ESPN Preseason Power Rankings: OU at #5, Mizzou at #6, and Texas at #11.
All posts tagged with 'Oklahoma'
Stewart Mandel thinks Texas Tech could plummet and talks about Big 12 quarterbacks.
Oklahoma dismisses WR recruit Josh Jarboe. Pressure from local media was finally enough for OU to act.
2008 Pre-Season Power Ranking from WhatIfSports. Texas falls in at number 11 behind OU and Mizzou.
Has the Red River Shootout declined? Stewart Mandel believes so & thinks the Horns have something to prove.
I’m at the mall with my wife and had a Big 12-related observation. Here in North Dallas in the big sporting goods store (Dick’s) there’s a ton of Longhorns gear and some Oklahoma stuff, but there’s very little A&M apparel at all. There’s a whole wall of Texas and OU stuff with two Aggie t-shirts in the corner. There was more Texas Tech and LSU stuff than that.
It’s even worse at the sports memorabilia store. Some very cool and very expensive Vince Young and Kevin Durant stuff and some Ricky Williams and Earl Campbell autographed prints and mini-helmets. The Sooners are represented solely by Adrian Peterson and the Aggies have absolutely nothing. Think about it, what Aggie memorabilia can even A&M fans collect? Six year old Dat Nguyen Cowboys jerseys?
Dallas is three hours away from Austin, College Station, and Norman yet there’s absolutely no Texas A&M presence here. Just thought that was an interesting real world observation about the state of the three programs.
The Texas baseball team blew a big lead against the Sooners in the 7th inning but rallied back in the bottom of the 9th to win it. The win makes the Horns 2-1 in the Big 12 Baseball Championships and they’re now headed to the title game thanks to a Texas A&M win over Missouri.
Once up by 5 runs, the Longhorns had to score 3 in the last frame to win 11-10. Shortstop David Hernandez singled up the middle to score Brandon Belt and win the game. Texas starter Kenn Kasparek pitched well before losing it in the 7th. Pitcher Keith Shinaberry got one out in the 9th but was credited with the win.
The team will play for the Big 12 title Sunday against either Oklahoma State or Kansas State. The game will be at 1pm on FSN Southwest.
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Sooners, Jayhawks struggle offensively in spring games. Sam Bradford was intercepted three times. Thank God it wasn’t just us.
Oklahoma Sooners fan to stand trial for injuring Texas fan in bar fight. The nut grabber deserves jail time for the attack.
Day one was sadly short of upsets, and the evil Dukies were able to hold off Belmont in the final seconds Hopefully our Good Friday of basketball is a day of tons of upsets where everyone but the Horns go down.
Here’s what to watch on day two:
(10) Saint Mary’s vs (7) Miami - 11:30am
The Hurricanes are coached by former Texas assistant Frank Haith, but his team won’t have enough for a strong St. Mary’s team. The Gaels played the Horns tough for a half back in early January and will give Miami trouble here in the first round. Prediction: Saint Mary’s
(15) Austin Peay vs (2) Texas - 2:00pm
Arkansas fans will be chanting “Let’s go Peay!” with all their redneck vigor, but the Longhorns should be able to handle the Governors easliy. Prediction: Texas
(11) St. Joseph’s vs (6) Oklahoma - 6:10pm
The Sooners were struggled against good teams this year and St. Joe’s is a good team. Somehow I managed to pick every 11-seed to win, only one for three so far… Prediction: St. Joe’s
(12) Villanova vs (5) Clemson - 8:50pm
Clemson gave UNC a run for their money three times this year and Villanova was one of the last teams in. Yet, this is my 12/5 upset of the year. Prediction: Villanova
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It’s been a while since AJ Abrams has been in a groove, but he certainly was feeling it Saturday afternoon against the Oklahoma Sooners. In the Big 12 tourney semifinals, Abrams got out of his funk in a big way by making 7 of 12 three point attempts to score 24 points. His shooting helped the Horns take a close game at half time and turn it into a blowout.
ESPN video highlights are below:
Next up for Texas is their third straight match-up with Kansas in the Big 12 Championship finals. Texas lost the previous two games and has never won a conference tournament since the Big 12 was formed. If the Horns can pull out the victory over KU, they’ve still got a shot at a #1 seed for the Big Dance. The game will be on ESPN Sunday at 2pm.
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Saturday’s men’s Big 12 tournament semifinals preview. Quick thoughts from the DMN on today’s games.
Oklahoma recruit Josh Jarboe was arrested Thursday for receiving stolen property and having a weapon on campus. What the heck are these kids thinking?
Texas women’s basketball team upsets 10th-ranked Oklahoma on the road. Still not making the tourney.
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Oklahoma
I’m not 100% behind Sam Bradford as a top quarterback but he’s definitely good enough to lead this team. They lost several good players early to the NFL Draft, but they’ve got talent and running back DeMarco Murray is a stud.
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Texas
Too many question marks to be ranked any higher this early, but early practice reports from this spring are encouraging. If the Horns’ secondary and linebackers improve and flourish under coach Will Muschamp they’ll be my conference favorite.
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Texas Tech
I struggled deciding between Tech and Missouri, but I ended up placing the Red Raiders third thanks to a slightly better defense and a love for pirates and Michael Crabtree.
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Missouri
I don’t trust Gary Pinkel, I think he lucked into last year’s success and was tempted to put the Tigers much lower. Chase Daniel and Jeremy Maclin could be poised for a huge season, but their defense leaves a lot to be desired.
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Nebraska
I think the Cornhusker players will play with a new enthusiasm after being rescued from Bill Callahan’s regime. Marlon Lucky is a very talented running back and coach Bo Pelini’s return should immediately improve the defense.
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Colorado
This is a team I’m really not sure about. They could go either way, either compete for the Big 12 North or completely suck. They lost a couple of good linebackers but if QB Cody Hawkins makes plays and Darrell Scott is as advertised they could compete.
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Texas A&M
I think this is a transition year for the Aggies and new head coach Mike Sherman. I think he’s a step up from Fran but I’m not sure he’s the longterm solution. The defense should be improved under new coordinator Joe Kines, but losing Yemi Babalola off the offensive line hurts bad.
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Kansas State
I like quarterback Josh Freeman a lot but the two other guys that killed the Horns the last two years (particularly Jordy Nelson) are gone. Ian Campbell is a beast on defense.
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Kansas
Welcome back to reality Kansas fans, though I still think the Fightin’ Manginos are headed in the right direction. They don’t have the same season they did in 2007 but they’re going to be a contender in the Big 12 North again soon if Mangino stays.
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Iowa State
Other than a win over rival Iowa last season the Cyclones and former Texas coach Gene Chizik had a rough 2007. Chizik reportedly has things headed in the right direction and two conference wins late last year might be an indication of that.
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Oklahoma State
The only coach in the Big 12 I think less of than Mizzou’s Pinkel is the Cowboys’ Mike Gundy. They’ve had more talent in previous years and not done much with it, this is a down year and they’ll finish near the bottom and Gundy won’t be back in 2009.
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Baylor
I think bringing in Art Briles was a genius move by Baylor. It is going to take a couple years for him implement his scheme and bring in his type of players, but he’s got a chance to turn the Bears into a Texas Tech caliber team. They’ll suck this year.
CFN takes another look back at 2007 season in the Big 12. Nice capsules on all the teams.
Kelvin Sampson is still cheating, still making illegal phone calls. I guess he can’t kick the habit.
There’s a bit of confusion over the issue but it appears that Texas will win the Big 12 South if Oklahoma falls to in-state rival Oklahoma State this Saturday. Even if the Longhorns lose to the Aggies on T+1 the three-way tiebreaker rules in the Big 12 seem to indicate that Texas would represent the south if the Horns, Sooners, and Cowboys all end conference play with identical records. Or at least that’s one interpretation.
Here’s the confusing explanation from the Statesman:
1. The records of the three teams will be compared against each other. (If Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are tied with 5-3 records, this tiebreaker would not decide things. The teams would all be 1-1 against each other.)
2. The records of the three teams will be compared within their division. (Again, no decision here. All three would be 3-2 in the division.)
3. The records of the three teams will be compared against the next highest placed teams in their division in order of finish — 4, 5 and 6. (Now it gets confusing, because at this point Texas Tech and Texas A&M would be tied for fourth in the South with 4-4 records. Big 12 officials say that they won’t implement a tiebreaker at this point to decide who’s fourth (if they did, Tech would be considered fourth, and Oklahoma ultimately would be eliminated from the championship game mix). Instead, that fourth-place tie would mean that this criteria wouldn’t settle anything.)
4. The records of the three teams will be compared against all common conference opponents. (Again, this doesn’t settle anything.)
5. The highest ranked team in the first Bowl Championship Series Poll following the completion of Big 12 regular-season (intra-) conference play shall be the representative. (This, then, should settle it, but it’s up to the human voters and the BCS computers, which will produce new standings when all the dust has settled next Sunday.)
6. The team with the best overall winning percentage shall be the representative.
7. The representative will be chosen by draw.
Every explanation I’ve seen other than this one has Texas winning the thing because of the 4th tiebreaker. I’m not sure why you would ignore the other tiebreakers when calculating this one. If there’s a tie for fourth place it seems to be common sense that you would break that one before figuring out who wins the division. If that tiebreaker doesn’t fall Texas’ way I think OU wins the thing because they likely have the highest BCS ranking if both teams lose.
Of course all this is a moot point if the Longhorns win against the Aggies on Friday. With a win the only possible outcomes would be a two-way tie which favors the Sooners or with an OU loss Texas would win the South outright. The Horns need to take care of business on the field and let us dorks figure the rest of this out.
Because of the Oklahoma loss the Horns are still in the hunt for the Big 12 crown and the Sooners are knocked out of the national title discussion. Not that the team needed it, but now the team has a little something extra to play for next Friday against the Aggies.
Go Raiders!!! (Your quarterback is still a punk and your coach is still whiny and wrong. And your fans suck too.)
Ross the Intern (Jay Leno) goes to the Red River Shootout. Not super funny but decent to see some video from around the game and State Fair.
Red River Rivalry and State Fair photos from the Wiz. I can’t believe I had to give up my tickets and work through the game
It’s never easy to lose to Oklahoma but the Horns played their best game of the season and gave some hope that the all is not lost. ESPN’s highlights are below:
Tough loss to stomach made even tougher when USC and other top teams fell Saturday. Texas is clearly down this season but if they could have found a way to eek out a win against the Sooners they would have been right in the thick of things. Now with two Big 12 losses the Horns can’t afford to lose another game this year if they have any hopes of a conference title or major bowl appearance.
ESPN talks about Gut Check Saturday including the two young quarterbacks that will face off in Red River Rivalry.
Does Texas need to find a mean streak to beat Oklahoma? Definitely need to find some way to focus and find more consistency.
Oklahoma commit Herman Mitchell tragically murdered. Teammates learned of his death on way to scrimmage.
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