It's official: The North finally caught the South in Big 12 football

As a Kansas Jayhawk undergrad grad, this aggrivates me no end but massive kudos to the Kansas State Wildcat football program for daring to be better than Nebraska.

Perhaps because they never had the chance, but the Wildcats never played the victim card as members of the Big 12 and ran east to play its equally slow-footed members of the Big 10 like the University of Nebraska did.

Instead, Kansas State just got better and now have officially become the best team in the Big 12 conference. The Big 12 is  no longer split by North/South regions, but the Wildcats are proof you don't have to live in Texas, or be bordered by Texas, to win this league.

Since the league was formed in 1996, the North won the conference title game a total of four times, and not once since 2003. (The league dropped the title game last year).

The conference that was born out of football and all but catered to its members in the south - Texas, Oklahoma - now is officially looking up at Kansas State.

Texas Tech got run out of the state by Kansas State over the weekend.
Had Texas played any other team but Kansas on Saturday the Horns would have lost.
Oklahoma is in denial.
Iowa State is Iowa State.
Baylor and Oklahoma State are both rebuilding.
TCU is too young, and not nearly deep enough.
West Virginia has to at least fake defense before it can become a serious threat.

The Wildcats host No. 24 Oklahoma State on Nov. 3 before traveling to TCU and Baylor and finishing the season on Dec. 1 at home against No. 23 Texas.

The Wildcats should have the Coach of the Year in Bill Snyder and the Heisman winner in QB Collin Klein. If all continues to go according to plan, the Wildcats will be the team to reach the BCS title game for the right to get crushed by Alabama.

The Wildcats may be boring led by their boring head coach, but they do deserve credit.

 

 

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The detail in the AP men's college hoops poll that will surprise you about the state of game in Texas

Even with Perry Jones III gone to an NBA bench, the Baylor men's basketball team is the class of the great state a Texas. 

The preseason AP Top 25 men's college basketball poll is out, and Scott Drew's Baylor Bears are the only ranked team from this entire great state - the Bears are No. 19. The Big 12 features two ranked teams: Baylor and No. 7 Kansas.

The good thing for Texas coach Rick Barnes is that nobody cares enough in Austin to complain.

The state of the game has been in better shape than it is now in Texas. Not only is there but one Top 25 team from Texas, but the rosters of the other top 24 teams are not littered with Texans; it's not as if other teams are raiding Texas of its best players. 

Looking at all 25 rosters of the Top 25 teams viw ESPN.com, below are the players who list Texas as their hometown.

1. Indiana
2. Louisville
3. Kentucky
4. Ohio State
5. Michigan
6. NC State
7. Kansas - Justin Wesley (Fort Worth); Zach Peters (Plano)
8. Duke - Rasheed Sulaimon (Houston)
9. Syracuse
10. Florida
11. North Carolina
12. Arizona
13. UCLA
14. Michigan State
15. Missouri -  Phil Pressey (Dallas)
16. Creighton -  Austin Chatman (The Colony); Nevin Johnson (Houston)
17. Memphis -  Anthony Cole (Arlington); D.J. Stephens (Killeen)
18. UNLV
19. Baylor. 8 players.
20. San Diego State -  Winston Shepard (Houston)
21. Gonzaga
23. Wisconsin
24. Cincinnati. Titus Rubles (Dallas)
25. Florida State 

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Baylor football coach stands by his embattled defensive coordinator

Do not expect Baylor football coach Art Briles to dump defensive coordinator Phil Bennett any time soon. He is not going to make any changes in season.

Bennett will remain Baylor's defensive coordinator in the face of historically bad numbers.

I asked Briles on the Big 12 media conference call on Monday morning if he has full faith in Bennett to coach his defense and make the necessary improvements.

“Yes. I certainly do,” Briles said.

The Bears rank last in the FBS level in total defense, allowing 553.17 yards per game. They are giving up an average of 6.51 yards per play on defense. Generally, those are the types of numbers that don’t help your football team win football games on the football field.

Of the many problems this defense has had start with 3^rd downs – the Bears defense is allowing opposing offenses to convert at a 63 percent rate.

"We’re certainly depleted a little bit depth wise, no doubt. That’s a concern," Briles said. "What we have to do is play better. We have to get off the field on third downs, that is the most critical factor for us. That has been a thorn for us this season."

