What has happened to the Big 12?

When Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor joined the already strong Big 8 Conference, everyone thought this would be, without a doubt, the superpower of college football.

From what I’ve seen, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Right now the Big 12 is at best the fifth toughest conference in the nation behind the SEC, Big Ten, Pac 10 and ACC.

From top to bottom this is a relatively weak conference considering the high hopes that were once connected to this so-called super-conference.

Early on this season, teams are playing non-conference rivals. To say the least, the Big 12 is not faring well. Once again Nebraska, Colorado and Texas are the teams to beat, but even these competitors seem to be extremely vulnerable.

For example, Nebraska trailed last week at home to Central Florida before coming back to take a very unconvincing victory. This week, the mighty Huskers travel to Washington to take on the second- ranked Huskies.

If they couldn’t trounce on Central Florida, how are they going to do against the Pac 10 leader? Look for the Huskies’ stop, drop and roll.

The only other Big 12 member currently ranked in the top 25 is Colorado. The Buffaloes traveled to Ann Arbor to take on Big Ten powerhouse Michigan.

They got thumped, but fortunately the rest of Colorado’s schedule is relatively easy, excluding a road trip to Texas and the season finale against Nebraska. With only two risky games, this should allow the Buffaloes to rise in the polls once again.

The biggest embarrassment last week was in the great state of Texas.

The Longhorns got looped 66-3 by UCLA, a team who came in without a victory and dropped them from the top 10 poll position to who knows where.

Like Colorado, they have a rather weak schedule except for the two power teams.

The gap between these three teams and the rest of the pack is huge; however, Oklahoma has a shot to shine as a flickering star. The Sooners had two impressive games against Northwestern and Syracuse. They still have two more non-conference games against respectable opponents, California and Louisville, in which they have the opportunity to improve their playing skills.

Texas A&M, along with Kansas and Kansas State, has a chance to surprise Big 12 fans but play sloppy, yet victorious, games against inferior opponents.

The best way to compare conferences is when teams and opposing conference teams play, and the Big 12 has been whipped like the ugly step-child.

The other power conferences have at least four or five teams in the top 25 and the second tier teams often cause huge upsets. Purdue and UCLA are good examples.

Until all the Big 12 starts to step up, not just the front runners, they will continue to look up at the nation’s big boys.

If this weakly behavior continues, the Bowl Alliance is likely to have some headaches in scheduling when they are without a tough team from the Big 12.

---

Scott Johnson is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Holstein.