RSSBot
News Junkie
By David Ubben
Faithful readers (that's all of you, right) remember I tossed out 10 Fearless Predictions before the season.
Midway through the year, I graded their progress.
Well, the Big 12 season is over, so it's time to pass out final grades. So... here goes.
1. Oklahoma and Texas will play in another BCS bowl. Nebraska will be relegated to the Cotton Bowl. Well, this was bad in the middle of the season, and it didn't get much better over the second half. Granted, it didn't get much worse, either, except Nebraska's beeline for a BCS bowl meandered out to the Holiday Bowl in San Diego. Grade: C-
2. Texas will throw the ball 35 times against Oklahoma. I doubted Texas' ability to run the ball in the conference's marquee rivalry game, and I was right. Just how confident was I in this one? I used this stat to explain why in the midseason, and it's still applicable. Colt McCoy threw 18 passes in his first Red River Rivalry. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/player/profile?playerId=480209Garrett Gilbert threw 41, and completed 27. Grade: A
3. Baylor will make -- and win -- a bowl game. First half was on the money. Baylor had seven wins by the end of October. However, the Bears got dominated by Illinois' ground game in the Texas Bowl. I picked the Bears to beat Michigan in the TicketCity Bowl in my first prediction, and I might have upped my grade if they had played the Wolverines, but alas, I'll live with a passing grade. Grade: B
4. Missouri's Aldon Smith will lead the league in sacks. Smith's season was derailed by a broken leg early, but it was a pretty underwhelming encore for the sophomore. He only had a sack in three games this year, and finished tied for 18th in the Big 12 with 4.5 sacks. My bad. Texas A&M's Von Miller took home the sack title for the second consecutive year. Grade: D
5. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/player/profile?playerId=487957Daniel Thomas will win his second Big 12 rushing title in two years. Thomas got it done, and made me look good with a late push. Oklahoma State's Kendall Hunter looked like he was going to run away with it, but Hunter managed just 55 yards against Oklahoma and 32 in the Alamo Bowl against Arizona. Thomas, meanwhile, rolled over North Texas for 269 yards in the regular season finale and added 90 more in the Pinstripe Bowl against Syracuse. He also scored five touchdowns in the two games to score 19 rushing touchdowns, sixth-most nationally and three more than anyone else in the Big 12. Grade: A+
6. Kansas will finish as the Big 12's most improved team in November. Well, Kansas certainly set the bar low with 55-7 and 59-7 losses to begin conference play, but lost to Nebraska by just 17 and made a huge comeback to beat Colorado. Texas A&M gets my "most improved" label, but Kansas has a strong case as No. 2, doesn't it? Grade: B
7. Texas will lead the league in scoring defense, outdoing Oklahoma and Nebraska. Nope. Texas didn't outdo either team, and Missouri led the conference in scoring defense by a full point, giving up just over 16 points a game. Although really, anything anyone wrote about Texas in August is guaranteed to sound dumb now. In my defense, the Longhorns weren't awful in the category, finishing fifth in the league in scoring, giving up 23.7 points. Grade: D+
8. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/player/profile?playerId=235677Brandon Weeden will lead the league in completion percentage. You're killing me Taylor Potts and Robert Griffin III. Weeden was a full two percentage points better than anyone else in the Big 12 at the midseason, but Potts and Griffin slipped ahead of him to close the year. Weeden finished at 66.9 percent, but Potts was at 67.1 and Griffin finished at 67. Come on, man. Weeden did take home All-Big 12 first-team quarterback honors. So, that's pretty good, right? Especially for a first-year starter. Grade: B+
9. Iowa State will be better than Kansas and Colorado. They will have a worse record overall and in conference. Hmm, another swing and a miss. Iowa State was definitely better than Kansas, and proved it on the field, but suffered a loss to an interim-coached Colorado team when the Cyclones were just a win away from bowl eligibility. The Cyclones finished 5-7 (3-5) and Colorado finished 5-7 (2-6). Kansas, who I never thought would be as underwhelming as it was, finished 3-9 and 1-7 in Big 12 play. Grade: C-
10. Texas Tech will be in the top third of the league in turnover differential. They will be in the bottom third in scoring defense. The Red Raiders finished second to last in scoring defense, giving up just under 31 points a game, which was 2.5 points fewer than last-place Kansas. In turnover differential, the Red Raiders finished ninth, but did force 23 turnovers, good for a tie for 5th in the Big 12. The offense turned it over 26 times, though, for a -3 differential. We'll see if that changes in Year 2 with another defensive coordinator after James Willis left the program. Grade: B+
What should my grade be on the whole?
Originally posted by ESPN.com - Big 12 Blog
Click here to view the article.
