Hokies Week 13 Blog - Thankful I'm not a Wahoo

I have a plane to catch in a few hours that will send me home to Alabama for Thanksgiving, so this will be my shortest and most hurried blog yet. Go ahead and count; it’s less than 1000 words!

This is one of my favorite times of the year. I love seeing my family and getting everyone together, I love getting plate after plate of turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, creamed corn, ham, pecan pie, banana pudding, pumpkin pie, and any other dessert that has some sort of descriptive word of what’s in it followed by pie or cake, I love the football, and in particular I love beating UVA. I mean it’s as big of a tradition as the Thanksgiving all day eatathon and Black Friday at this point isn’t it?

Also, one note on Alabama because I think this is ridiculous. They moved the Iron Bowl up to Friday at 2:30 or 3:30. I’m guessing for big TV money or something. But now stores of every kind across the state will be opening up for Black Friday sales at 4 am because they’re worried no one will be out shopping when Alabama and Auburn are playing. I know I’ll be in the front of the lines at 2 am.


http://tech4teens.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/black-friday-lines.jpg

Or I’ll be asleep till noon and do all my Christmas shopping online…

But now onto the preview of the game! To start, it’ll probably be a boring defensive battle. VT has another top 10(ish) defense, and UVA is solid as well. Al Groh brought a 3-4 defense to UVA, which will be only the 2nd time the Hokies have seen this style of defense all year. The first and only look at it was in the opener against Alabama. UVA is very good against the pass and ranks 19th in the nation in pass yards against. Their secondary is one of the strongest units in the ACC just behind VT and Clemson. They also do a decent job getting to the QB and even have more sacks than GT who is always praised for its D-line. Could be a boring low scoring affair.

The good news is that they are one of the worst teams in the ACC against the run.
The 3-4 is designed to be able to bring blitzes and hit zones, and this is a big reason why they can put pressure on the QB. But with only 3 down lineman it can be easy to pick up huge chunks of yardage on the ground by opening up bigger holes and getting more blockers down field if the defense makes a bad read or if they bring pressure from the wrong spots. While UVA was able to contain CJ Spiller last Saturday, in the few games before that they gave up 151 yards to Montel Harris of BC, 152 yards to Graig Cooper of Miami (268 total rushing yards given up that game), and while this isn’t exactly apples to apples, they gave up 362 rush yards against GT. So on paper, it seems like Ryan Williams has a good chance for another big day.

Now let’s look at the other side of the ball. UVA is flat out terrible on offense. Jameel Sewell can be a playmaker at QB with his arm and legs, but he isn’t nearly as good as Russell Wilson. Sewell on the year has thrown for 7 TD and 7 INT and has run for another 6 TD. But like Wilson, Sewell is on his own on offense. They have no running game to speak of and lack any other playmaker. They are 112th in the nation in rushing offense which makes them completely one dimensional. And there are only 4 teams in the nation that have given up more sacks (4!). They are getting sacked on average 4 times a game. The most revealing stat is that UVA has scored more than 21 points just twice this season (neither against ACC opponents).

So how does VT’s defense look against this? Pretty damn good. I really can’t see any way they score more than 10 points that doesn’t involve turnovers and blocked kicks. VT is the 13th in the country in total defense and scoring defense, 2nd in the ACC in sacks at about 3 a game, and 10th in the nation in passing defense. There are playmakers at corner, linebacker, on the line, and even at safety. This seems like a matchup made in heaven, and hopefully Bud Foster has a field day and we force turnover after turnover.

Speaking of turnovers! The Reaper is now 1st in the nation in forced fumbles thanks to 3 in the first 4 offensive plays for NCST! First team all-ACC for an undersized walk-on. You will be missed next year!

Prediction time. We’ve got one team that hasn’t won in 5 years, has won once in the last decade, has a terrible offense with no running game to speak of, gives up a ton of sacks, is susceptible to the run on D, going against a team that is one of the nations best defenses especially against the pass, has one of the premier running backs in the nation, and is coached by a group that has consistently had the program at an elite level. Hmm…

31-10 VT! The Hokies will be too much for the Hoos. Speak of which… Hoo’s your coach next year? Al Groh will be missed around these parts. Hopefully the new guy follows suit of letting us recruit all of Virginia.

There is no way Ryan Williams isn’t the player of the game. But I think Worilds has a big game as well, and people will finally remember how big of an impact he is. I hope we see a repeat of the performance when we took over their field then rolled them 52-14.


