Tag: Big 12 Conference

Oklahoma remains No. 1 in D1Softball’s top 25, Texas moves into top 5

The Oklahoma Sooners are still No. 1 in D1Softball’s top 25, and the Texas Longhorns made a big jump after their sweep of Oklahoma State.

The Oklahoma Sooners remain atop the top-25 rankings according to D1Softball. The Sooners have been nothing short of dominant this season in softball. They are currently on a 34-game winning streak after only losing to Baylor on the road in February. They avenged that loss with a weekend sweep in Waco where the Sooners held the Bears scoreless in all three games.

They hold a record of 42-1 still and are the clear favorites to win the Women’s College World Series.

The Texas Longhorns had a fantastic weekend as well, taking down the Oklahoma State Cowgirls in a top 10 thriller in Austin. It was a tight showdown, but Texas came away with the sweep and moved into second place in the Big 12. After their weekend, they moved to No. 5 in D1Softball’s latest poll.

Oklahoma State fell to No. 8. UCLA is in the No. 2 slot followed by Tennessee, Florida State and Texas to round out the top five.

Despite being swept, the Baylor Bears remained in the top 15 and are the fourth Big 12 school in the top 25.

 

The Sooners have seven more games in the regular season and then play in Oklahoma City for the Big 12 Softball Championship, and then the postseason begins for the Sooners.

The Sooners have absolutely dominated the college softball season this year and are firmly in the driver’s seat to win the whole thing. There will be challengers along the way for Oklahoma’s crown but with the best offense and pitching staff in softball, it’s hard to envision anyone knocking off the back-to-back national champions.

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5 takeaways from Oklahoma Softball’s sweep of the Baylor Bears

The Oklahoma Sooners went into Waco and came away with a shutout sweep of the Baylor Bears. Here are 5 takeaways from the weekend.

With the Oklahoma’s sweep of the Baylor Bears, the Sooners are now 42-1 on the season and are riding a 34-game winning streak. They moved to 12-0 in Big 12 play and now hold a 3.5-game lead on Texas for first place in the conference.

The Oklahoma Sooners put together another strong reminder as to why they’re the unanimous No. 1 team in the nation, remaining undefeated in top 25 matchups — Baylor was unranked when they beat Oklahoma in February.

The Sooners got a great all-around effort with fantastic pitching from the circle, timely hitting at the plate, and phenomenal defense in the field. In the stands, Sooner Nation showed out. They had a strong presence in Waco, helping to fill up Dave Getterman stadium for Oklahoma’s return trip to the site of their only loss this season.

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Here are our five takeaways from the Sooners’ weekend in Waco.

No. 14 Texas vs. Oklahoma preview and pitching matchups

Texas welcomes Oklahoma for a rivalry baseball series this weekend.

No. 14 Texas (27-12, 8-4) hosts Oklahoma (19-19, 4-8) this weekend for a Big 12 Conference rivalry series.

The Longhorns jumped up five spots in the polls this week after a road series victory over Baylor. It was not the prettiest display of baseball by Texas, but it was good enough to hold on to first place in the Big 12.

Oklahoma is in the middle of a sluggish season. Skip Johnson’s squad is looking to recreate the magic they had last season. The Sooners dropped a tight home series to Texas Tech last week to fall into the league cellar.

Despite being on opposite ends of the Big 12 standings, Texas and Oklahoma matchup up fairly even from an offensive standpoint. The difference is Texas’ pitching staff has an ERA of 3.68 compared to Oklahoma’s 5.95.

Texas can benefit from working the Oklahoma pitch counts, testing the depth of the Sooners’ bullpen.

Here is a look at the probable weekend starters for Texas and Oklahoma. Both teams are shaking up their regular rotation.

Contact/Follow usĀ @LonghornsWireĀ on Twitter, and like our page onĀ FacebookĀ to follow ongoing coverage of Texas news, notes and opinions.

No. 14 Texas vs. Oklahoma preview and pitching matchups

Texas welcomes Oklahoma for a rivalry baseball series this weekend.

No. 14 Texas (27-12, 8-4) hosts Oklahoma (19-19, 4-8) this weekend for a Big 12 Conference rivalry series.

