There Goes the Neighborhood
Forget everything you thought you knew about the Big 12. One week before the Red River Shootout and “Missouri River Shootout” were going to all but decide which teams were headed to the Big 12 championship game, all hell broke loose. Colorado scored 17 points in the fourth quarter to upset previous unbeaten (and seemingly unbeatable) Oklahoma in Boulder. Then Kansas State waltzed into Austin (power towels in hand) and for the second straight year upset the Longhorns 41-21.
The conference standings now have Colorado, Kansas State and Nebraska tied for first place in the North while Texas A&M and Oklahoma State own the lead in the South. In fact, Nebraska is the only conference team that can claim a win over a Big 12 North school in 2007. The two schools that haven’t played a conference game, Missouri and Kansas, are also the only two undefeated on the year. That could change pretty fast as Missouri hosts Nebraska and Kansas travels to Kansas State next Saturday.
There is some semblance of sanity though. It only took Baylor and Iowa State one week to drop to be the bottom of their divisions.
There were upsets around the country as well. Illinois upset Penn State. Miami of Ohio beat Syracuse straight off their upset of Louisville. Maryland beat Rutgers (the same Maryland that lost to Wake Forest). South Florida best West Virginia. Georgia Tech beat Clemson. Florida State beat Alabama. And that’s all before the evening games kicked off.
In Callahan’s post-game comments, he reiterated the fact that the landscape has changed and it’s tough for any team to win consistently. Sam Bradford has a bad day and the Sooners lose, Colt McCoy has a bad day and the Longhorns lose, Anthony Morelli has a bad day and the Nittany Lions lose, Pat White gets hurt and the Mountaineers lose, Harper has a bad day and Clemson loses, Syracuse…well they pretty much always lose.
It’s time to get over how pretty the wins are and just embrace them any way they come. Both Missouri and Nebraska’s defense have given up a lot of yards and a lot of points and yet they are a combined 8-1 on the season. You win by outscoring your opponent. It doesn’t matter if they get 40 as long as you get 41. We’re likely to see some fireworks in Columbia, but if this weekend taught us anything it’s that either team can win in a Big 12 game.
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