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Have a happy Thanksgiving and remember give thanks you’re a Hokie!

If you’re curious this was 999 words.

Hokies Week 12 Blog - RW vs. RW

This will be a no nonsense write-up dealing with sports this week! What kind of hack writes about uniforms anyway?

It was fun to go to College Park last week for the Hokies home game. We went to a couple tailgates with friends and family and it was like a home game.


Courtesy of Andy (click any picture to make it bigger)

The stadium was actually louder for VT than Maryland. Maybe that was because we came out swinging and got TDs in our first two possessions, or maybe it was because the Maryland fans simply didn’t have anything to cheer about all game. As seen by the student section at the start of the 3rd quarter:


Courtesy of my phone!

But the Hokie Nation showed up strong and it was a fun game to be at. I had actually never been to Maryland before and it’s a pretty nice campus. And I saw just about every part of it. We walked from the metro bus stop, to the baseball field, to the “baseball field” also know as the softball field, to the other side of campus to a parking garage, to the stadium, to the softball field, to the stadium, and finally to the metro over the course of the day. I estimated the total walking distance to about 8 miles in College Park alone, and Google maps confirms it.


http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

And if you’re wondering why we didn’t walk that last leg straight. So am I! And yes, we took more direct routes, but this is as half-ass visual aid. Plus it doesn’t show the 1000 steps we went up to get to our seats. Still don’t understand why Maryland’s stadium has 1 side that is about 25 rows up total, and then the other side is something closer to 100. Not even Lane is that disproportional.


Courtesy of Andy

But moral of the story: Tyrod looked great and was the Player of the Game to my surprise. Don’t get me wrong, Williams had a big day, but Tyrod was making some great passes and plays with his legs. We’ll just over look that fumble in the endzone that led to their only TD. Also, the defense was nasty. Great play up front, from the linebackers, and pretty good play by the secondary. They left some people open but luckily the freshman QB couldn’t hit any big plays.

But now on to NCST. The title pretty much says it all. This week the Ryan Williams takes on Russell Wilson for initials superiority. Except that Ryan Williams has a ton of support with a much improved Tyrod, a great receiving core, a decent O-line, and a suddenly stingy defense. But for NCST, Russell Wilson is about it. I mean he has single-handedly won and kept NCST in games. He doesn’t have great running game support or a good O-line. And the defense is just awful… So it will be up to Wilson to keep his team in the game against us.

Let’s see some stats to support this. To begin, NCST is currently 52nd nationally in points scored (6th in the ACC) averaging 27 points a game. And the main reason is Russell Wilson. Wilson has thrown for 2534 yards with a completion percentage of 58.2. He has thrown for 26 TDs with 10 interceptions, and his QB rating is 143.89. Not bad at all. He can also get it down with his legs as he is the 2nd leading rusher on the team with 319 yards and 4 TDs. So as a one man team he is getting it done. He accounts for 70% of NCST’s offense by yardage and TDs. By comparison Tyrod accounts for 53% of our yards and half our TDs. So yes, Russell Wilson is a beast.


http://www.statefansnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/ncaa_wilson_400.jpg

At baseball. He’ll probably be playing in the minor leagues somewhere next year.

But how has he done against the ACC? Great question! In his last 6 games (Wake, Duke, BC, FSU, Maryland, and Clemson), Wilson has only thrown for 260 yards per game with 14 TDs and 10 INTs! He’s averaging around 35 yards on the ground and has 4 TDs in the 6 games though. But the point is, these are pretty mediocre stats against some of the conference’s worst teams (especially some of its worst defenses). Only BC and Clemson are in the top half of the conference in points against and in those two games NCST scored 20 and 23 points respectively. I’m not saying NCST won’t score, because they will. Russell Wilson is too good for them not to score, but some of their stats are misleading.

Now here is a stat that isn’t misleading: NCST is giving up 36 points per game! That is 111th in the nation and last in the ACC. Even in the games where they put up a lot of TDs they still lose because everyone can move the ball on them. Even Maryland hung 30 on them in a loss. In ACC play, they have only held Wake and Maryland to less than 40 points! That means they couldn’t stop the “high powered” offenses of Duke, BC, and Clemson. Wake and Duke threw all over them, and then FSU, BC, and Clemson threw all over them and ran all over them! Only Maryland was held to less than 450 yards.

