CNHI: Better defense would boost Big 12’s image

[TopFrog]

CNHI: Better defense would boost Big 12’s image

By Eric Prisbell | CNHI Sports

If the Big 12 is going shake the label of being the worst Power 5 football conference in the country, defensive play throughout the league must be less offensive to watch.

As the regular season nears, few are holding their breath.

Seven of the league’s 10 schools last season finished near the bottom half of the 128-team Football Bowl Subdivision in scoring defense. Texas Tech not only had the distinction of ranking last – allowing 43.5 points per game – but the Red Raiders’ unit garnered national infamy by scoring 59 points and losing to Oklahoma, which scored 66 points.

Entertaining? Yes. But porous defenses aren’t part of the recipe for championship football.

Read more at http://www.mineralwellsindex.com/cn...cle_8daca1a5-e979-5878-9ca9-8e50e5c14058.html

 

[Planks]

Any article that references "total defense" or "scoring defense" can immidiately be ignored. Those statistics are completely irrelevant in today's college football due to the different plays styles different teams and different conferences have. You can't compare a Big 10 team that faces 10 drives a game to a Big 12 team that faces 15 drives a game.

"Points per drive" is the only stat that matters.

 

[Limp Lizard]

All we have to do is get all the schools to run the T-formation, and limit them to 10 pass attempts per game, and our numbers will soar. Truly a dumb article. The real reason the B12 has image problems is that we are much more lightly represented in the national media than the other conferences. Dan Jenkins alone cannot overcome the damage by the plethora of BIG and SEC people in the media.

 

[SuperTFrog]

The only thing the big 12 needs to be relevant again is UT AND OU to be good again. The big 10 was left for dead a few years ago. Then OSU and Michigan rose to the top and now all of the sudden the conference is in great shape despite going 3-7 in bowl games.

If UT rises to power the perception will be the big 12 is strong as ever.

 

[Wexahu]

Dan Jenkins alone cannot overcome the damage by the plethora of BIG and SEC people in the media.

The Big 12 champion, the team that went 9-0 in conference play, lost by 3 TDs at home to the Big 10 East co-champion (a team virtually nobody on here except me thought deserved to be in the playoffs) and lost to a G5 team. That's not good. This blaming the media for everything is so dumb. Back when the Big 10 wasn't very good, I remember hearing from the media constantly that the Big 10 wasn't very good. The media was saying the ACC stunk when it did too.

Win games and everything else takes care of itself.

 

[Limp Lizard]

The Big 12 champion, the team that went 9-0 in conference play, lost by 3 TDs at home to the Big 10 East co-champion (a team virtually nobody on here except me thought deserved to be in the playoffs) and lost to a G5 team. That's not good. This blaming the media for everything is so dumb. Back when the Big 10 wasn't very good, I remember hearing from the media constantly that the Big 10 wasn't very good. The media was saying the ACC stunk when it did too.

Win games and everything else takes care of itself.

And then all the media said the BIG was great because they had one great team.

 

[Wexahu]

And then all the media said the BIG was great because they had one great team.

Well, at least you're acknowledging that Ohio State has been a great team. From what I can tell, nobody here thinks they've deserved a playoff spot in any of the past three years. I'd say Wisconsin and Michigan State have also been very good for awhile (except for last year in MSU's case) and that Penn State and Michigan have upped their game too. They've gotten better since 2012, no question.

For what it's worth, I don't think the Big 10 is all that great top to bottom and that the media may overrate them a bit, but I do think they are better than the Big 12 at the moment. And I don't think either the Big 10 or the Big 12 can hold a candle to the SEC when it comes to overall strength from team 1 through team 10 or 14. But that's fine, we don't have to be in the best conference, just a decent one.

 

[Casey T]

This author's claim of B12 as the worst conference doesn't gel with espn's preseason rankings. We have the most preseason teams ranked (6) out of any P5 conference. There's more parity conference-wise across the P5 than people like to admit

 

[Jefffrog1993]

The Big 12 champion, the team that went 9-0 in conference play, lost by 3 TDs at home to the Big 10 East co-champion (a team virtually nobody on here except me thought deserved to be in the playoffs) and lost to a G5 team. That's not good. This blaming the media for everything is so dumb. Back when the Big 10 wasn't very good, I remember hearing from the media constantly that the Big 10 wasn't very good. The media was saying the ACC stunk when it did too.

