this year, but it
will take more from his surrounding cast for the Buffaloes to have a good season
next year.
Iowa State
What happened here? This is a team that many, including myself, had as
a legitimate contender for the North spot in the Big 12 Championship game.
They had a Senior QB coming off of a strong Junior year, talented wideouts in
Todd Blythe and Austin Flynn, and a capable running back in Stevie Hicks.
Combine this with a defense that usually got the job done, and you have a recipe
for success, right? Apparently not. I really can't even begin to
figure out what went wrong here. I tried to find statistics that highlight
the problems, but even there, nothing really jumps out other than the overall
offensive and defensive struggles. If anyone can enlighten me more as to
the glaring deficiencies that kept them from having a good team this year, feel
free to let me know. There must have been more off-the-field than issues
than we heard about, or a serious coaching issue with McCarney or others on the
staff. Something went horribly, horribly wrong. The Cyclones are the
underachiever of the year. Changes are afoot, however, as Iowa State has
reportedly hired UT defensive coordinator Gene Chizik to fill the head coaching
vacancy left by Dan McCarney. Chizik was bound to get a head coaching gig
eventually with the way that he turned the Texas defense into an aggressive unit
that was able to stop most teams that they faced. Time will only tell how
successful Gene will be out in the Midwest, but for the time being, it appears
to have been a good move on Iowa State's part. We'll have to wait and see.
-Trent Wycoff
(Questions, comments, praise, and constructive criticism
can be directed to Trent within the forums or through email at
trent@raiderpower.com.)