Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Texas Longhorns beat Alabama Crimson Tide and Big 12 goes 1-2 vs. Pac-12. Who’s on the move in this week’s Big 12 Power Rankings?
Week 2 had several fantastic matchups. Three Big 12 teams played Pac-12 opponents. The Texas Longhorns provided an SEC preview in its win over Alabama.
Big 12 teams matched up with the Pac-12, Big Ten, ACC and SEC on Saturday, providing an intriguing group of games for fans to dive into. The conference went 10-4.
Here are this week’s Big 12 power rankings after Week 2.
Alabama vs. Texas and three nonconference games with the Pac-12 highlight the Week 2 Big 12 predictions.
This weekend’s nonconference slate in the Big 12 is a lot of fun. The Texas Longhorns travel to Tuscaloosa to take on Alabama while Baylor, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State have matchups with the Pac-12. Cincinnati reunites with an old Big East foe. Last but not least (though offense might provide the least) is an in-state rivalry game on top of all of the other action for this weekend.
There are a lot of fun matchups to keep you tuned in to Big 12 action this weekend. But who comes out on top? Check out this week’s Big 12 predictions.
Big moves happened this week. Where did the Big 12’s 14 teams land in the updated USA TODAY Sports re-rank after week 1?
Week one of the college football season provided a nice balance of blowout wins and upsets to get the ball rolling. In the Big 12, several teams that could be contenders in the Big 12 took losses to upset the apple cart to start the season.
One game doesn’t completely define a team, but it definitely doesn’t help their credibility on the national scale. When you play down a level of competition like much of the conference did, you better make sure you come away with a win because everyone else on your schedule is going to be licking their chops.
That’s what Texas Tech and Baylor face this week as they prepare to host two of the best teams in the Pac-12 and top 15 squads in the country in Oregon and Utah.
But before we get to that, let’s take a look at how Erick Smith of USA TODAY Sports re-ranked the Big 12 in his updated 1-133 re-rank after week 1.
The Oklahoma Sooners win projections moved in a positive direction in an updated look at the ESPN matchup predictor after week one’s win.
The Oklahoma Sooners’ 73-0 win over the Arkansas State Red Wolves was eye-opening. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Red Wolves or the Texas A&M Aggies, anytime you score 70 or more points and shut out your opponent, it’s kind of a big deal.
Now this game will not win Oklahoma a Big 12 title or put it in the national title conversation, but it’s a strong step in the right direction in Year 2 of Brent Venables.
ESPN analytics took note of the Sooners’ week one dominance in their updated win projections for the 2023 season in their matchup predictor.
The ESPN matchup predictor runs thousands of simulations with data derived from recent results on the field and recruiting.
Now that ESPN has Week 1 data to plug into the simulations, the results have become even more favorable. Let’s take a look at how the ESPN matchup predictor sees the rest of Oklahoma’s schedule playing out.
Texas schools struggled in week 1 and there were some impressive performances elsewhere in the Big 12. Here are this week’s power rankings.
It was an up and down Week 1 in the Big 12. Several teams had impressive performances, but others suffered upset losses to Group of Five schools.
In particular, the schools in Texas struggled in the season’s opening week. Texas Tech, TCU and Baylor lost as favorites. TCU was more than a 20-point favorite in its home tilt against Colorado.
Tech lost to Wyoming on the road, and Texas State knocked off Baylor. Houston picked up a win, but it was only by three points against UTSA. Texas had moments where it didn’t look like the Big 12 front-runner in what turned out to be a comfortable win over Rice.
It was a weird week in the conference. While it’s just Week 1, it’s all we have to go off of thus far. Here’s how the Big 12 stacks up in this week’s power rankings.
A look at the final preseason bowl projections for the Big 12 from USA TODAY Sports.
Week 1 will give us a full slate of games this weekend, marking the full start of the 2023 college football season.
The Oklahoma Sooners should get off to a great start against the visiting Arkansas State Red Wolves. It’s expected the Sooners will bounce back this season, erasing what happened in the 2022 season and truly kickstarting the Brent Venables era in Norman.