Yes, I know they held South Carolina to 7 points, and yes I know they beat Pitt (only loss). But look how they’ve done lately. Could they have a repeat performance of the Pitt game? Maybe. But I think it is highly unlikely. They have 3 freshmen in the secondary, they haven’t been able to stop the run or pass lately except against Maryland, they are completely one dimensional on offense, and they are facing the best defense they’ve seen all season. Yep, we are 11th in the country and 1st in the ACC only giving up 16 points a game. With our strength of schedule and all the big plays it seems like we are giving up, that is amazing.

So how’s the game turn out? We will crush them! This game should be pretty similar to the game against Maryland but higher scoring for both teams. Here’s my prediction:

41 – 17 VT. Seems ridiculous but that’s less points than they average giving up on the road. With their secondary and Tyrod’s performance last week, I think he will be the player of the game. Now I’m sure Williams will have like 200 yards… Also, look for a big day from Jason Worilds and Nekos Brown.

Hokies Week 11 Blog - College Park Showdown

There will be a huge showdown this Saturday at 1:00 EST in College Park, Maryland. We will see a matchup of two premier leaders on the football field. Both have prepared a long time for this matchup, and there is a lot of buzz going into this game. Where will you be when Nike and Under Armour throw down!?!?

Both Nike and Under Armour will unveil brand spanking new uniforms this week for the nationally televised VT/Maryland game. Nationally televised on your computer… What? You get good crystal clear coverage on your 11” laptop right? I’ll personally be at the game so I’ll let you know how awesome they are first hand.

But let’s break down this matchup. Nike comes in with all the experience and has been a dominant force for decades while Under Armour is still the new kid on the block. But Under Armour has had a lot of recent success, as it has made a huge splash in its first 15 years. Let’s take a look at some of the personnel between the two teams. Nike has some big time individuals with the likes of Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Adrian Peterson, Lebron James, Tom Brady, Roger Federer, Derek Jeter, Larry Fitzgerald, Lance Armstrong, Nolan Ryan, Barry Sanders, Back to the Future, Jerry Rice, Cal Ripken Jr., and Lil Wayne. Under Armour is led by Vernon Davis, Tommy Tubberville, Devin Hester, and that guy who yells a lot (and his creepy roided up younger version). How about a comparison of slogan? Again the edge goes to Nike with the simple but effective “Just Do It.” But how could Under Armour compete with “Click Clack”?

But enough about the history, what will be hitting the field on Saturday? Nike unveiled it’s second Pro Combat Uniform line at Virginia Tech last week (TCU was first) with a huge presentation done by the folks at Nike which brought Antonio Freeman and Bruce Smith into Blacksburg. They even rode in a huge motorcade with Frank Beamer to the unveiling. And the crowd of 100 went wild as Tyrod Taylor and Cody Grimm stepped out of a locker or something wearing these bad boys:


http://hamptonroads.com.nyud.net/2009/11/battle-brands
(you can click any image to make them bigger)

Nike’s theme for these is “Good guys wear white,” which is going against the blackout at Maryland. These are pretty snazzy uniforms for the most part, and I like how for the most part they look clean but are still edgy. I even like the two different width stripes on the helmet. Also, they are top of the line in terms of the science and engineering behind making football uniforms. According to Nike they are much lighter than the previous uniforms because the jersey material is 23% lighter, the pants material is 49% lighter and material wicks water away to make them 46% lighter than our old uniforms when wet. Also, they have improved ventilation and are more durable.


http://www.nike.com/nikeos/p/usnikefootball/en_US/rivalries09?school=vt&tab=uniform

The shoes are also state of the art and have so many improvements I won’t go into them.


http://friendsoftheprogram.net/2009/11/13/a-closer-look-at-nike-pro-combat-virginia-tech/

And the finishing touch are the Nike gloves:


http://friendsoftheprogram.net/2009/11/13/a-closer-look-at-nike-pro-combat-virginia-tech/

I’m not a fan of all the ridiculous wording on the jerseys though. Throughout the jersey there are VT sayings like Ut Prosim and Beamerball, which along with the wire mesh shoulder pads take away from the overall clean look. But they are designed to look fast and I think that is accomplished, and these uniforms are growing on me.
So what are Nike and the Hokies going up against? Under Armour is breaking out two new uniforms for Maryland and South Carolina this weekend. And what awesome new features and fresh looks are they providing? None… Yep, they’re pretty much the same jerseys as before with three small changes.


http://www.usnews.com/dbimages/master/13170/FE_DA_091020whispers-underarmour-commitment.jpg

