Big 12 Sports Blog by Big 12 Fans

For years the DFN Sports network of college sports fan sites has been a leader in providing the best college football coverage, and the 2009 college football preview has been released over at CollegeSports-fans.com for your viewing pleasure. With expert writer Joel Welser providing each Big 12 team preview once again this year, there is no doubt that the 2009 preview will be just as big a hit as the 2008 college football preview. Find out how your favorite Big 12 team is expected to fare in 2009 and see who will represent the Big 12 in a BCS Bowl game again this fall.

A few topics addressed in the 2009 college football preview and Big 12 team previews include:

• Will Oklahoma get over the hump and win a BCS Bowl game?
• Will Baylor continue to rise and become relevant in the Big 12?
• How will Iowa State respond to another coaching changes?
• Can Colt McCoy complete 70%+ of his passes again in 2009?
• How will Mike Leach’s Texas Tech team fare without Michael Crabtree or Graham Harrell?

Find out about all of these topics in the 2009 Big 12 football preview provided by Big 12 Fans and College Sports Fans today!

Someone forgot to tell the Baylor Bears that they were not invited to the 2009 NCAA Tournament bubble discussion, and the Bears apparently want to make sure everyone notices them. After a 17-13 season with a disappointing 5-11 record in Big 12 play, Baylor earned the #9 seed in the Big 12 Basketball Tournament. The Bears claimed 6 wins over teams in the RPI Top 100 during this time with 3 over RPI Top 50 teams. But the Bears are no longer hibernating as they have put together a string of 3 wins in 3 days defeating Nebraska (RPI #74), Kansas (RPI #9) and Texas (RPI #38) en route to a berth in the Big 12 Tournament Championship Game.

So do these wins put Baylor (RPI #55) on the bubble? If you add wins over RPI #30 Arizona State, #18 Oklahoma State and #36 Texas A&M you have an imporessive resume. But the 13 losses this season may continue to haunt Baylor despite a Strenght of Schedule that ranks #15 in the nation according to Jerry Palm at CollegeRPI.com. Whatever the end result, Baylor is making it even more difficult for the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee.

For what it is worth, I would personally rather have Baylor in the Big Dance over Penn State (RPI 67, SOS 96), Wisconsin (RPI 43, SOS 14, 3 losses in last 5 games), Florida (RPI 46, SOS 89) or Virginia Tech (RPI 61, SOS 18, 7 losses in last 9 games).

We’re just hours away from the tip-off of the 2009 Big 12 Tournament as 12 teams get set to fight for the automatic bid to the 2009 NCAA Tournament. In the first game to be played on Wednesday #8 seed Nebraska takes on #9 Baylor while #5 Texas faces #12 Colorado in game two. The 3rd game of the day features #7 Oklahoma State vs #10 Iowa State while we will wrap up Wednesday games with #6 Texas A&M vs #11 Texas Tech. All Wednesday 1st Round games will be televised on the Big 12 Network.

Thursday will again be a full day of games as #1 Kansas faces the Nebraska/Baylor winner on ESPN2 to start the action followed by #4 Kansas State vs the Texas/Colorado winner on the Big 12 Network. In the two night games #2 Oklahoma faces the OSU/ISU winner on the Big 12 Network with #3 Mizzou taking on the Texas A&M/Texas Tech winner in the nightcap on ESPN2.

Friday will feature the Big 12 Tournament semifinals with the Big 12 Championship Game to be played on Saturday evening at 5 pm ET on ESPN.

Don’t look now Big 12 basketball fans, but the Big 12 Basketball Tournament is right around the corner. With just two games remaining in the regualr season, the 2009 Big 12 Basketball Tournament is set to tip off on March 11 with the Big 12 Championship Game to be held March 14th. Of course the Big 12 Tournament winner will get an automatic bid to the 2009 NCAA Tournament which begins with first round games on March 19 & 20.

Currently, Kansas appears to have the inside track for the #1 seed at the 2009 Big 12 Tournament at 13-1 with OU looking at the #2 seed at 12-2. Mizzou seems poised for a top 3 seed as they are 2 and 1/2 games ahead of Oklahoma State and Texas. Kansas State, Texas A&M and Nebraska are fighting for the mid-range seeds, all within 2 games of each other for the 6-8 seeds. Baylor has been a disappointment this season and looks like the #9 seed with Iowa State, Texas Tech and Colorado rounding out the bottom of the Big 12.

Jake Rosholt, former Oklahoma State wrestler and NCAA National Champion, made his UFC debut on Saturday night at UFC Fight Night 17. Unfortunately it did not go as planned. Rosholt came into the fight 5-0 while making a name for himself in the WEC, but Dan Miller got the best of Rosholt with a 1st round submission victory via Guillotine Choke. Even worse for Rosholt is the fact that in his first UFC fight ended after just 1:03.

What is next for Rosholt is anyone’s guess. Research did not find anything on the length of Rosholt’s contract with UFC after the WEC’s Middleweight division was dissolved.