How successful the season will be is anyone’s guess. Most expect the Sooners to get back into the Big 12 title game or at least win nine or ten games.
As we’ve seen in recent years, the Big 12 is difficult to figure, with one or two teams often exceeding preseason expectations.
With the start of the Oklahoma Sooners season coming Saturday, let’s take one more look at the USA TODAY Sports bowl projections and where each Big 12 team lands. The College Football Playoff projection features some regular attendees.
A look at how the Big 12 landed in the USA TODAY Sports 1-133 preseason re-rank for the 2023 season.
The 2023 college football season kicks off with Week 0 on Saturday. The wait for the Oklahoma Sooners season opener is nearly over. The opportunity to put last season in the rearview is upon us.
The Big 12 is going to be an interesting race this season. It’s a deep league that usually has a surprise team in conference title contention by the end of the year. Just in the preseason, five teams have a legit shot to win the conference and probably another five that if things fall right, could make their way to Arlington.
As we approach the start of the season, USA TODAY Sports released the first iteration of their weekly 1-133 rankings of each team in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Here’s how the Big 12 teams stack up ahead of the start of the season.
How does ESPN’s Matchup Predictor think the Sooners 2023 season is going to go?
College football is almost here. All the offseason talk will give way to seeing what these teams can do on the football field. The Oklahoma Sooners are a team with a lot to prove heading into the 2023 season.
And mostly to themselves. What they put on the field a year ago isn’t a good representation of what Oklahoma Football is about or what Brent Venables’ defense is about. And that’s the beauty of college football. What happened last year matters little as we look ahead.
Nobody expected TCU to go on a run to the national championship game. Nobody expected Baylor to fall back to the pack. And certainly, nobody expected Oklahoma to have their first losing season since 1998.
And that provides as much optimism as anything for the 2023 Oklahoma Sooners. Last year’s results don’t matter anymore. They have a chance to write a new chapter in one of the most storied programs in college football history.
ESPN’s matchup predictor, which runs thousands of simulations, is a believer in a return to Big 12 prominence in 2023. Let’s take a look at how they see the Sooners’ season playing out.
A look at how each Big 12 stadium stacks up in capacity heading into the 2023 season.
The 2023 college football season is nearly upon us. Week zero opens next Saturday. Schools in the Big 12 will begin their season in two weeks.
The league is welcoming four new teams, and four new venues into the Big 12 footprint for the season. BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF join the league adding new venues.
Here’s a look at how the 14 Big 12 stadiums rank in capacity heading into 2023.
The Sooners have to show improvement in year two under head coach Brent Venables and 247Sports thinks they will in 2023.
The [autotag]Oklahoma Sooners[/autotag] are fresh off a 6-7 season in year one of the Brent Venables era. Safe to say things didn’t go how many expected but there is a lot of optimism for year two.
The Sooners received one of the easier schedules on paper for their last season in the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag]. But that doesn’t mean it will be easy. No one in the country thought the [autotag]TCU Horned Frogs[/autotag] would be as good as they were a year ago.
The Frogs would make the national championship game and be the first Big 12 team to win a playoff game.
Given the schedule, the Sooners have a chance to have significant improvement from their 6-7 a year ago and contend for the Big 12 title.
247Sports’ Cody Nagel gave his record prediction for every team in the Big 12 in 2023 and has the Sooners going 9-3.
My projected #Big12 records in 2023. 🔢
Which teams are too high or too low? ⬇️⬇️
(it's mandatory to pick Texas No. 1 when you become a national writer) pic.twitter.com/ZqHsWjiypH
— Cody Nagel (@CodyNagel247) August 16, 2023
Now it’s unclear who he has Oklahoma losing to. He doesn’t break down the games to let us know who the losses are against, but he has three of Oklahoma’s opponents losing three or fewer games. Those three teams are Texas, TCU, and Oklahoma State.
While 9-3 will show progress, some will still feel it’s not good enough. The standard is different at the University of Oklahoma. The place that invented winning seven national titles and 50 conference championships.
However, 9-3 would show the program is heading in the right direction in year two of the Brent Venables era.
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Jaron on Twitter @JaronSpor.