Yes, those are camo sleeves. They’re rocking a black and desert camo uniform on Sat. And they’re going to wear camo cleats as well:


http://www.usnews.com/dbimages/master/13171/FE_DA_091020whispers-underarmour-cleats.jpg

And I’m sure that you're just like me and said “Ha, that’s lame, are the fans going to do a camo out too? They’re hard to see at home games to begin with!” But then you’ll feel like an asshole like I did. The little patch on the sleeves that you probably missed is for the Wounded Warriors Project. Under Armour teamed up with these guys to help spread the word to help push for legislation to pass to help soldiers injured after 9/11 in games near the DC (apparently rumors the Vice President and other big time congressmen might show up for the game) and on a primetime nationally televised game (Florida/South Carolina).

The only other change to the uniform is on the back, instead of having each player’s name, they will be replaced by a military word like “duty” and “honor.” The changes made to modify the uniform for Maryland is probably a fraction of the cost that went into making the VT one (and the 9 others that Nike will display throughout the rest of the season). So how do the two matchup? Virginia Tech’s Nike Pro Combat Uniform vs Maryland’s Under Armour Wounded Warrior Uniform.

Under Armour wins by a mile… Yes, Nike’s uniform is better looking. Yes, it is a better uniform to play football in. But Under Armour has the intangibles. Who cares if the VT uni has Ut Prosim “that I may serve”? It’s still just a bad matchup. Nike Pro Combat vs. Under Armour Wounded Warriors… Doesn’t that just sound terrible? Great move by Under Armour and a great cause. There will even be veterans doing the coin toss and halftime festivities promoting the cause.

Oh, there’s also a football game on Saturday… I’ll take Virginia Tech over a Maryland team that is 96th in scoring offense (20.8 points a game), and 98th in scoring defense (32 points a game). There is a lot of talk that this game will be really close, but I just don’t see it. Teams that run the ball well, destroy Maryland. Maryland really hasn’t stopped anyone on offense, and their best offensive player, QB Chris Turner, will be out due to a sprained MCL. The only way we lose this is if all the negative karma we have due to the uniforms takes over.

VT wins 38-13. Ryan Williams will run all over them and be the player of the game. Apparently I’m a broken record… Maybe I should start picking the 2nd Best Player of the Game! 2BPotG goes to Rashad Carmichael. I think that between Carmichael and Virgil, we get 2 or 3 picks and 1 for a TD.

Hokies Week 10 Blog - Controversial Conference Rankings

So who’s ready for some Hokies basketball now?


http://www2.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/Virginia+Tech+v+Wake+Forest+oLhNA5N7hZdl.jpg

Basketball season kicks off on Sun, Nov 15, and I wanted to give you a quick preview of what to expect this season now that I’ve given up on football. Just kidding. This can still be a good season for the football team, and I’ll continue to blog about the Hokies even though I really didn’t want to last Thursday and Friday. So here we go with a controversial conference ranking.

Straight up, I’m tired of everyone shitting on the ACC conference saying it’s the worst conference in the league. What basis do you have to make this claim? Is it the fact that Duke, UVA, and Maryland lost to Richmond, William & Mary, and Middle Tennessee State? Or is it the fact that we have no national champion contender again? Maybe it’s because week after week, we beat ourselves? But really, the worst out of the 6 power conferences?

Well unlike these people that like to spread their speculative non-sense, I’m giving you the facts! Yes they are somewhat subjective (honest, I’m trying not to be), but the facts are still there. So let’s go over a few details before we dive right in.

First, I am not writing about the Hokies this week, because frankly I don’t want to. Last Thursday, they completely demoralized me. The Hokies did, not UNC (but as advertised their defense is very good). The whole team just looked bad, and there isn’t just one thing to blame. Let’s take a look at my Recipe for Success from last week: 1) No turnovers – two very costly fumbles that at first set the tone for the game, and then just ended it. 2) Limit the penalties – a pointless holding penalty cost us a TD, 3) Make them throw on us – they had 181 rushing yards and only 131 passing yards (although they did throw on us in the red zone for 2 TD), 4) Protect Tyrod – the line actually held its own against a great defensive front for UNC, yes it could have been better, but seriously Tyrod just throw the ball away instead of running around in the backfield for 10 seconds, 5) Big plays from Tyrod – he was only 11/23 for 161 yards and -8 rushing yards, and his longest play was a 22 yard pass. So there you go, that’s why we lost.