The Longhorns jumped up five spots in the polls this week after a road series victory over Baylor. It was not the prettiest display of baseball by Texas, but it was good enough to hold on to first place in the Big 12.

Oklahoma is in the middle of a sluggish season. Skip Johnson’s squad is looking to recreate the magic they had last season. The Sooners dropped a tight home series to Texas Tech last week to fall into the league cellar.

Despite being on opposite ends of the Big 12 standings, Texas and Oklahoma matchup up fairly even from an offensive standpoint. The difference is Texas’ pitching staff has an ERA of 3.68 compared to Oklahoma’s 5.95.

Texas can benefit from working the Oklahoma pitch counts, testing the depth of the Sooners’ bullpen.

Here is a look at the probable weekend starters for Texas and Oklahoma. Both teams are shaking up their regular rotation.

Contact/Follow usĀ @LonghornsWireĀ on Twitter, and like our page onĀ FacebookĀ to follow ongoing coverage of Texas news, notes and opinions.

Where each Big 12 team football team falls in ESPN’s initial FPI rankings for 2023

Texas is the only Big 12 team to land among the top 10 nationally, while Kansas sits at the tail end of the conference.

ESPN released their initial Football Power Index (FPI) rankings on Tuesday. Continue reading “Where each Big 12 team football team falls in ESPN’s initial FPI rankings for 2023”

Brent Venables among CBS Sports’ coaches under the most pressure in 2023

CBS Sports believes Brent Venables is one of several coaches under pressure in 2023. Is he though?

Year 1 of the Brent Venables era was not good. Year 2 should be better. Because Year 2 in a defensive system and with more talent on that side of the ball should yield better results.

Months out from the start of the regular season, there is optimism Oklahoma can bounce back in 2023. However, there are still some question on this roster as the Sooners prepare for their spring game on Saturday.

CBS Sports’ Barrett Sallee believes Venables is one of several coaches under pressure to perform in 2023.

The second-year Sooners coach is essentially in the same boat as Napier and Cristobal. The 6-7 record is the first sub-.500 record and is the program’s worst since 1998 (5-6), which came before many players on the roster were born. To make matters worse, the Sooners defense — which is supposed to be Venables’ bread and butter — was the second-worst defense in the conference. Venables doesn’t necessarily have to lead his team to the Big 12 title game this season. However, the Sooners will jump to the SEC in 2024. If he doesn’t instill hope for the future, their first season in the SEC could get a little spicy for Venables. – Sallee, CBS Sports

Would a Big 12 championship appearance or even a conference title be huge for Brent Venables and the Sooners in 2023? Absolutely. However, let’s take this a little bit bigger picture.

Brent Venables wasn’t brought in to win the Big 12 championship. He was brought in to build a program that could contend and win SEC titles and national championships. So while showing improvement is a start, it’s not all about what happens with this team this year.

The Sooners are in Year 2 of a program rebuild, one that needed a lot of help defensively. But let’s also recall Clemson wasn’t built in a day. They were 81st in points allowed per game the year prior to Venables’ arrival. That first year they were better, 48th in the nation, but it took three seasons for the Tigers to rank in the top 10 in points allowed per game.

Venables isn’t just retooling a roster. He’s overhauling it. Especially on the defensive side of the ball from the Alex Grinch days.

But talent is in house, and it’s on the way as well. They had an elite 2023 signing class and a 2024 signing class could be even better. The Sooners look well on their way.

If athletic director Joe Castiglione is anything, it’s patient. He’ll give Brent Venables the time it takes to put the Sooners in a position to win games. And the wins are coming, whether in the Big 12 or the SEC. Sooners fans and national observers need to have the same patience as well.

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Updated Big 12 standings: Sooners only unbeaten team in Big 12 play after weekend’s upsets

Oklahoma remains the only unbeaten team in conference play after Oklahoma State dropped their Sunday matchup to last place Iowa State.

The Big 12’s bottom three teams, Texas Tech, Kansas and Iowa State were able to take a game from the teams that are two through four in the standings: Oklahoma State, Texas and Baylor.

Though each of the favorites earned series wins, it was surprising to see Iowa State take a game from Oklahoma State in extra innings and Kansas beat Texas by six runs.

