Big 12 football rides high as October arrives. The No. 1 team in America. Three squads in the top five. Four in the top seven. Five in the top 16. Six in the top 21.
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Buttons bust as pride swells from the South Plains to the Missouri River Valley.
But beware. The league's September prowess is hollow. Big 12 status was built on artificial victories. Truth is, we have no idea how deep lies the football power in this corner of the universe.
The Big 12 mostly has been watching from the sidelines this season while other leagues get about the business of knocking slobber.
Oklahoma had a decent test in TCU. Missouri met Illinois on a neutral field. Kansas went to South Florida. Those are the highlights.
That changes Saturday, when Big 12 play finally starts. The six ranked teams are matched against the six unranked teams, but five of the ranked teams are on the road.
It's about time.
September in the Big 12 is mostly about finagling your way to a decent ranking. So while the SEC has played 11 conference games already, and the Pac-10 and ACC eight each, and the Big Ten five, the Big 12 has hid its light under a bushel.
Now comes a bunch of fair fights.
Texas Tech at Kansas State. Missouri at Nebraska. Texas at Colorado. OU at Baylor. Kansas at Iowa State. Only OSU, among the ranked teams, is at home, against hapless Texas A&M.
Now come games that tell us who is worth their salt.
"In every conference, you see upsets,” Bob Stoops said. "If you're not at your best, you can be beat. It's happened to everybody.”
Much has been made about the great upset wave the last couple of years.
USC-Stanford and USC-Oregon State. OU-Colorado. LSU-Kentucky and LSU-Arkansas. West Virginia-Pitt.
All conference games. For every Michigan-Appalachian State, there's a dozen big upsets in league play.
"You've got to be able to go on the road in your conference and win,” Stoops said.
Is Tech for real? Is Texas? Heck, are the Sooners truly contenders, or are they replicas of the '07 squad, which stumbled twice on the Big 12 road?
That's what we find out when the fair fights start.
"Conference, it's a pretty big deal,” said Sooner QB Sam Bradford. "You gotta win all your games. We realize there is a sense of urgency.”
That's one way of putting it. Here's another. For Big 12 teams, the start of the real season.
Berry Tramel: 405-760-8080. Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1.
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This is way off base. Big 12 football is for real again this season. The Big 12 Conference is had a ton of good games beyond those that Barry paid attention to. Even our lossess are impressive. Baylor stepped up in "weight class" to challenge and almost defeat the defending Big East co-champs from Connecticut at Storrs. Iowa State went to UNLV and had a huge comeback against the team that beat Arizona State the week before. Even Kansas, the 3rd place team in the Big 12, should have defeated the Big East favorite South Florida. Neither OU, Texas, Baylor or Oklahoma State can help the fact that football teams from the state schools in Washington and Arkansas absolutely stink this year. The Big 12 squads went on the road and handled their business. I would put any of our teams up against the best of these other leagues and enjoy watching the Big 12 kick some out-of-conference butts!
Gary, there are fragments in five paragraphs. However, Berry uses the fragments to list examples of the points he is trying to make. And keep in mind this is a commentary piece, and not a straight news style article. From my news style class in college, years ago, I was told you can break the writing rules as long as you know them. I think you can cut Berry some slack, considering the content of this article congruent, and he made some great points.
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Go Big 12!