Jake Rosholt made a name for himself in college at Oklahoma State University as a 4-time All-American and a 3-time National Wrestling Champion. Today, he is making a name for himself in World Extreme Cagefighting, the WEC, as a professional Mixed Martial Artist. Rosholt recently defeated Nissen Osterneck in WEC 36 as he improved his MMA record to a perfect 5-0. Fighting at 185 pounds, Rosholt took several shots from Osterneck while fighting upright but dominated the ground game, as expected. Using his wrestling skills in that fight, Rosholt won via TKO (punches) in the 2nd Round and now awaits his next opponent.

Looking to take advantage of a interception of Tim Tebow, the Oklahoma offense looked in control in driving to the Florida 1 yard line. But the Gators’ defense held OU on 2nd down before stuffing the Sooners on 3rd and 4th downs to take over at the 3 yard line. Why Bob Stoops and OU did not kick the gimme FG and put points on the board is uncertain, but the risk did not pay off.

With under 6 minutes remaining in the 1st half the Sooners and Gators are tied 7-7 in the FedEx BCS National Championship Game. Get your Oklahoma Sooners Championship apparel & merchandise as well as OU clothing online through DFN Sports sites.

2008 was a banner year for the Big 12 as three teams, all in the Big 12 South, finished the season with just one loss and four other teams from the conference will join them in postseason college football bowl games. Of course everyone knows that the Oklahoma Sooners will represent the Big 12 against Florida in the BCS Championship Bowl on January 8th on FOX. Now let’s take a look at the other 6 bowl teams from the Big 12 and which games they will play in as well as their opponents and the previews for each game which are linked below.

• Alamo Bowl - Dec. 29 - Missouri vs. Northwestern - 2008 Alamo Bowl preview
• Holiday Bowl - Dec. 30 - Oklahoma State vs. Oregon - 2008 Holiday Bowl preview
• Insight Bowl - Dec. 31 - Kansas vs. Minnesota - 2008 Insight Bowl preview
• Gator Bowl - Jan. 1 - Nebraska vs. Clemson - 2008 Gator Bowl preview
• Cotton Bowl - Jan. 2 - Texas Tech vs. Mississippi - 2008 Cotton Bowl preview
• Fiesta Bowl - Jan. 5 - Texas vs. Ohio State - 2008 Fiesta Bowl preview
• BCS National Championship Bowl - Jan. 8 - Oklahoma vs. Florida - 2008 BCS Championship preview

A few thoughts on the Texas A&M @ #4 Texas football game from Big 12 Fans’ Texas A&M Correspondent Jay Goode:

“Some thoughts on the Aggie/Texas football game.  The odds maker have the Longhorns up by 35.   Mack Brown needs style points to maintain his second place position in the BCS.   This could be interesting from that standpoint alone.  OU put up 66 against the Ags at Kyle Field.   If the Longhorns can’t put up 60 or more points on the Aggies by the 3Q, it could be cause the Horns to fall out of second.   It all depends on the OU/OSU game and the Baylor/Tech games, of course.

This could be interesting.

The stars are aligned to watch Mike Sherman get his butt kicked in Austin.

Another tidbit.  Aggie Athletic Director “Dollar” Bill Byrne is getting very introspective on his weekly blogs.  About three weeks ago he turned off the “feedback” feature!  HaHa!  Get this:  No one could send feedback anyway unless you first registered as an Aggie grad.  So the Aggie grads are blistering his ears.  He even eluded to that in his blogs.

Funniest of all, $Bill last week said that the decline in the program was a long time coming.   He thereby disparaged former coach Dennis Franchione.  Then this week,  he said that he knows that Sherman is a good recruiter because all of the freshmen (8 of them) that Sherman recruited in the 2008 class are currently playing.   He thereby disparaged the other recruits who were recruited by Franchione.   He keeps sticking his foot in his keyboard!  HaHa!”

Big12-fans.com has previews of this game up from both our Texas A&M and Texas Correspondents. Check them out on our Big 12 football fan site and follow the Big 12 scores & Big 12 football standings throughout the year!

One scenario makes things clear. The other complicates things greatly. As #2 Texas Tech heads to Norman, Oklahoma to face the Sooners on Saturday night, the college football world takes notice. Texas Tech is having a record year jumping all the way to #2 in the nation after knocking off #23 Kansas, #1 Texas and #9 Oklahoma State in consecutive weeks. Now they face what may be their toughest test of the season, a match-up with the #5 Sooners. A win for the Red Raiders and they win the Big 12 South title and earn a trip to the Big 12 Football Championship Game to face #13 Missouri. On the other side, a win for Oklahoma muddies the national title picture.

Preview across the Internet do not paint a great picture for Texas Tech. Big 12 Fans has their Texas Tech @ Oklahoma preview up where they pick OU in a shootout. Meanwhile the Week 13 college football preview from The World of Bax also likes the Sooners with a few fewer points. One thing is for certain, a win forthe Red Raiders will likely vault a the record number of Texas Tech apparel & merchandise items that have been flying off the shelves.