Big 12 Sports Blog by Big 12 Fans

Texas A&M Coach Mike Sherman thinks he knows why the Aggies’ performance suffered a drop off in the second half of the past two games.

The Aggies held a 14-0 halftime lead only to lose to Arkansas State 14-18.  They were ahead 21-7 against New Mexico and hung on to win 28-22.

It’s because he screamed at them during halftime, he told a news conference.  I’m not kidding anyone.  Sherman actually made that statement in a news conference.

The beleaguered first-year head coach, who was listed No. 2 on CoachesHotSeat.com last week and is currently listed No. 12 and whose team was listed No. 5 in ESPN’s Bottom 10, said he did the unforgiveable:  He challenged their “fragile manhood”.

Gimmeabreak!  These guys have been playing football since junior high.  During that period, how many times does a kid have the coach screaming in his face?

How many times does any guy have someone screaming at them on the job, at home, and even at church…!

> Fins a great line of Texas A&M apparel & merchandise online through Big 12 Fans!

Hey!  I was in the U.S. Army.  My drill sergeant in basic screamed at me not once, not twice, but more times than I can count.

“Hey GI!  Why is IT that every soldier in this man’s Army has his boots tied properly, and your BOOTS ARE NOT TIED WITH A DOUBLE-LOOPED BOW?  NOW DOUBLE-TIME BACK TO THE BARRACKS AND TIE YOUR BOOTS PROPERLY, SLIMEBAG!”

Taking the Sherman’s logic back to my Army days, I should have stuck out my bottom lip, AND stood up in my foxhole and invited the Viet Cong to take aim at my chest.   Yeah!  Right!

Here’s the way it works: When the bullets went whizzing over my head, I was too busy tying my shoe laces to worry.

Come on, Sherman!  You should be ashamed to suggest that the average Aggie football player was shocked at your screaming!  Could it be your coaching?   What about the preparation?  What about the game plan, Sherman?  What about your choice of starting quarterback?  Maybe you spent too much time coddling Jorvorskie Lane.  Think about it, darling.

By Jay Goode
Big 12 fans Texas A&M Aggie correspondent

They lost Saturday to Arkansas State, 18-14.

Athletic Director “Dollar” Bill Byrne’s Wednesday blog should start a 12-week series on the subject: “How to pick up a turd by the ‘clean’ end.”

What else can he say about this loss? What else will Aggies need to know as this season drags on?

There are no excuses for losing to A-State at home!

Here are some tongue-in-cheek choices Aggies should consider:

1. Suspend the season and have a self-imposed death penalty.

2. Pack up the coaches and drive them to Junction, TX, for a coaching boot camp. We need just one…good…coach. The others can slither off into the night.

3. Rip the names off the jerseys and pray OU doesn’t run up the score.

4. Let quarterback Stephen McGee suit up with the equipment manager.

5. Let sophomore quarterback Jerrod Johnson and red-shirt freshman quarterback Ryan Tannehill rotate at wide receivers and at quarterback.

It will be a contest between A&M and Baylor to see who is in the cellar dweller in the Big 12 South.

By Jay Goode
Big 12 Fans Texas A&M correspondent

With an expanded staff of Big 12 sports writers, Big12-fans.com is pleased to announce the addition of weekly previews for severaal Big 12 football programs. Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Texas A&M and Baylor correspondents are all set to provide weekly game previews to provide football fans with added insight each week about their favorite teams. Chedk the list of previews below and keep checking back at Big 12 Fans for more updates.

• Missouri Tigers vs. Illinois Fighting Ilini football preview
• Texas Tech vs. Eastern Washington football preview
• Oklahoma vs. Chattanooga Week #1 football preview
• Texas A&M vs. Arkansas State Week #1 football preview
• Colorado vs. Colorado State Week #1 football preview

Oklahoma: The schooner runs out of win(d) at the end … or … the surrey with the flop on top.

The Sooners are seemingly riding high. However, not everything is so well. Bob Stoops’ program has had four straight losses in the BCS. People are beginning to wonder: Can the Sooners win the big one? Stock tip: Sell: Oklahoma crude. Hold: Oklahoma Tornado Shelters, Inc. Buy: Anheuser-Busch (and get ready for a party!)

Texas: Your day will come — soon!