Win games and everything else takes care of itself.

 

[BABYFACE]

A more accurate measure is how well do Big 12 defenses fare in non conference games and bowl games.

 

[Jefffrog1993]

Why can't we be called the greatest offense power five conference. We have the top offenses in the country best QBs and receivers and spread offenses?

 

[Chieves]

The Big 12 champion, the team that went 9-0 in conference play, lost by 3 TDs at home to the Big 10 East co-champion (a team virtually nobody on here except me thought deserved to be in the playoffs) and lost to a G5 team. That's not good. This blaming the media for everything is so dumb. Back when the Big 10 wasn't very good, I remember hearing from the media constantly that the Big 10 wasn't very good. The media was saying the ACC stunk when it did too.

Win games and everything else takes care of itself.

Counterpoint... that same team then absolutely laid waste to the mighty SEC in the sugar bowl.

 

[Despite the odds Frog]

The only thing the big 12 needs to be relevant again is UT AND OU to be good again. The big 10 was left for dead a few years ago. Then OSU and Michigan rose to the top and now all of the sudden the conference is in great shape despite going 3-7 in bowl games.

If UT rises to power the perception will be the big 12 is strong as ever.

Booooo, nope. What will boost Big 12 rep is Big 12 winning its OOC games, winning bowl games, and somebody anybody in Big 12 making the playoffs and winning.

UT propaganda of them being saviors is just dumb.

 

[Limp Lizard]

If the B12 is so damn bad as so many here think, then we should go undefeated, yes?
.
Oh, no wait. We are just little TCU trying to play with the big kids.

 

[Wexahu]

Counterpoint... that same team then absolutely laid waste to the mighty SEC in the sugar bowl.

Go back 5, 10, 15 or 20 years......there is ample evidence that the SEC is, and has been, the best conference in the country. Records in interconference matchups, draft picks, Bowl records, national championships, etc etc etc, every single quantifiable metric would show that. Cherry picking one or two outcome doesn't really say much.

There's a reason why everyone gets excited when they sign a kid who was recruited by a bunch of SEC teams.

 

[Atomic Frawg]

There's a reason why everyone gets excited when they sign a kid who was recruited by Alabama, LSU, or Florida.

FIFY

 

[SuperTFrog]

Go back 5, 10, 15 or 20 years......there is ample evidence that the SEC is, and has been, the best conference in the country. Records in interconference matchups, draft picks, Bowl records, national championships, etc etc etc, every single quantifiable metric would show that. Cherry picking one or two outcome doesn't really say much.

There's a reason why everyone gets excited when they sign a kid who was recruited by a bunch of SEC teams.

You ar extrapolating the last 8 years over the history of college football. What you are saying just categorically isn't true. Look at titles in the 70's, 80's and 90's. They won 4 titles over twenty years between 1980-1999. They have not always been what they are right now.

How old are you?

 

[f_399]

Why can't we be called the greatest offense power five conference. We have the top offenses in the country best QBs and receivers and spread offenses?

How are Big 12 QB's doing in the NFL?

 

[Wexahu]

You ar extrapolating the last 8 years over the history of college football. What you are saying just categorically isn't true. Look at titles in the 70's, 80's and 90's. They won 4 titles over twenty years between 1980-1999. They have not always been what they are right now.

How old are you?

Last 8 years? Where are you getting that? Over the last 20 years, there have been 5 different SEC schools win national championships. Yes, they won 4 titles between 1980-1999. Who cares and even if you do, that's two more than the Big 12 has won in the past 20 years. They haven't always been what they are now, but right now (as in any period of time you want to measure over the past 20 years) they are the best, and that's what we're talking about. What does how good programs were in the 70's and 80's have anything to do with now?

 

[Chieves]

Go back 5, 10, 15 or 20 years......there is ample evidence that the SEC is, and has been, the best conference in the country. Records in interconference matchups, draft picks, Bowl records, national championships, etc etc etc, every single quantifiable metric would show that. Cherry picking one or two outcome doesn't really say much.

There's a reason why everyone gets excited when they sign a kid who was recruited by a bunch of SEC teams.

> Cherry picking outcomes doesn't count!
> Did you see that OU lost 2 games last year?

wat