Faithful readers (that's all of you, right) remember I tossed out 10 Fearless Predictions before the season. Midway through the year, I graded their progress.
Well, the Big 12 season is over, so it's time to pass out final grades. So... here goes.
1. Oklahoma and Texas will play in another BCS bowl. Nebraska will be relegated to the Cotton Bowl. Well, this was bad in the middle of the season, and it didn't get much better over the second half. Granted, it didn't get much worse, either, except Nebraska's beeline for a BCS bowl meandered out to the Holiday Bowl in San Diego. Grade: C-
2. Texas will throw the ball 35 times against Oklahoma. I doubted Texas' ability to run the ball in the conference's marquee rivalry game, and I was right. Just how confident was I in this one? I used this stat to explain why in the midseason, and it's still applicable. Colt McCoy threw 18 passes in his first Red River Rivalry. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/player/profile?playerId=480209Garrett Gilbert threw 41, and completed 27. Grade: A
3. Baylor will make -- and win -- a bowl game. First half was on the money. Baylor had seven wins by the end of October. However, the Bears got dominated by Illinois' ground game in the Texas Bowl. I picked the Bears to beat Michigan in the TicketCity Bowl in my first prediction, and I might have upped my grade if they had played the Wolverines, but alas, I'll live with a passing grade. Grade: B
4. Missouri's Aldon Smith will lead the league in sacks. Smith's season was derailed by a broken leg early, but it was a pretty underwhelming encore for the sophomore. He only had a sack in three games this year, and finished tied for 18th in the Big 12 with 4.5 sacks. My bad. Texas A&M's Von Miller took home the sack title for the second consecutive year. Grade: D
5. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/player/profile?playerId=487957Daniel Thomas will win his second Big 12 rushing title in two years. Thomas got it done, and made me look good with a late push. Oklahoma State's Kendall Hunter looked like he was going to run away with it, but Hunter managed just 55 yards against Oklahoma and 32 in the Alamo Bowl against Arizona. Thomas, meanwhile, rolled over North Texas for 269 yards in the regular season finale and added 90 more in the Pinstripe Bowl against Syracuse. He also scored five touchdowns in the two games to score 19 rushing touchdowns, sixth-most nationally and three more than anyone else in the Big 12. Grade: A+
6. Kansas will finish as the Big 12's most improved team in November. Well, Kansas certainly set the bar low with 55-7 and 59-7 losses to begin conference play, but lost to Nebraska by just 17 and made a huge comeback to beat Colorado. Texas A&M gets my "most improved" label, but Kansas has a strong case as No. 2, doesn't it? Grade: B
7. Texas will lead the league in scoring defense, outdoing Oklahoma and Nebraska. Nope. Texas didn't outdo either team, and Missouri led the conference in scoring defense by a full point, giving up just over 16 points a game. Although really, anything anyone wrote about Texas in August is guaranteed to sound dumb now. In my defense, the Longhorns weren't awful in the category, finishing fifth in the league in scoring, giving up 23.7 points. Grade: D+
8. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/player/profile?playerId=235677Brandon Weeden will lead the league in completion percentage. You're killing me Taylor Potts and Robert Griffin III. Weeden was a full two percentage points better than anyone else in the Big 12 at the midseason, but Potts and Griffin slipped ahead of him to close the year. Weeden finished at 66.9 percent, but Potts was at 67.1 and Griffin finished at 67. Come on, man. Weeden did take home All-Big 12 first-team quarterback honors. So, that's pretty good, right? Especially for a first-year starter. Grade: B+
9. Iowa State will be better than Kansas and Colorado. They will have a worse record overall and in conference. Hmm, another swing and a miss. Iowa State was definitely better than Kansas, and proved it on the field, but suffered a loss to an interim-coached Colorado team when the Cyclones were just a win away from bowl eligibility. The Cyclones finished 5-7 (3-5) and Colorado finished 5-7 (2-6). Kansas, who I never thought would be as underwhelming as it was, finished 3-9 and 1-7 in Big 12 play. Grade: C-
10. Texas Tech will be in the top third of the league in turnover differential. They will be in the bottom third in scoring defense. The Red Raiders finished second to last in scoring defense, giving up just under 31 points a game, which was 2.5 points fewer than last-place Kansas. In turnover differential, the Red Raiders finished ninth, but did force 23 turnovers, good for a tie for 5th in the Big 12. The offense turned it over 26 times, though, for a -3 differential. We'll see if that changes in Year 2 with another defensive coordinator after James Willis left the program. Grade: B+
What should my grade be on the whole?
Originally posted by ESPN.com - Big 12 Blog
Click here to view the article.
