Quarterbacks

1. Oklahoma (Sam Bradford--for now; if not...?)
2. Texas (Colt McCoy--for now; if not...John Chiles?)
3. Oklahoma State (Zac Robinson)
4. Baylor (Hot Tub Griffin III)
5. Texas Tech (Taylor Potts)
6. Texas A&M (Jerrod Johnson)

Obviously, there's a lot of "if" here.  If Bradford's gone, OU falls to #6 because they don't have another QB who's taken a single snap.  If McCoy's gone, you figure Chiles gets the first shot at the job, and while he's decent, UT still falls to #5 on this list.

Running Backs

1. Oklahoma State (Kendall Hunter, Keith Toston)
2. Oklahoma (DeMarco Murray, Chris Brown)
3. Texas (Fozzy Whitaker, Vondrell McGee)
4. Texas Tech (Baron Batch, Aaron Crawford)
5. Baylor (Jay Finley, Jeremy Sanders)
6. Texas A&M (Mike Goodson--for now; if not...Bradley Stephens?)

I firmly expect Goodson to go pro if he's healthy enough for the combine.  Even with him, though, it appears that every other South team has better depth at RB than ATM.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

1. Oklahoma State (Dez Bryant, Damian Davis, DeMarcus Connor)
2. Texas (Malcolm Williams, Dan Buckner, Brandon Collins)
3. Texas Tech (Detron Lewis, Edward Britton, Tramain Swindall)
4. Texas A&M (Jeff Fuller, Ryan Tannehill, Terrence McCoy)
5. Oklahoma (Ryan Broyles, Brandon Caleb, Jameel Owens)
6. Baylor (David Gettis, Ernest Smith, Kendall Wright)
   

I am 99.999% sure Michael Crabtree is going pro, so we're not even going to pretend with an "If he's still at Tech" scenario.  He's gone.  As are a lot of the other proven WRs in the South.  OSU ends up on top here, though Texas almost looks to have a better WR corps next year despite losing Cosby and Shipley.  OU's unit could be solid, and you know they have plenty of good recruits to plug in the holes, but losing Iglesias and Manny Johnson will hurt them.  Broyles could be a major stud, though.

Offensive Lines

1. Texas (OT Adam Ulatoski, C Chris Hall, OT Kyle Hix)
2. Oklahoma State (OT Russell Okung, OT Brady Bond, OG Andrew Lewis)
3. Texas A&M (OT Michael Shumard, OG Evan Eike, C Kevin Matthews)
4. Texas Tech (OT Marlon Winn, OG Brandon Carter, ...?)
5. Oklahoma (OT Trent Williams, ...?)
6. Baylor (OG James Barnard, C JD Walton, OG Chris Griesenbeck)
   

It might behoove Sam Bradford to seriously think about entering the NFL draft this coming year...as his stock could fall in the '10 draft after running for his life all season long in '09.  You know OU's O-line will still be reasonably competent, but this appears to be a 2005-esque rebuilding year for OU in the trenches.

South Offenses, 2009

1. Oklahoma State (21)
2. Texas (20)
3. Oklahoma (15)
4. Texas Tech (12)
5. Texas A&M (9)
6. Baylor (7)

You know Tech and OU (if Bradford comes back) will have competent offenses in 2009--they just will.  But continuity at OSU and UT appear to give them edges here.

If Colt McCoy goes pro

1. Oklahoma State (22)
2. Texas (17)
3. Oklahoma (15)
4. Texas Tech (13)
5. Texas A&M (9)
6. Baylor (8)

If Sam Bradford goes pro

1. Oklahoma State (22)
2. Texas (21)
3. Texas Tech (13)
4. Oklahoma (10)
5. Texas A&M (10)
6. Baylor (8)

If McCoy AND Bradford go pro

1. Oklahoma State (23)
2. Texas (18)
3. Texas Tech (14)
4. Oklahoma (10)
5. Texas A&M (10)
6. Baylor (9)

This does show the strength of the South--Baylor's got their most exciting QB, possibly ever, and ATM has a nice, young QB with some nice, young WRs...and they're still bringing up the rear in just about every scenario.