The Bears are 3-3, and have lost three straight games where they have allowed 63, 49 and 50 points, respectively.

Public Enemy No. 1 in this Bear bomb is Bennett, who is in his second season in Waco.

Bennett is like any other coach or coordinator – he can do a fine job if he has players. Baylor doesn’t have enough defensive talent.

Bennett has been a defensive coordinator since 1984 when he was with Iowa State. Below are each of Bennett’s season as a defensive coordinator, the team’s national defensive ranking, and their overall record.

Iowa State defensive coordinator
1984: 17^th out of 110 (2-7-2)
1985: NCAA does not have this ranking outside of the top 20 (5-6)
1986: NCAA does not have this ranking outside of the top 20 (6-5)

Purdue defensive coordinator
1987: NCAA does not have this ranking outside of the top 20 (3-7-1) 
1988: NCAA does not have this ranking outside of the top 20 (4-7)
1989: 67^th out of 106 (3-8)
1990: 71^st out of 106 (2-9)

LSU defensive coordinator
1994: 11^th out of 107 (4-7)

Texas A&M defensive coordinator
1995: 3^rd out of 108 (9-3)
1996: 33^rd out of 111 (6-6)

TCU defensive coordinator
1997: 49^th out of 112 (1-10)

Kansas State defensive coordinator
1999: 2^nd out of 114 (10-1)
2000: 4^th out of 114 (10-3)
2001: 3^rd out of 115 (6-5)

Pittsburgh defensive coordinator
2007: 5^th out of 119 (5-7)
2008: 27^th out of 119 (9-4)
2009: 23^rd out of 120 (10-3)
2010: 8^th out of 120 (8-5)

Baylor defensive coordinator
2011: 116^th out of 120 (10-3)
2012: 120^th out of 120 (3-3)

Give Bennett players and the Baylor defense will be fine. Alas, this does not mean he won't be fired in the offseason.

 

 

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The last time Texas Tech visited Ft. Worth (as conference rivals) 34 teams claimed a share of the SWC title

Most - OK, all - of the players involved in the upcoming TCU/Texas Tech football game are too young to recall the last time the Red Raiders visited Fort Worth as conference rivals. Even the players who were actually alive at the time were smart enough to realize that on Nov. 25, 1994 the Southwest Conference sucked.

Texas Tech needed to defeat TCU that afternoon to win the SWC outright. Instead, TCU won and 34 teams could claim a share of the Southwest Conference title that season.

In front of 43,219 at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Tech and QB Zebbie Lethridge took a 17-16 lead late in the fourth quarter before they blew it. TCU was led by QB Max Knake and RB Andre Davis; the Frogs scored a late TD to secure a 24-17 win.

It was TCU's first share of SWC title since 1959. The win all but ensured TCU would be invited to the Independence Bowl, and for a brief time convinced TCU people that head coach Pat Sullivan's tenure was going to work out.

Tech finished 6-5 and went to the Cotton Bowl.

This is my favorite part: Texas, TCU, Rice, Baylor, Texas Tech all claimed a share of the SWC title.

 

 

 

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TCU, Baylor, etc. wants to keep people in the stands? Follow UTEP's lead

The college game day atmosphere is the "place to be on Saturdays", but in our hyper competitive society with decreasing attention spans people now need a draw to come back to watch the games they paid a ticket to enjoy from the seat rather than the parking lot.

A potential solution? Beer.

On Tuesday afternoon UTEP announced that it will implement the sale of beer at home football games and home basketball games at the venues that are owned and operated by the univeristy. UTEP will begin sales of beer beginning with its home game on Saturday against Tulane.

You have to think one of the primary reasons fans leave the games for the halftime tailgate scene is the chance the drink without having to hide it. We all know fans smuggle in a little container of something to mix in with their Diet Coke (don't want those calories). 

With athletic departments searching for any additional way to increase revenue, selling beer is not a final step but an inevitable one to sell tickets.

“That’s obviously part of the equation here.  We will see.  We will see how ticket sales react to this," said UTEP executive vice president Ricardo Adauto III in a press conference on Tuesday. "And we hope it does.  And hopefully Saturday night will be a nice night, people will want to come out and we’ll see how this works."