It’s not what you may think. The Longhorns have had a string of 10-win seasons. This year Bevo faces a meat grinder. They play Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Missouri. PETA may call for an investigation when this is over!

The Longhorns will get a look at Colorado’s hot new running back. Some believe he will be the newcomer of the year in the Big 12. His first stepping stone: Bevo … of course!

Look for the Horns to drop below the 10-win mark this year. Tech has circled that date on their home schedule!  As a matter of fact, so has every team on the Longhorns’ schedule.  They smell Bevo blood!

Will the Horns start calling for Mack’s head?

After 10 years of Mack, what do they have to show for it? A faded T-shirt and a 4-6 record against the Sooners! Stock tip: Sell: beef. Buy: Burger King.

Missouri: Waltzing across Texas … and everybody else.

Look out Texas University!

The toughest opponent the Tigers will face is not the Longhorns, but the Oklahoma Sooners for the Big 12 championship. Don’t look for the Sooners to walk over the Tigers, who return most of their offense and defense. Stock tip: Buy: Anheuser-Busch. Hold: Branson Properties. Sell: Beef, Oklahoma Crude.

Kansas: It’s not over until the Fat Man sings!

There is no indication that Coach Mark Mangino can carry a tune. He can coach football. That’s for sure! He’s just pocketed a fat $2.8 mil paycheck, and he’s looking to prove the sum was not bloated! Can Reesing spell Heisman? Stock tip: Buy Big & Tall Retail chain. Hold: Emerald City Condos. Sell: Beef and Crude.

Texas Tech: The bird of paradise? … or … a nerd bird with a pair of dice?

Mike Leach is gambling that his risky all or nothing program won’t roll snake eyes again this year. He just might do it, too. He’s circled the date the Raiders play the Longhorns. He feels he has something to prove! Last year, Leach proved that he can beat the Sooners, but that was at Lubbock.

If Leach turns up aces, he will probably fly away to a big-money program. Stock tip: Buy: Southwest Air. Hold: West Texas casinos. Sell: Lubbock preferred.

Kickoff for the 2008 college football season is just a few short weeks away and it’s clear that college football merchandise will once again be a hot item for the 2008 season. Big 12 teams are no different as reports show that Mizzou apparel & Texas A&M apparel as well as Texas Tech hats and more. After the rise to the top of the polls by Kansas & Missouri in the 2007 college football season, Big 12 merchandise was selling at record pace, and the 2008 NCAA Tournament National Championship by the Kansas Jayhawks sure did not hurt.

Athlon Sports has released their annual college football preview and their Preseason Top 25 consists of five Big 12 football schools. Beginning at #3 in the nation, Athlon like the Oklahoma Sooners. Coming off their impressive 2007 campaign, the Mizzou Tigers rank 3 spots below OU at #6 in the nation followed by Texas at #11. Mark Mangino’s Kansas Jayhawks rank #13 after thier 1-loss season and Orange Bowl victory and the Red Raiders of Texas Tech are #18.

The 2008 college football season is just around the corner and College Sports Fans has already begun their 2008 NCAA football previews by starting with th Big 12! All 12 teams from the Big XII Athletic Conference have been researched and previewed by expert college football & basketball writer Joel Welser as College Sports Fans is one of the first sites to release team previews for the 2008 football season. How will your favorite team perform on the gridiron in 2008? We have listed the 12 teams in the Big 12 Conference below so take your pick or read all 12 team previews today!

• Baylor Bears 2008 football preview
• Colorado Buffs 2008 football preview
• Iowa State 2008 football preview
• Kansas Jayhawks 2008 football preview
• Kansas State 2008 football preview
• Mizzou 2008 football preview
• Nebraska 2008 football preview
• OU Sooners 2008 football preview
• Oklahoma State 2008 football preview
• Texas Longhorns 2008 football preview
• Texas A&M 2008 football preview
• Texas Tech 2008 football preview

Big 12 football fans witnessed the emergence of Kansas and Mizzou to the league’s elite in 2007 as Missouri won the Big 12 North and both Oklahoma and Kansas were named to BCS Bowl games, but now three Big 12 football teams have been named as teams to watch in 2008. This Bog 12 programs include the Kansas Jayhawks, Missouri Tigers and Texas Tech Red Raiders. After a 12-1 season and a win over Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl, the Jayhawks will look to make even more headlines in 2008. Meanwhile, the Missouri Tigers were the lone team to defeat Kansas in 2007 and only lost to the Big 12 Champion Oklahoma Sooners, albeit two times. Mizzou’s run to #1 ended in a non-BCS Bowl game, but the Tigers blew out Arkansas aen route to a 12-2 season. Finally, the Red Raiders of Texas Tech and their high-flying offense went 9-4 in 2007 with a Gator Bowl win over Virginia on New Year’s Day.