One thing's for certain: Mike Gundy better start googling "How to handle the hype" right now, because I see no way OSU isn't a preseason Top 6-8 team next year.

Since rptgwb continues to remind us that we almost lost to Baylor, I guess we need a few Baylor Wrap-up Links...

• The Missourian: Wolfert does his job
• The Missourian: Missouri survives
• The Trib: One play separates good team from bad
• KC Star: MU's Christopher baited Griffin into pick
• Post-Dispatch: Winning close one reassures Missouri
• Waco Tribune-Herald: Baylor's 3-6 record belies team's improvement

Oh man...god bless Chase Coffman.  Gonna miss this guy so much.

Twice in Mizzou's 31-28 win over Baylor, tight end Chase Coffman pulled in high passes from quarterback Chase Daniel and managed to get a foot improbably in the end zone before falling out of bounds. And twice the officials in the review booth stopped the game to look them over.

"I guess they just wanted to watch them again," Coffman said afterward. "I knew I was in both times."

Add them to the growing list of amazing Coffman catches.

Something to watch: Toledo's Tom Amstutz is stepping down as Toledo Head Coach.  This could be a very good spot for either Dave Christensen or (to me, more likely) Matt Eberflus to start their head coaching career.  Have to figure one or both will be candidates...

Finally, the P-D's Bryan Burwell checked in on StL's high school All-American Sheldon Richardson.  It's a great article, other than the part where he doesn't say he's 100% going to Mizzou.

So Rivals really likes the rising draft prospects of two Mizzou defensive linemen--Stryker "Perfect as an OLB in a 3-4" Sulak and Ziggy "Disruptive off the snap" Hood.  Nice to see.

Here's a VERY nice KC Star article on the greatness of Chase & Chase.  Meanwhile, William Moore's got a back story we haven't heard much about before.  The P-D's Vahe Gregorian uses his skills for good and digs in deep with Willy Mo.

It's Cut to the...Spoon?

• BTS: You almost played for Baylor Coach Art Briles when he was at Houston. What did you like about him?

Weatherspoon: He’s a pretty cool guy. I’m not sure how many of those guys he brought from his Houston staff, but we had a great relationship. I really liked Art Briles because he was just excited all the time. Just an effervescent kind of guy.

• BTS: Did you figure he was a good fit for Baylor?

Weatherspoon: Well, I didn’t know they’d be this good offensively this fast, but it’s working pretty good for him right now.

Baylor Links!

• The Missourian: Baylor quarterback to test Missouri's defense
• KC Star: Saturday's MU-Baylor preview
• Waco Tribune-Herald: Missouri-Baylor pits former Marlin teammates against each other.

The Trib's your place for basketball Black & Gold Game coverage.  First, there's a nice Steve Walentik article.  Next...it's B&G video!

And if that wasn't enough basketball talk for you, the Missourian has a nice article on a freshman who didn't score a bazillion points on Wednesday night--Kimmie English.

Screw KU.

Finally...need recruiting news?  First, read this Michael Snaer article,  Next, read The Chamber.  That should do for the weekend.

I must say, I'm actually somewhat happy for the city of Philadelphia.  Let's face it--a Mizzou fan should be able to identify with any fanbase that is both a) tortured and b) a little unstable, right?  I'm impressed, though, that I managed to stay sympathetic to the people of Philly despite that their long "championship drought" simply wasn't that long, at least not to a Mizzou/Pirates/Dolphins/Blazers fan.

That, and I'm sorry, but Jeanne Zelasko is awful, just awful.  She's not interesting, she doesn't appear very smart, she says very silly things, and...I mean, she's not even attractive.  She was horrendous during last night's post-game celebration interviews.

Anyhoo...on to a monster edition of the Links...

Marcus Denmon: the next Kareem Rush?  Anthony Peeler?  Just kidding, but wow does he already have the superlatives flowing.  Guess that's what happens when you score 36 points on 14-of-17 shooting in the Black & Gold Game.  Some B&G links...

• Mutigers.com: official box score (pdf)
• PowerMizzou: A Dazzling Debut for Denmon
• The Missourian: Denmon shines in Black and Gold game
• KC Star: Bowers hits the boards for Mizzou

On to football...The Trib has a very well-done "Jeremy Maclin sure is great" article.

