GFR Rankings - Nov 18

Upset weekend in College Football.  What once looked like Oregon and K-State rolling to Miami 48 hours ago, and the SEC being shut out has now opened back up to an SEC smorgasbord.  Now the Irish are the only (eligible) unbeaten team left to have a shot at Miami.  But they aren't number one in the GFR.  Notre Dame moved up a spot to 3 but the #1 slot belongs to the Aggies.  Texas A&M jumped from 5 to 1 over Alabama, the Irish and last weeks #1 Oregon.

2 weeks ago it looked like Alabama roll to a title, then Oregon running to one....now its all up for grabs.  How about a playoff this year?

The Big XII is still the strongest league ahead of the SEC barely.  

To view the complete rankings click here

Landscaping Aggie Style

Kickoff is about 30 hours away from the 2011 season and the fault line in college football is shaking.  Texas A&M sent a letter to the BIG XII (no confirmation yet on if it was in crayon and included pop ups or pictures so Dan Bebee could understand) letting them know, “Hey – while you other 8 are happy sucking on Doloss Dodd’s teets…we want something better”  and are leaving the conference as of June 30, 2012.  Hello SEC!  Dan Bebee also released a statement here. That would put 13 teams in the SEC, 13 may work in the MAC but it won’t work in the SEC.  So the Aggies need a dance partner.  I’m guessing the most likely candidates are going to be from the ACC in Clemson or Florida State.  That puts the SEC at 14, you know the Pac-12 and Big Ten will not go quietly either, so we will go back to what we had last year in the landscape of college football being on shaky ground. The fate of the Big XII depends on Texas, and how many other schools have enough cache to go up against them?  Oklahoma – No….Missouri – No.  Texas is now more powerful than ever, but as we learned in SpiderMan, “With great POWER comes great RESPONSIBILITY!”  Who does Texas care about?  Texas.  You think that they care about Kansas or Kansas State or Iowa State?  NOPE!  Heck the Big XII catered to them when they moved the basketball tournament from Kansas City to Oklahoma City and Dallas (where no one cares about it) and moves head quarters to Dallas from Kansas City.  Basically Bebee bent over and grabbed ankles for Doloss Dodd’s and his Longhorns. Going to throw out some new prediction here.  In 2015 you will see a very different college football, because it’s all about football in the end,  landscape.  §  The conferences will grow to SUPER CONFERENCES.  The Big Ten, Pac-16, ACC and SEC will each have 16 teams.  The Big East will be shredded to the ACC and other conferences.  The Mountain West will almost have a conference USA feel to it and spread across the Central and Mountain time zones and capture a BCS Bid.  Notre Dame will have to join a conference or be left out.  The Big 4 will put enough pressure on them. §  The BCS will expand to add in the Cotton Bowl.  That will then be 12 BCS bids including the Championship Game.  Along with that, the 4 super conferences will now be assured at least 2 BCS bids.  Along with the Mountain West that will be 9 automatic bids.  Leaving 3 spots as “At-Large” §  Also in 2015 you see the Big Ten going to 9 conference games, which is great to play each other in your conference more, but there will be a 13 game regular season.  Games at home are lucrative for the BIG schools.  They supply the money to fund all the other varsity sports.  And more and more you hear about state regents offices wanting the this universities to be off state tax payer feeding.  Another home game helps.  Also, it frees up some scheduling.  In the case of Iowa with having the Iowa State game there, when you play at Ames you need to play 2 cupcakes at home.  This will free up to add another game vs the likes of Arizona that we’ve seen in the past. §  I wish I could say that bowls will be reduced but I think we may see more bowls…unfortunately. That’s just what I’m seeing in my crystal ball right now as of August 31st 2011.

2011 Big XII Predictions

Welcome to the new Big XII, or as I like to call it, the Texa$ Ten.  No more divisions, no more championship game…a round robin schedule of 9 games too.  The conference was on life support last year and may not be out of the neck of the woods yet with the rumblings going on in Norman, Austin and College Station about the new ESPN juiced LongHorn Network.  Somehow the conference has 9 bowl tie-ins for 10 teams.  That’s gonna change soon, and how did the Holiday bowl slip to #5 in the pecking order.

The conference, in my opinion won’t be around like it is come 2015 but that’s the future.  Let’s talk about this year:

The conference will be split into 3 tiers, the top will be very good, the bottom very bad, and the middle average.

The Conference Championship (and one half of the National Championship) is determined on Nov 5 in Norman when the Sooners host the Aggies. 

Texas will be better than last year but will not move into the elite of the top 3.

Baylor’s record could easily flip flop if Robert Griffin III gets hurt, and they will score the upset of the first week when the Bears beat TCU.

Iowa State record won’t be great but they have a stud on the OL in Osemele, and the new scoreboard is going to be a nice addition to Jack Trice Stadium.

The state of Kansas will continue to be under a heat wave in the college season as the coaches seats will be getting warmer.  I think this is Snyder’s last year at KState and will select his successor and Turner Gill needs to win next year or he will be done at Kansas.

Now for the picks…Norman, Oklahoma should be happy.

BIGXII PREDICTIONS

Oklahoma                         9-0                 12-0              National Championship Game vs Alabama

Texas A&M                       8-1                 11-1              Fiesta Bowl vs Wisconsin

Oklahoma St                     7-2                 10-2              Cotton Bowl

Texas                               5-4                  8-4               Alamo Bowl

Baylor                               5-4                 8-4                Insight Bowl

Missouri                            5-4                 7-5                Holiday Bowl

Texas Tech                        3-6                 6-6               Texas Bowl vs Michigan State

Kansas                              1-8                 3-9

Kansas State                     1-8                 3-9

Iowa State                         1-8                 2-10

BIG XII AWARDS

Coach of the Year – Bob Stoops : Oklahoma

Player of the Year – Landry Jones : Oklahoma