Oklahoma State’s extra-inning loss to Iowa State prevented the Cowgirls from keeping pace with the Sooners and holding a four-game lead on the Texas Longhorns. Instead, the loss set up an opportunity for the Longhorns to catch the Cowgirls this weekend in their three-game series in Austin.

With less than a month to go in the regular season, here’s a look at the Big 12 standings ahead of some big-time matchups in conference play.

ChatGPT ranks the top 10 Big 12 quarterbacks of all time

Open Source AI ChatGPT ranked the top 10 Big 12 quarterbacks of all-time. Four of them were Oklahoma Sooners.

Over the life of the Big 12 conference, it’s become synonymous with high-scoring offenses and high-level quarterback play.

There have been Heisman trophy winners and first-overall picks, and the conference that’s been at the forefront of the aerial assault that’ taking college football by storm.

We’ve all spent time ranking quarterbacks, but for this version, we thought it’d be fun to let the computers do it. Using Open AI’s ChatGPT, we simply asked, “Who are the best Big 12 quarterbacks of all time?”

Its response?

These quarterbacks have all made significant contributions to their respective teams and have impressive statistics and accomplishments. However, it’s important to note that there have been many other great quarterbacks in the Big 12 who could also be considered for this list. – ChatGPT

Their top 10 is pretty solid. There are certainly arguments to be made for several others that made significant impacts or even won a Heisman trophy, but not bad from a computer-generated AI.

Here’s a look at the rankings.

Updated Big 12 standings: Sooners sweep Texas Tech, Oklahoma State continues to roll

The Oklahoma Sooners continued to roll in Big 12 play, Baylor beat No. 4/5 Tennessee twice. Here’s an updated look at the Big 12 standings

The top four teams in the Big 12 had quite the weekend. Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas each went 3-0 in Big 12 play, while the Baylor Bears went 3-0 with a pair of top 5 wins over Tennessee.

There’s still much to be determined in the conference landscape, but Oklahoma and Oklahoma State appear on a collision course to decide the Big 12 regular season championship. Again.

Oklahoma State biggest conference challenge remaining is Texas, and the Sooners still have to face Baylor, the only team to beat Oklahoma this season. However, with the way these two programs are performing on the diamond, it feels like an inevitability that the in-state rivals will contend with each other for the Big 12 title.

With week three of conference play in the books, let’s take a look at the up-to-date Big 12 standings and what’s on the horizon for each program.

Oklahoma Sooners sweep Big 12 pitcher and player weekly awards

Oklahoma’s Tiare Jennings and Jordy Bahl picked up Big 12 weekly honors after the Sooners swept the Texas Longhorns.

Oklahoma received standout performances from their stars over the weekend in their Red River Showdown sweep.

Tiare Jennings, the Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week, was named the Big 12’s Player of the Week for her work at the plate against the Texas Longhorns. She hit .727 with two home runs, a double, eight RBIs, and four runs scored in the three wins.

This is her first Big 12 Player of the Week award of the season and the seventh in her career.

Jennings is hitting .457 with nine home runs and 39 RBIs on the season. She’s caught fire of late to help the Sooners outscore their opponents 300-33 in 2023.

Sophomore pitcher Jordy Bahl also played a huge role in the series sweep, appearing in all three games. On Friday night, she pitched a two-hit complete game, allowing one run in the Sooners 8-1 win over Texas.Ā  Bahl was named the Big 12’s Pitcher of the Week.

On Saturday, with Alex Storako having some trouble keeping the Texas hitters at bay, Bahl came in and pitched a perfect seventh inning to give the Sooners a chance. In the bottom of the seventh, Jayda Coleman and Kinzie Hansen came through with the heroics to give Bahl her second win of the weekend.Ā Again, on Sunday, Bahl came in for a relief appearance. And again, she was great, allowing no walks, hits, or runs in 0.2 innings of relief.

In total, Bahl pitched 8.2 innings, allowing one run on two hits, and totaled six strikeouts in the effort. Bahl is 10-1 with a 1.55 ERA and hs 80 strikeouts on the season.

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Contact/Follow usĀ @SoonersWireĀ on Twitter, and like our page onĀ Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow John on Twitter @john9williams.