SnoTap College Football Preview: Big 12

Talking college football again here on Sports News on Tap with previews of all the big dogs and some fun stuff thrown in there as well. Naturally, the picks and posts will be coming during and after Week 1.  

Big 12 does not get enough credit for how many good teams they have in their conference.  A lot of that happens because the Big 12 does not play defense. Honestly, there are people in this world whom take umbrage with this conference because they play games like 51-48. I have no idea why people cannot just enjoy the differences of the conferences honestly.  Big 12 is entirely different than the SEC and different than the B1G as well. If you accept that, college football becomes much more enjoyable.   

FIVE PLAYERS TO WATCH
RB Lache Seastrunk (Baylor) - One of the players I keep talking about for the 2013 season. I truly believe he is a Heisman contender that everyone is forgetting about. Baylor also could be a better team than people expected and Seastrunk can take a run to the house at any point of the game.  He finished the year with 185, 136, 178 and 138 and in those games, his lowest yards per carry was 7.2.  Seastrunk will be one of the more electrifying players in all of college football.

RB Jonathan Gray (Texas) - He had a strong freshman campaign going for 700 yards and a couple touchdowns. Gray is a highly touted prospect and could be heading for a breakout year for the Longhorns. Gray and Malcolm Brown will create one of the better one-two punches in all of college football in the backfield. If Texas wants to head back to a BCS Bowl, one of the big reasons will be Gray getting big gains on the ground.

QB Casey Pachell (TCU) - After battling drinking troubles last season, Pachell is back on the team with TCU.  It is not a given he will win the starting spot as Trevone Boykin had a great year filling in. They have not named a starter yet for LSU on Saturday.  Pachell is a pretty competent passer and found ways to win games. The latter part of that sentence is cliche as it it gets, but he pulled a couple games straight out of his ass.

WR Josh Stewart (Oklahoma State) - With Mike Gundy's system, you just expect good receivers will come out of it. From Justin Blackmon to Joesph Randle, the next big one could be Josh Stewart. He had 101 catches last season with over 1,200 yards and seven touchdowns. Stewart came on strong last year in his sophomore year with his last four of six games going over 100 yards in receiving and in three of those games, caught over 10 balls.

RB John Hubert (Kansas State) -  Everyone talked about Collin Klein last year with the Wildcats success but people forgot about Hubert. The reason is he seems to have a second-half decline on his season. Hubert had 527 yards after the first six weeks of the season, but he only finished with 947 yards for the season. Hopefully in his third year, he will come through with a widespread big year.  

FIVE GAMES TO WATCH
Thursday October 3rd - Texas at Iowa State - Oh baby. Iowa State is known for their upsets at home just like their basketball team and they have the Longhorns on Thursday night in what should be a great Jack Tice crowd.  This will be a great game and a possible upset in the making.

Saturday October 5th - TCU at Oklahoma - Just looking at the schedule, the Horned Frogs could be licking their chops with this game. The Sooners will be coming off a road game to Notre Dame the Saturday prior and I will tell you in a second, I am buying a lot of stock in TCU and selling a lot in Oklahoma so I see this one as the game where TCU makes their Big 12 presence felt.

Saturday October 12th- Baylor at Kansas State - The Bears head to the Little Apple for a nice fall showdown. It pairs two of the best running backs in the Big 12 going up against each other in Seastrunk and Hubert.  I doubt this will be a high scoring game, but you never know with the Big 12.

Saturday November 16th - Oklahoma State at Texas -  For my money, this decides the Big 12 championship. Oklahoma State should be more well developed as a team and Texas will be also rounding into form. I am happy these two teams are playing in mid-November honestly. I feel like it will be a much better and bigger game.  

Saturday December 7th - Oklahoma at Oklahoma State - Bedlam is always exciting.  The Sooners and Pokes played an absolute classic last season heading to overtime in a high-scoring game.  Oklahoma has won the last nine of ten, but it seems like the Cowboys should have the upper hand this year.

FIVE QUESTIONS TO PONDER
Finally, the year Texas bounces back? - Yes. 100 percent yes. I am buying the Longhorns this year. David Ash is a good quarterback and they have two strong running backs. Also I would not forget about Tyrone Swoops, the talented freshman quarterback.  If Texas does not come back this year, they will not for awhile.

Down year in Norman? - Yes. 100 percent yes. I have no idea why people are so high on Oklahoma. They only bring back four players on their defense, a defense that was awful last season plus they have a redshirt freshman starting at quarterback. Trevor Knight is a fine player, but he will definitely have some hard knocks throughout the year. Also a Notre Dame, TCU, Texas stretch in the early part of the season is just brutal.

Oklahoma State quarterback uncertainty hurt their chances? - No because as Mike Gundy seems to have a bigger cupcake schedule every year more so than Bret Bielema.  They do not play a tough time until Kansas State on October 5th. Clint Chelf and J.W. Welsh are both competent quarterbacks and they should be able to figure out whose the boss by October or at least I hope so.

Forgetting about Kansas State once again? - Yes. We talked about it on our college football podcast, but every year, the Wildcats find a way to be a pretty good team with Bill Snyder. So I will go Icona Pop and say I don't care they only bring back 10 starters with only two on defense. The Wildcats will be fine and beat teams they are not supposed to like every year since Snyder has been coaching.

Could finally a team with a good defense make waves in the Big 12? - Another question where I will say yes. Watch out for the Horned Frogs of TCU this year. They have nine returning starters on defense and Gary Patterson has had some special defenses in the past, no question this could be another version. It is not out of the realm of possibility that the Horned Frogs could beat LSU in the first game of the season in Dallas and if they do that, endless chances for TCU this year. Their October featuring road games against Oklahoma and Oklahoma State and a home game against Texas is their biggest challenge.

PROJECTED FINISH
1.) Texas
2.) Oklahoma State
3.) TCU
4.) Kansas State
5.) Baylor
6.) Oklahoma
7.) Texas Tech
8.) Iowa State
9.) West Virginia
10.) Kansas

I feel like this is the one conference where I could look like a complete dunce by the end of the year or a genius. No real in-between.

Charlie.