Prediction: A lot of schools have embraced selling beer in suites, or in a designated beer garden, but general beer sales to the rest of the stadium in university-owned venues has been mostly verbotten.
It will take a while, but expect that within the next 10 years most college football and men's basketball games will sell beer so fans can enjoy watching their favorite amateur sports team.

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Former Baylor coach Grant Teaff recalls before Dick Vitale & Lee Corso there was Beano Cook

What Dick Vitale did for the growth of college basketball, Beano Cook did the same thing for college football. Although Cook was not nearly as visible on TV as he aged in the last few years, his impact on the game he loved so much is undeniable.

Today, Carroll H. "Beano" Cook died. Click here for the story from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He was 81.

My most distinct memories of Cook are his passionate rants about the greatness of Notre Dame, and quarterback Ron Pawlus, who was going to win five Heisman trophies.

I called former Baylor head coach and current American Football Coaches Association president Grant Teaff to discuss Cook's legacy:

Grant Teaff: "I don't know many folks that didn't know Beano. He had been around a long time. I would go into the meetings and there was Beano. For several years, he was a pretty good fixture and an influence in college football."

The Big Mac Blog: How did he influence it?
Grant Teaff: It seemed he was always around and involved in various ways and knew everybody. That was the thing that struck me. He was engaging and very unassuming. I had a lot of people who said that Beano had a big effect in the growth in college football.

The Big Mac Blog: Was he Dick Vitale for college football?
Grant Teaff: That's it. He kinda created an image of college football and a respect for it. Because of the uniqueness of his background and his vernaculare and he had a way of making all of us in the coaching profession feeling very comfortable. 

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Casey Pachall disenrolls from TCU but can return

FORT WORTH, Texas - Gary Patterson walked in to his weekly media luncheon press conference that featured an unusually large gathering and joked, "Must be a big ball game."

Playing Baylor is, but to the issue of QB Casey Pachall.

"No questions about the game? Since this is what you came for ... first off, a lot of thought," Patterson said. "This is what is going to happen. After a very long conversation with Casey and his parents, the chancellor ..."

Patterson said that Casey Pachall has dis-enrolled from TCU. Pachall is going to go an in-patient care facility. Patterson said he may be there already. Patterson said those programs last between 30 to 60 days.

Pachall had been indefinitely suspended since he had a DWI last week. The door is open for Pachall to return in the spring, to continue his course work at school and play for the Frogs.

"I don't think (suspending Pachall) one game or three games would have made any difference," GP said. "You have to change a kid's life. For us this was the best decision, for both of us. We both get a chance to heal. We are going to still try to win games; we won them before we had Casey Pachall as quarterback.

 

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Aggies carrying the Texas state football flag after an ugly weekend

The great state a Texas took a beating in the world of college football, and if it weren't for the Aggies the state that places such a priority on football would have had an o-fer weekend.

The Aggies rallied for a 30-27 win at Ole Miss to improve to 4-1, and are arguably the best team from this state after the best from Texas were mostly beaten from the out of staters.

Texas A&M 30, Ole Miss 27 in Oxford, Miss.
No. 8 West Virginia 48, No. 11 Texas 45 in Austin
Iowa State 37, No. 15 TCU 23 in Fort Worth
No. 17 Oklahoma 41, Texas Tech 20 in Lubbock
Rice 10, Memphis 14 in Memphis
Texas State 13, New Mexico 35 in Albquerque

North Texas played Houston and SMU played UTEP. Thank God Baylor had a bye. 

As of Sunday, the only two teams from this great state ranked in the AP Top 25 are ...
No. 15 Texas (4-1)
No. 22 Texas A&M (4-1)

Somebody do something!

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Gary Patterson speaks: Casey Pachall will be on the sidelines

Speaking with Sirius/XM Radio today, a few hours after it was announced that TCU QB Casey Pachall was suspended indefinitely for a DWI, TCU coach Gary Patterson said: "He is indefinitely suspended from competition until we come up with a good answer for him, how we are going to handle life and how we are going to do things. Is it one game, is it the rest of the season? I don't know what that answer is. Right now, I woke up this morning and this is what happened. 