Ok, I lied, one more thing about the Hokies. The only thing that I liked about the game against UNC was Tyrod being a leader. Even if he made a few bad throws and danced around in the pocket a bit too much, he still drove us down the field on our big TD drives. And more importantly, I think, when Williams fumbled to basically seal the deal for UNC, Tyrod was the first to put an arm around him, walk him off the field, and encourage him. This is a favorable matchup against ECU this week and we should run all over them Marshall style. Hopefully Ryan Williams has recovered mentally.

Second, getting back on track, the best way I could think to rate conferences is record against other “good” teams. I started by looking at records against BCS at large teams. So I looked up every conferences record against the ACC, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-10, and SEC. I also sprinkled in a few other teams that we’ll say are BCS buster types. Those teams are Notre Dame, Houston, TCU, Utah, BYU, and Boise St. So we’ll consider only these as “good” teams. I considered Central Michigan and Navy, but after last week’s games I decided against it.

Third, another thing I tracked was inexcusable losses. What I mean by this is what we’ll call an “ACC loss” (see first paragraph). The ACC wasn’t the only conference doing this; just ask Colorado and the Big 12.

Finally, there are a few things I did not consider. I did not consider conference games. Does it matter that Washington beat USC, Illinois beat Michigan, or that Maryland somehow beat Clemson? I mean does that really make the conference worse? I also don’t consider national championship contenders. The past few years I might have considered it, but this is such a mediocre year in college football that I’m just tossing this out altogether. Another reason for this is because the SEC is about the only conference that has legitimate contenders this year in my opinion and I have them ranked 1st anyway. Texas can go out and play someone if they want consideration…

So without further ado, here’s my Controversial Conference Rankings!

1) SEC (7-5 against BCS, 1 inexcusable loss) – I hate to reward a team with my #1 ranking when it has by far the weakest out of conference schedule of any BCS conference, but you can’t overlook the fact that Florida, Alabama, and LSU are all ranked in the top 10, and that the winner of the 3 will play for the national championship. But after that, there are only a handful of good teams: South Carolina, Tennessee, and maybe Georgia, Ole Miss, or Auburn. Also, Florida and Ole Miss have yet to play another BCS team out of conference, and only Mississippi State has played more than 1. That’s just terrible… By comparison, every ACC, Big East, and Pac-10 team have played at least one non-conference game against a good opponent. Man up SEC!

Big Wins: Bama over VT, Auburn over WVU, Georgia over Arizona State, and Arkansas over Texas A&M.

Bad Losses: Tennessee losing at home to a UCLA team that hasn’t won a single game in the Pac-10 and an inexcusable loss for Vandy against Army.

2) Pac-10 (8-8, 1 inexcusable loss) – The gap between the Pac-10 and the SEC is closer than most people think. Could Florida and Alabama beat Oregon and USC right now? I’m actually not so sure. And unlike the SEC, the Pac-10 doesn’t have such a dramatic drop off. Cal, Stanford, Oregon State, and Arizona are all good teams. Plus Washington, Arizona State, and UCLA might be better than the likes of Kentucky, Mississippi State, and Vanderbilt. But Washington State is just atrocious. You know what else!? The Pac-10 has gone out and played 16 good opponents compared to 12 for the SEC with two less teams. I should have put them #1 just to send a message…

Big Wins: USC over Ohio State and Notre Dame, Oregon over Purdue and Utah, and UCLA over Tennessee in Knoxville. Yes I realized that this mostly only comes from 2 teams.

Bad Losses: Stanford’s loss to Wake Forest isn’t horrible, but Wake might not even make a bowl game, and Washington State lost an inexcusable game to Hawaii at home.

3) Big East (5-8, 0 inexcusable losses) – I guess you could argue that the way Cincinnati is playing, gives the Big East a national championship contender, but I’m not buying it. Yes they are undefeated, yes they have looked great doing it, but your signature wins are against Oregon State and Fresno State. And Fresno’s not even a state! But this is conference ranks. And the Big East more than anyone else has won the games they are supposed to, and don’t have any huge slip ups. They’re also going out and playing a lot of good non-conference games at 13. And with only 8 teams in the Big East they have more “good” non-conference games per team than any other BCS conference. That said they haven’t been against the best teams…

Big Wins: Cincy over Oregon State, and South Florida over Florida State. See those are the best of the 5 wins.

Bad Losses: The worst would be NCST giving Pitt its only loss. There are no inexcusable losses.