Having played just 22 games in a Missouri uniform, Maclin needs only 98 all-purpose yards to eclipse Brad Smith’s MU career record of 4,419, a figure that took four years for Smith to compile. Granted, all but 130 of Smith’s yards were rushing totals - the all-purpose category also counts yards for receiving and returns - but already this season, Maclin has passed Joe Stewart, Darrell Wallace, Zack Abron, Brock Olivo and Devin West on the career list.

So this is something, I guess: Fox Sports will "televise" the Baylor-Mizzou game Monday at noon and 9pm and Wednesday at 2pm as part of their "No Huddle" series.  Baylor links!

• PowerMizzou: Baylor defensive preview
• Dave Matter: Behind the Numbers...and more
• KC Star: This time, Brad Smith plays for Baylor, not MU
• Post-Dispatch: MU's Alexander has rivalry with Baylor's Sanders
• Waco Tribune-Herald: No time to rest for Baylor cornerbacks
• Waco Tribune-Herald: Matchup: Missouri

Jacquies Smith is going to end up at 265 pounds?  Yeah, that sounds really nice..

Chase Daniel: Draddy Trophy finalist.  (What's the Draddy Trophy?  Click the link!)

In last year's regular season, the Big 12 North was 10-8 versus the Big 12 South.  This year?  2-10.

The Post-Dispatch's Jeff Gordon does a nice job in laying out all the reasons why the Mizzou football job is more attractive than Washington or a lot of other jobs that might come open.

In football recruiting news, two MO kids will be playing in the U.S. All-American game--Sheldon Richardson and Ronnie Wingo.

Finally...ouch.  Mizzou Volleyball led Kansas 12-7 in the fifth set last night but fell, 12-25 25-18 25-15 13-25 14-16.  Not much to say about this one--it's gonna sting for a while.  Mizzou blocked much better than KU, but the 'Hawks just dug and dug and dug (92 digs for KU, 68 for MU) and wore Mizzou out.  It also didn't hurt that their passing was far superior (61 sets to 39).

1 - Quick: name another Baylor player besides Robert "Hot Tub" Griffin.

2 - Of Missouri's three games before Arrowhead--@BU, KSU, @ISU--which one worries you the most (or in Doug's case, which one gives you the most hope of a trip-up)?

3 - From what we've seen of Baylor this year, what truly is their ceiling during the Art Briles era?

4 - Big 12 picks!

Missouri at Baylor
Texas at Texas Tech
Nebraska at Oklahoma
Kansas State at Kansas
Colorado at Texas A&M
Iowa State at Oklahoma State

5 - Finally...Robert Griffin's Celebrity Hot Tub: WILL it make me wet?  WILL it make me sweat?

Continue reading this post »

A few quick Big 12 recaps and comments for you...

• Nebraska 35, San Jose State 12 - SJSU got it to 14-12 early in Q4 until NU finally kicked it into gear.  Marlon Lucky's Heisman campaign isn't going well.  Nor is his All-Conference campaign.  Corn Nation looks at the goods and bads.
  
• Colorado 31, Eastern Washington 24 - Well...I guess almost losing to EWU is better than losing to EWU.  Darrell Scott struggled to get going, but I'm wondering how much of that is the O-line.  Ralphie Report looks at CU's first-down struggles.
  
• Iowa State 48, Kent State 28 - REVENGE!!!  Though for the second straight week, ISU's scoreboard blowout didn't match the stats.  Clone Chronicles analyzes what's up.
  
• Kansas 29, Louisiana Tech 0 - If I'm a KU fan (and I'm very much not), I'm starting to get really, really worried about the running game.  3rd-stringer Angus Quigley did well after Jake Sharp and Jocques Crawford combined for 39 yards on 14 carries.  But the defense is obviously looking good.  A nice recap at Rock Chalk Talk.
  
• Kansas State 69, Montana State 10 - Three return TDs + really bad opponent = 59-point win.
• Oklahoma 52, Cincinnati 26 - Cincy acquitted themselves relatively well, but my buddy's predictions of greatness for Ryan Broyles turned out to be pretty accurate.  CC Machine has some initial reactions...
  