Find Big 12 gear including Mizzou merchandise, Kansas Jayhawks apparel & hats & more from DFN Sports sites.

Instead of staying for his senior season or transferring to a lower-division school, Oklahoma St. QB Bobby Reid is reportedly declaring for the NFL draft.

Reid entered his junior season highly-rated after a sophomore season that saw him throw for 2,266 yards and 24 touchdowns (with 11 interceptions) and run for 500 yards and five touchdowns.

But, after going down with an injury in a win over Florida Atlantic, Reid lost his job to sophomore Zac Robinson, who, like Reid, is a dual-threat QB.

Robinson went on to throw for 2,847 yards and 23 touchdowns, and run for 847 yards and nine touchdowns, while Reid saw action in only three more games, finishing his season 26 of 49 passing for 275 yards, with one touchdown and one interception.

He might have gained more national recognition for anything that he ever did on the field for coach Mike Gundy’s infamous rant after a 49-45 win over Texas Tech, when he vociferously defended Reid over an article by a local columnist that seemed to question Reid’s manhood. Gundy famously said, ‘I’m a man! I’m 40!’ in a video that yes, even I, have seen on Youtube.

Boy or not, Reid has the talent to be an NFL quarterback, though it may not have hurt to go to a small school, where he could have had a big year and greatly built up his draft stock.

However, with his size and skills with both his arm and his legs, Reid should garner some attention, especially if he can perform well in workouts leading up to the draft.

Some might say that Reid could have stayed in Stillwater and fought for his job, but given how things took such a turn for him, and that he’d be fighting an uphill battle to replace Robinson, though given how Robinson overtook Reid after the season that Reid had in ‘06, anything’s possible.

One factor that may have played into Reid’s decision is the fact that he’s already graduated from OSU, so he may just be content to move on and try to get his shot at the NFL, even if it is a year earlier than expected.

My oh my, Virginia Tech just got out-Beamer Balled.

Upstart Kansas proved that they were anything but, using great defense, big special teams plays, and offensive efficiency to topple Virginia Tech 24-21 in the Orange Bowl.

The Hokies did have an 84-yard punt return for a score in the third quarter, and they also sacked Todd Reesing five times.

That might be good enough on most nights, but not on this one, because Kansas was just a little better at every facet of the game.

On defense, the Jayhawks registered five sacks and picked off three passes, including one that star corner Aqib Talib returned 60 yards for a touchdown, and another that Justin Thornton returned to the two, setting up Todd Reesing’s decisive two-yard touchdown run that made it 24-14 early in the fourth.

Despite giving up the punt return for a score, Kansas also came up big on special teams, blocking a field goal and using a fake punt to get a first down on another drive.

And, on offense, the Jayhawks didn’t crumble against the tenacious Tech defense, turning the ball over only once and picking up 343 total yards against a defense that was allowing only 293.3 coming into tonight.

All of those efforts combined to lead Kansas to one of the biggest victories in school history, and dispelled any doubts about whether or not they deserved to be in the BCS.

And, there’s a good chance they could be here again this time next season.

They’ll lose a lot of offensive production in Brandon McAnderson and Marcus Henry, but they’ll return receivers Dexton Fields and Kerry Meier (who’s also the backup QB), running back Jake Sharp, and most importantly, Reesing, who threw for 33 touchdowns and only seven interceptions in his first season as a starter.

And, on defense, they may lose Talib to the draft, but will nearly all of the unit’s key players and leading tacklers.

They will have to replace placekicker Scott Webb and punter Kyle Tucker, but that might be the only unit that will see drastic changes.

So, it might be a strange sight right now, but get used to it, because these Jayhawks don’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon.