Big XII South Preview: Texas

Longhorn 2007 Season Preview:

2006: 10-3 (6-2)---2007 BB prediction: 11-1 (7-1) Big XII Champion
Offense
Returning starters: 7
2006: 6th in scoring, 34th in rushing, 33rd in passing, 22nd total
The offense is led by one of the best quarterbacks in the country, Colt McCoy, (29TDs, 7Int last season) and has a great wide receiver corp: Sweed, Pittman, and Cosby. A little side note for you is that I played against Cosby and his brother all through my little league baseball years. In fact Quan Cosby walked me with the bases loaded once that won the game for my team. Anyways, Charles returns now as the #1 RB, but the O-line lost three key parts and that remains the only question on offense.

Defense
Returning starters: 7
2006: 26th in scoring, 3rd best run defense, 99th in passing, 22nd total
The defense has a new coordinator with Chizik going to ISU has the head coach, Duane Akina. He is Mack Brown's longtime secondary coach, the same secondary that helped the team become 99th in passing last year. FS Michael Griffin is the returning tackler from last year (90 total) but the rest of the secondary is unproven. I will say that the defense is loaded with upperclassmen.

2007 Schedule Predicted

S.1 Arkansas State--W
S.8 TCU--W
S.15 at UCF--W
S.22 Rice--W
S.29 Kansas St.--W
O.6 Oklahoma--W
O.13 at Iowa St.--W
O.20 at Baylor--W
O.27 Nebraska--W
N.3 at Oklahoma St.--W
N.10 Texas Tech--W
N.23 at Texas A&M--L

2007 Questions
Is the O-line going to be good enough?
Will the secondary improve?
With a weak non-conference schedule can the Horns sweep through the schedule?
Will any more players get arrested?

Bold Big XII Predictions

Here are my predictions for the Big XII:
South
UT 7-1--11-1
OU 7-1--11-1
A&M 5-3--8-4
OSU 4-4--7-5
Tech 3-5--7-5
Baylor 1-7--4-8

North
Missouri 7-1--11-1
Neb. 6-2--8-4
KSU 4-4--7-5
Kansas 2-6--5-7
CU 2-6--3-9
ISU 0-8--3-9

Big XII Championship: UT over Missouri

So here is how I see it play out. I have UT beating OU, but A&M beating UT for the second year in a row. Mizzou's lone conference loss is @ OU. This year the conference looks a little top heavy with Tech dropping off this year. Overall eight teams are still bowl eligible and all having at least 7 wins.
Next: I will be previewing each of the South division teams.

USC #1

We are quickly approaching the best time of the year: college football season. Questions to be answered as the season goes on: Will USC lose a game? Who will win the Big 12? Is the SEC the best conference? Who will play USC in the big game? Will A&M ever amount to anything?

These are the questions that are begging to be answered this season. One other note for you non-USC fans out there: Did they clone Reggie Bush? The answer is no, I think. The new BMOC is RB/WR/everything Joe McKnight who continues to impress every media mind from across the country that happen to watch a USC practice. This guy ran back 16 kickoffs for 6 points in high school and last Sunday ran back a 74-yard punt return for a touchdown in the USC scrimmage. He also left the #1 LB in the country, Keith Rivers, in his tracks and many others everyday in practice. The coaches for USC are trying to keep this guy under wraps, but is name is quickly spreading across the country. He is the next best thing for the Men of Troy.

If you want me to talk about your team, just ask and I will gather all my resources, but until then we will talk about the best team in the country.