• Texas Tech 35, Nevada 19 - Graham Harrell was only 19-for-46, and Colin Kaepernick had 350+ total yards, which means I'm looking forward to next week.  I'm not scared of a loss, but I'm looking forward to an interesting challenge.  Double T with thoughts and links.
  
• Texas 42, UTEP 13 - Watched some of this one.  Colt McCoy is at his best when he's running around and improvising, and he looked good last night (as did Quan Cosby).  The defense still has some improving to do, but they continuously came up with big hits when they needed to.  Nothing postgame-ish at BON yet, but I'm sure it's coming...
• Oklahoma State 56, Houston 37 - Nothing like putting up 42 points in the second half to blow open a tight game.  Kendall Hunter (210 yards rushing) and Dez Bryant (236 receiving) looked, shall we say, solid.
• Texas A&M 28, New Mexico 22 - The Jerrod Johnson era begins.  A&M's defense confused UNM's QB (Porterie) pretty well, making up for the injuries to Stephen McGee and Mike Goodson.
  
• Baylor 51, Northwestern State 6 - Check out Robert Griffin's numbers.  Even against a 1-AA opponent, he looked pretty outstanding for a true freshman.  I'm not saying Baylor's an emerging threat or anything, but they might at least resemble a real team soon.

via farm4.static.flickr.com

This will get its own set of bullets: The Trib put out its First And Ten edition yesterday.

• MU stars get comfortable in the spotlight
• Getting there is half the fun (a look at the schedule)
• Star-studded Mizzou teams of earlier eras
• The ultimate defender (Willy Mo...who also gets pub from the P-D)
• Armed and dangerous (the Big 12's stud QBs)
• A twisted trip around the league (Joe Walljasper being Joe Walljasper)

Today's Braggin' Rights links:

• KC Star: MU-UI preview
• Mizzourah: MU-UI preview
• Champaign News-Gazette: Juice vs Chase
• PowerMizzou: Previewing the Illinois defense.
• Missourian: Juice starts season with a smile
• PowerMizzou: Three Tiger Keys against Illinois.

MAILBAG!!!

jeffrgoldberg asks: Outside of Maclin, Daniel and Moore, which player or position can Mizzou least afford to lose to injury? What position can Mizzou rebound most easily from injury?

This is going to surprise people, but it's Tim Barnes. The depth at center just isn't there. Barnes is head and shoulders above the guys behind him. If he goes down, I'm scared. I think they could most afford an injury at safety. No, you don't want Moore going down, but if Justin Garrett is hurt, I think Del Howard, Hardy Ricks, et al, would be okay.

The Missourian takes one last look at Derrick Washington before he attempts to prove himself.

If it's a big game, Missouri's in it.

Let's take a quick look at last night's results and share some comments...

• Wake Forest 41, Baylor 13.  Wake Forest just has the best counter-punch offense in the country.  You can get to them if you're athletic enough, but...Baylor's not athletic enough.  If they blitzed, they got burned for 10 yards, if they dropped back they got bumped for 5.  Wake Forest did whatever it wanted offensively...and only ended up with 376 total yards.  THAT's Wake Forest football.  Oh yeah, and Baylor still has a long way to go.  But they might as well just start Robert Griffin for the rest of the season.
• Iowa State 44, South Dakota State 17.  I'd be really impressed if this were D1 killer North Dakota State, but oh well.  I'll have to parse the play-by-play of this one soon, as I want to see just how telling it is that ISU only outgained SDSU 388-350.  Maybe SDSU got a ton of yards in Q4.
• Stanford 36, Oregon State 28.  Picked it.  :-)
• SEMO 35, Southwest Baptist 28 (OT).  Actually a nice comeback for SEMO from down 21-3.

The men's basketball team has finalized its schedule.  Haven't had time to digest it yet, but here it is.  And I haven't shared much about their Canada trip, so here's a link for that.  (And speaking of basketball, a moment of well-wishes to former Big 8 great Wayman Tisdale, who's struggling with cancer right now.)

Finally, some awesome reporter from the Maneater broke a volleyball story last night--Lindsey Hunter, Mizzou's all-time leading assists leader, is coming back to help the program and finish her degree.  That really can't be a bad thing.