"I have to get my team ready to play. Once I feel comfortable that happens, we'll deal with the Casey Pachall situation. He'll be on the sidelines but he won't play. He's not going to go home. It's, 'You put yourself in that situation so here is how we are going to do this.'"

That sounds like a man who is not going to kick Pachall off the team, but would like to try to teach him a(nother) lesson and punish him by using the one tool he has yet to exercise - not playing the game.

Is TCU screwed without Pachall as its starting QB? No. Are they going to win as many games with Trevone Boykin starting and Pachall watching? No way.

Don't buy Patterson's line of, "This actually opens the playbook for us," he told Sirius/XM today. "We have more offense in the game than with Casey Pachall in the game. He can throw all the throws."

Pachall is a veteran of many games, can run, and get the ball out of his hands fast. An offensive line that is far from polished needs a QB to make it look better than it is sometimes, and it is hard to believe Boykin is there yet.

Pachall was the best QB in the state, and perhaps the second best in the Big 12 behind Geno Smith. So even though Boykin may have a good arm and is a good athlete and is a good runner, he was not the starter for a reason. Don't be surprised if former QB turned WR Matt Brown goes back to QB and plays a snap or two.

Las Vegas has TCU as a 10-point favorite, and TCU should still be able to beat Iowa State without Pachall. After that? I suspect that is why Pachall will be on the sidelines. Winning at Baylor is not easy, even with Pachall playing. Hosting Texas Tech looks a lot harder today than it did in July.

"For me, kids screw up. There are team policies. There are university policies. There are rules. He knew what was in place," GP said. "Everybody is going to make this about Casey Pachall. The thing that head coaches do we don't make it about Casey Pachall. If I do that, I'm saying everybody else is not important."

Kids aren't stupid, and they know the value of the stud starting quarterback.

 

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Why TCU & Tech can win the Big 12

Amid the love fest for West Virginia QB Geno Smith and the success of Bill Snyder's Kansas State BoringCats, it may be time to consider Texas Tech as a threat. At a minimum they are at least better than Kansas and Iowa State.

Don't laugh - that is progress.

While West Virginia, Oklahoma State, Texas and Baylor are seemingly all built to out-score opponents, both TCU and Tech are structured more to make stops than those teams. Oklahoma should be better on defense, and probably will as the season progresses.

TCU is ranked 7th nationally defensively. At some point it comes down to stops.

TCU's reputation has been defense for a decade. Tech hasn't played defense for more than a decade.

The team that could not play defense last season and was forced to use kickers to play defensive back in 2011 (I might have made that up), is now slowing people down. Give some credit to defensive tackle Kerry Hyder. The young man is what we call, "A player".

Through the first four games of the season Texas Tech has the top ranked defense in the nation.
As Joe Biden would say, "Let me say that again - through the first four games of the season Texas Tech has the top ranked defense in the nation. Literally!"

The Red Raiders' defense is at least not a bad joke.

One year ago Texas Tech lost at home against Iowa State, 41-7. On Saturday in Ames, Tech won 24-13.

"Two things speed on both sides of the ball and they were a different team physically," Iowa State coach Paul Rhodes today when I asked him the difference between Texas Tech last season and today. "Both in the interior and skill positions. They physically got after us. They smothered our receivers in the pass game."

Tech has not exactly played the NFC East. Winning in Ames is not like winning in Tuscaloosa, but this is progress.

"In this league you have to have as much speed as you possibly can. Totally different than the SEC," Red Raiders coach Tommy Tuberville said today on the Big 12 coaches' conference call. 'We are playing a lot better obviously. We are tackling better. We have more speed. We made it a priority to bring in height and speed. It’s an ongoing process to get up to speed to play Oklahoma State and West Virginia to play them every down."

There is no way Tech is going undefeated in these next five games ...

10/6 v. No. 17 Oklahoma (2-1) in Lubbock
10/13 v. No. 8 West Virginia (4-0) in Lubbock
10/20 at No. 15 TCU (4-0) in Ft. Worth
10/27 at No. 7 Kansas State (4-0) in Manhattan, Kan.
11/3 v. No. 11 Texas (4-0) in Lubbock 

... But if Tech continues to play physical defense and control some of the clock the Red Raiders are going to be in those games, and win a few of those.

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