1- TCU:
You could make the argument that the Horned Frogs should be this year’s preseason No.1 and you wouldn’t get much argument from us. This team is supremely coached, loaded with 15 returning starters and can’t help but benefit from the boulder sized chip on its shoulder for getting shut out of the playoffs last year. QB Trevone Boykin is one of ten returning starters on an offense that averaged 533 yards of offense per game and 46.5 points. The defense will once again be opportunistic and fly to the ball. The meat of the schedule is balanced with Baylor and Texas at home and the Oklahoma schools on the road. It’s going to take a perfect game from one of the conference chasers to keep the Frogs from running the table.
2- Oklahoma:
The Sooners always seem to do their best work when they are counted out and that just might be the case this year. “Big Game Bob” Stoops may have finally used up his equity after an 8-5 year last year where the Sooners were not competitive in several games and was a total no show in its Bowl game with Clemson. Oklahoma’s season depends on keeping “Beast Mode” running back Samaje Perrine healthy as this super soph could be the best back in college football combine strength and speed in a total package. We’ll know a lot about the Sooners after their September 12th visit to Tennessee. A win against
the Vols should have Oklahoma 9-0 headed into their final three game death march of at Baylor, TCU and Bedlam at rival Okie State.
3- Baylor:
The Bears are a no brainer top five to start the season with nine returning starters back on each side of the ball. Art Briles biggest problem will be replacing quarterback Bryce Petty. He’ll have several talented people to plug in and they’ll have the benefit of top
back Shock Linwood (1283, 18 TDs) and three of the top four receivers from last year. The Baylor defense is the team’s biggest question mark as this same veteran unit allowed 27+ on six separate occasions and was almost completely hapless in stopping TCU, Texas Tech and Michigan State in their Bowl. If the Bears are forced to outscore everyone, there could be several speed bumps along the way.
4- Oklahoma State:
Mike Gundy and the Cowboys took their lumps in last year’s 7-6 season but learned a lot of lessons along the way as well as getting lots of game experience to a talented bunch of young players. Okie State graduated it’s entire backfield but quarterback Mason Rudolf
got some time last year and will have seven of the Cowboys top eight receiver from last year back to throw the ball around. The defense was a problem last year but this is the outfit that learned on the job last year and should be much better. The Cowboys have three tomato cans to start where they’ll be able to tweak things before facing Texas in Austin and then hosting Kansas State. OSU plays all their big games against TCU, Baylor and Oklahoma at home in November which is that you can ask for.
5- Texas:
Charlie Strong should have actually got votes for Coach of the Year last year. He inherited a roster of punks and wise guys from an under-achieving 8-5 team left behind by long tenured and much loved Mack Brown. Strong promptly cleaned house, getting rid of all the bad seeds including several of his best returning players to draw the ire of alumnae and students alike. Things got worse when the Longhorns played poorly early before showing “buy signs” in the second half and even becoming Bowl eligible. UT figures to be improved as Strong gets his own kids in and the others that have bought in and have become familiar with the new systems. The keyword in Austin over the next two years is patience. The Louisville team that strong left sent more players (10) to the NFL via the draft in April than any other team and that includes the Alabamas and Ohio States of the world. Strong can coach and recruit and we little doubt that he will return the burnt orange to its prior elite status if he’s given the time.
6- Kansas State:
Bill Snyder is the miracle man of college football and keeps on keeping on at age 75 in a major conference and still getting big time results. Snyder turned the program around 30 years ago the Frank Beamer way, playing a bottom-feeder non-conference schedule and then beating the teams they should beat in conference and springing the occasional upset on a Big 12 heavyweight. Now the Wildcats can play with anyone and last year’s 9-4 group gave Auburn and Baylor everything they wanted and dominated UCLA in a losing Bowl effort against UCLA by imploding with early turnovers. Just 12 starters return and Snyder wasn’t able to come up with the Juco help he normally gets so expect a minor Bowl with a 3-0 non-conference record and 50/50 conference mark thanks to five conference home games.
7- West Virginia:
Dana Holgorsen hasn’t been the savior that West Virginia thought he would be and might have been given his walking papers last year if it hadn’t been for the super human efforts of quarterback Clint Trickett who threw for 300+ yards in the first seven games that included an upset of Baylor. Trickett was a punching bag and it ultimately cost him his football career thanks to multiple concussions. This year the Mounties will depend on defense thanks to nine returning starters. WVU should come out the box 3-0 with games against Georgia Southern, Liberty and Maryland and have no excuse to not beat Iowa State and Kansas. The Mountaineers have Big 12 road games at Oklahoma, TCU, Baylor and Kansas State and will be life and death to find that sixth Bowl eligible win and that without stubbing their toe along the way.
8- Texas Tech:
Last year, everything that could go wrong did as Kliff Kingsbury and the Red Raiders struggled through a 4-8 season. It was just the second losing season in 22 years in Lubbock with six of the losses coming by double-digits including an 82-27 beat down at TCU. There is reason for hope with 17 returning starters and a new veteran defensive coordinator. The offense is loaded with two experienced QBs, their top four rushers
and six of their leading receivers from last year. On defense, three of the four defensive line return as well as the entire secondary. The Red Raiders were -13 in takeaways and will have to protect the ball. The teams figures to be 4-3 after seven games and will need to figure out a way to win two games against a final five of at Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, at West Virginia, Kansas State and at Texas to get Bowl eligible.
9- Iowa State:
Start to finish, last year was a miserable year for the Iowa State Cyclones. From getting hammered at home 34-14 by North Dakota State to going winless in conference, 2014 was highly forgettable. The Clones were unlucky to a certain extent as they were in several of their losses but by and large this was not a very good team. The boys from Ames return 13 starters including seven on offense including all last year’s leading skill players. The defense was atrocious allowing 38.8 ppg and better than 529 yards. While the Cyclones figure to be improved in some areas, they face a murderous schedule that includes a tough Northern Iowa outfit, a revenge minded Iowa and a Toledo team favored to roll the MAC. Paul Rhodes has been given a long leash to this point with losing records in all six years of his tenure. Off 3-9 and 2-10 year and staring down the barrel of another 1-3 win season this year, it might be time to make a change.
10- Kansas:
The Kansas Jayhawks have been a train wreck the past five year’s enroute to a 12-47 record. Shed no tears for the Jayhawks however as this team went to the Orange Bowl in 2007 and then summarily fired HC Mark Mangino for basically sticking his index finger in the chest of a 300 pound defensive lineman. The Charley Weis era was a disaster on it’s on to David Beatty, a wide receiver coach with no prior head coach or even coordinator experience. He’ll start with a blank canvass as just seven starters and 75 scholarship players return. It’s going to be a long hard year in Lawrence with the Jayhawks best opportunity for a win coming in the opener where Kansas will be a home dog to the South Dakota State Jackrabbits, a FCS playoff team that played Missouri to a 38-18 (+25) cover last year. Avoiding a winless season would be a major accomplishment for this edition of the Kansas Jayhawks.