Big XII Preview and Interview With Blatant Homerism

Written by Gatorsfirst.com and Blatant Homerism

With the college football season rapidly approaching, Gatorsfirst.com is presenting a different take on the 2009 season every day for the entire month of August.

We call it our ''Full Month of College Football Previews."

As part of the project, we are having fellow bloggers and other college football personalities from around the SEC and the rest of the nation give us their take on the current state of college football.

This approach will allow us to bring you a much more in-depth look at the 2009 season than we could possibly provide on our own.

The next in this series is the Big XII Conference season preview, by Blatant Homerism. As he is an Oklahoma Sooners fan, we turned to him for his take on the Big XII's outlook for 2009.

Also, check out the interview below for his take on the BCS, Oklahoma's recruiting base, and conference championship games. 

Projected Conference Finish

Conference Championship: Oklahoma over Kansas

North

Kansas 9-3 (5-3)

Nebraska 9-3 (5-3)

Kansas St.7-5 (4-4)

Colorado 7-5 (4-4)

Missouri 4-8 (2-6)

Iowa St. 2-10 (0-8)

South

Oklahoma 11-1 (7-1)

Texas 11-1 (7-1)

Oklahoma St. 9-3 (6-2)

Texas Tech 7-5 (3-5)

Baylor 7-5 (3-5)

Texas A&M 2-10 (0-8)

Top 5 Freshmen/newcomers

1. Nick Kasa, DE, Colorado

2. Alex Okafor, DE, Texas

3. Jon Major, LB, Colorado

4. Christine Michael, RB, Texas A&M

5. Cameron Kenney, WR/P, Oklahoma

Top 5 Breakout Players

1. Dezmon Briscoe WR, Kansas*

2. Malcolm Williams, WR, Texas

3. Stephen Good, G, Oklahoma

4. Frank Alexander, DE, Oklahoma

5. Earl Thomas, SS, Texas

*Assuming he's eligible

Player Superlatives

Player of the Year: Sam Bradford, QB, Oklahoma

Offensive POTY: Colt McCoy, QB, Texas

Defensive POTY: Gerald McCoy, DT, Oklahoma

Overrated POTY: Brandon Carter, G, Texas Tech

Underrated POTY: Todd Reesing, QB, Kansas

BCS Bowl Projections

BCS Championship Game: Florida v. Ohio State

Orange Bowl: Va. Tech v. Pittsburgh

Sugar Bowl: Georgia v. Texas

Rose Bowl: California v. Penn State

Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma v. Notre Dame

Which brings us to the interview portion of this preview:

Gatorsfirst (G1): Give me some thought on your coaching staff. Are you satisfied? Do you wish your team ran different schemes? How is recruiting?

Blatant Homerism (BH): It seems like people are more likely to think “Chokelahoma” than “Big Game Bob” these days when it comes to Sooner football.

It’s true that OU’s bowl record in the last six years sucks. Obviously I’d rather see OU winning those games, but it doesn’t change the fact that OU has owned the Big 12 since Stoops arrived.

The Sooners have won six conference titles in Stoops’ 10 seasons as head coach. No other member school has won more than one in that span, including Texas.

When you consider the state of the program before Stoops took over, it’s miraculous.

In other words, yes, I’m satisfied.

As for schemes and recruiting, it’s tough to argue with the results. On balance, though, I do think there has been a drop-off in the defense’s effectiveness since Mike Stoops left for Arizona.

The D has continued to produce in his absence, but it seems like discipline and toughness have fallen off. Fundamentals like tackling technique and taking proper blitzing lanes have declined a bit.

Also, the secondary generally tends to struggle with busted assignments in pass coverage, as has been the case for a while now.

(G1): Who is a player we might not know from your team that you are excited about this season? Why?

(BH): It may seem strange to pick an offensive lineman, but I’m excited to see Stephen Good take on a bigger role in the OU offense.

Heading into his senior year in high school, a number of recruiting services pegged him as the top prospect in Texas. A shoulder injury forced him out for the season, though, causing his ranking to plummet.