4) ACC (9-10, 4 inexcusable losses) – This is the point I’m getting to, the ACC isn’t afraid to play anyone! Year after year, the ACC plays the most non-conference games against BCS schools and good opponents. And when they do, they do alright. This year I would say there are probably 8 good teams in the ACC, which is more than any other conference with my biased counting (there might be 8 in the SEC as well). The ACC Coastal by itself is 6-3 against good non-conference teams! The problem this year is the massive amount of embarrassing losses from the likes of Maryland, Wake, UVA, and Duke. That’s what drops the ACC below the Big East in these rankings even with significantly more big wins.

Big Wins: Miami over Oklahoma, Florida State over BYU, Virginia Tech over Nebraska, Wake Forest over Stanford, UNC over UCONN, NCST over Pitt for its only loss, Georgia Tech over Mississippi State, and UVA crushing Indiana and giving them their biggest loss of the year. The ACC has the most big non-conference wins, but who cares about that right? The ACC sucks!

Bad Losses: So yeah here’s where it gets ugly. UVA losing to William & Mary and Southern Miss, Duke losing to Richmond, Maryland losing to MTSU, and Wake losing to Navy and Baylor (wouldn’t be too bad if Baylor had won a single conference game).

5) Big Ten (5-8, 1 inexcusable loss) – So looking at the Big Ten from afar you might say to yourself 5 wins, 8 losses, only 1 inexcusable loss, Iowa as a national champion contender, this is a good conference. That is far from true the deeper you dig. Their 5 wins are against Notre Dame, Arizona, Syracuse twice, and Iowa State. And while they only have 1 loss I deem inexcusable, they have 3 really bad ones on top of that. Throw in the fact that Iowa is a threat to lose every week, and this conference starts to look a little soft. Somehow 4 teams are ranked from the Big Ten! Getting ranked for no reason, now that’s Big Ten football!

Big Wins: Michigan over Notre Dame, and Iowa over Oregon State.

Bad Losses: Indiana getting killed by UVA, Syracuse beating Northwestern, Michigan State losing to Central Michigan, and the inexcusable Purdue losing to Northern Illinois.

6) Mountain West (5-10, 4 inexcusable losses) – I’m shocked myself! I ran the numbers and the Big 12 is actually that bad. No point in wasting time too much time on the Mountain West, but TCU won at UVA and at Clemson, Utah killed Louisville, and BYU beat Oklahoma. Also Colorado State stepped up and beat Colorado as well. Their bottom feeders have a lot of bad losses, so no need to dig into it, but just know the Mountain West won more games against good non-conference teams than the Big 12 and played more good non-conference games than the SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, and Big East. Props to the Mountain West and hopefully TCU busts up some of these teams in a BCS game.

7) The Texas Conference, wait sorry, Big 12 (4-10, 3 inexcusable losses) – It’s hard to believe how far the Big 12 has fallen. They are apparently the new Pac-10. And don’t get me wrong, I think Texas, Oklahoma, OKST, Texas Tech, and maybe even Texas A&M and Nebraska are all good teams, but they really haven’t shown it at all. I mean for a conference that was supposed to compete with the SEC for best overall, what happened? The only teams that won a good non-conference game were Oklahoma State, Kansas, Missouri, and Baylor. And just look below who those were against! And yes, that means Texas did not and will not play a good non-conference game all season. No wonder they’re undefeated…

All wins: These aren’t even that good, but anyway… Oklahoma State over Georgia, Kansas over Duke, Missouri over Illinois, and Baylor over Wake Forest. Everyone else played scrubs or lost! The conference’s 2nd best non-conference win was Duke!

Bad Losses: Kansas State is winning the Big 12 North and lost two of its first three games to UCLA and Louisiana-Lafayette, Colorado lost its first two to Colorado State and Toledo. And Oklahoma lost two games there were the favorite in against Miami and BYU.


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In summary, we shouldn’t play in a system that rewards teams for playing nobodies non-conference. Does Texas really deserve to be #2 when they have played weak non-conference games, and the good teams they have beaten haven’t performed this season? Oh well, with secret voting ballots, rewarding teams that will bring a lot of fans and revenue over teams that you know actually perform, and officials who make calls that seemingly benefit any championship contender, what do you expect? I mean everyone has made it completely obvious that no team outside of the SEC, Big 12, USC, or the state of Florida has a chance to win the national championship. Come on basketball! At least there’s a tournament there…