The schedule is a little light in the final weekend of regular season play for Big 12 teams. It all kicks off with Texas A&M playing host to third ranked Texas on Thanksgiving night.
The Longhorns take their unbeaten record to Kyle Field in what many people perceive to be an afterthought for Texas before they lay claim to the Big 12 Championship by beating Nebraska a week later in Dallas. The Longhorns should be able to handle the Aggies with little trouble, but this is a rivalry game and upsets do happen.
A&M’s has won two of the last three meetings between these two squads and 8 of the last 12 at Kyle Field. For the Aggies to win they have to be able to rush the ball and keep from being one dimensional, something that I doubt they’ll be able to do against the nation’s number one rush defense.
A&M is bowl eligible this year but they are a Jekel and Hyde team that could easily give up 50 plus points to the Horns in this one.
Could Friday’s game in Boulder be the swan song for Colorado’s Dan Hawkins? A loss to Nebraska would leave the Buffaloes with a 3 win season in a year where Hawkins insisted that it was 10 wins or bust. It’s possible the Huskers could suffer a letdown after securing the Big 12 North title last week. Their defense will show up, but there’s little offense to begin with.
Colorado has scored 69 points in their two Big 12 wins and in their five league losses?....just 75...I expect the children of the corn to survive a possible scare in the Rockies.
Bedlam doesn’t mean that much outside the state of Oklahoma this year. The Sooners are limping home with a shocking 6-5 record and just want this season over, but a win against Oklahoma State would heal some wounds. The Cowboys and coach Mike Gundy are trying to put themselves in position for a BCS bowl bid and they need a convincing victory in Norman to help.
In a strange twist, Boise State, the team that stunned OU in the Fiesta Bowl two years ago is rooting for the Sooners to win this time so they can have another shot at a BCS bowl bid.
Kansas and Missouri resume their Border war in Kansas City at Arrowhead Stadium. The first two meetings off campus have had huge on field drama. This time the drama is off the field where embattled Jayhawk coach Mark Mangino has survived to coach through the final game of the season, but who knows from here.
A win and KU can become bowl eligible and they snap a six game losing streak. A loss and all the off field issues may mark the end of Mangino’s eight year tenure at Kansas.
Finally, Texas Tech closes out the weekend taking on Baylor in their oldest rivalry game which is being played on a neutral site for the first time ever. The Red Raiders and Bears face off in the new Cowboys Stadium in Dallas.
Tech has won the last 13 straight meetings between the two clubs and in the Mike Leach era the average margin of victory has been 32 points. The Red Raiders are also bowl eligible for the 16th straight season, the longest streak in the Big 12.
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