Last year, Good was impressive in the seven games he played as a true freshman. This year, he is solidly entrenched at the right guard position, and I expect him to be a road grader in the OU run game.

In time, Good should develop into an NFL-caliber lineman. Book it.

(G1): Make one point about your school, and another point about your conference, you think is overlooked on the national level.

(BH): When you stop to think about it, the Sooners’ sustained run of success is pretty remarkable.

You’re talking about a state that ranked 28th in population in 2008 and sustains three D-I universities. That means a smaller in-state talent pool being diluted by competition.

To put things in perspective, not one player who took part in the NFL combine workouts this year hailed from the state of Oklahoma.

Look at the rosters of the other programs that have won national championships this decade—Florida, Texas, USC, etc.

All draw heavily from their home states, which puts the Sooners at a significant disadvantage. Even Louisiana has roughly a million more people than Oklahoma.

We haven’t even gotten to discrepancies in schools’ resources and state income levels. Add it all up and you have a pretty nice testament to the job Bob Stoops is doing.

Outside of Texas, I think most of the conference is in the same boat. When was the last time you heard of an outstanding recruit coming out of Nebraska?

(G1): What do you think about conference title games? Was it a good idea to add to 12? Would you change something about the conference?

(BH): Given the constraints of the season for the 12-team leagues, I guess the conference title games are necessary. But the Pac-10 does it right, in my opinion.

A conference champion should have to play every member school. Look at Ole Miss’ schedule this year—the Rebels miss Florida and Georgia out of the SEC East. That’s an artificial advantage over the rest of the SEC West.

From a national championship perspective, I look at the conference championship games as just another game to add to a team’s body of work.

With the disparities in how the conferences decide their champions, I don’t see much point in using conference titles as some point of differentiation between teams.

Basically, the championships are just a matter of intra-conference bragging rights.

If I could change something about the Big 12, I would boot Iowa State from the North division and Baylor from the South. Nothing personal—just seems to me that a league with 10 teams works better for football.

(G1): How much did you like the bowl system pre-BCS? As a fan, how much do you concentrate on 'National Championships'? Has this changed in the last decade or so?

(BH): I can barely remember what the old system was like, but the notion that the teams most deserving of playing for the national championship couldn’t meet because of “tradition” seems a little odd to me.

At least the BCS has the potential to give us matchups like USC-Texas in the ’05 Rose Bowl and Ohio State-Miami in the ’03 Fiesta Bowl. It’s not as pretty when there aren’t two undefeated major conference teams, but I think the system typically puts the two most deserving teams in the title game.

The emphasis on the national championship certainly is one drawback of the BCS.

If your view of success is title or bust, your life as a fan will be pretty disappointing. Yet, that mentality seems to have infected college football fandom as a result of the BCS.

In general, fans should keep in mind just how hard it is to actually win a national championship and be more reasonable about their expectations.

(G1): What sort of changes, if any should be made to the BCS system? Does this opinion put you in-line or out-of-line with other fans of your team and conference?

(BH): I’m certainly not a full-fledged playoff advocate. To me, it doesn’t reward teams for a full season’s achievement. Why people buy that a playoff is the best way to determine a champion is beyond me.

I also agree with the university presidents and conference commissioners that implementing a playoff would have unintended consequences that the anti-BCS crowd doesn’t recognize.

The biggest issue with the current system seems to be the lack of comparability between teams that play vastly different schedules. I think a plus-one seems like a good solution, in so far as the bowls would at least give the deciders an opportunity to see the elite play each other.

Either way, I think a selection committee along the lines of the college basketball postseason model would be a big step forward.

(G1): How much should non-BCS teams be included in the BCS- and other high payout- bowls? How much do you watch these teams?

(BH): If a team plays an exciting style of football, I’ll watch. For instance, I think Conference USA games can be pretty fun—Houston, Tulsa, Southern Miss., etc.

I really don’t see any reason to keep the little guys out of the BCS. If a non-BCS team puts together a strong enough body of work, as Utah did this year, why ban them? I try to look at resumé more so than conference affiliation.

You can find the original interview here: http://gatorsfirst.com/index.php/florida-gators-sports-news/college-football/big-xii-preview-2009.html