Big 12 Sports Blog by Big 12 Fans

The first 20+ minutes of the Independence Bowl belonged to the Alabama Crimson Tide.

At the end of 60 minutes, that proved to be enough, as their early 27-0 lead proved to be just a little too much for Colorado to overcome in the end, as Alabama prevailed 30-24 tonight in Shreveport.

Early on, it looked like it was going to be a runaway for the Tide, as three touchdown passes by John Parker Wilson had Bama up 27-0 with a little over 17 minutes played.

But, Colorado fought back, drawing with 27-14 at halftime on two Cody Hawkins touchdown passes, and pulled within 27-17 in the third quarter on a 39-yard field goal by Kevin Eberhart.

The Buffaloes immediately had a chance to close the deficit even more when they forced a fumble on the next drive and got the ball at the Alabama 48. They moved to the 30, but a sack pushed them back, and they ended up being forced to punt.

That missed opportunity would cost them, and so would an interception on their next offensive possession, which set Alabama up at the Colorado 23.

The Tide moved into position for a 25-yard Leigh Tiffin field goal with 4:40 to go that all but sealed the deal for Alabama.

But, the Buffs kept fighting, needing only five plays to get into the end zone, as Hawkins threw touchdown pass #3, and his second to Tyson DeVree, a 14-yarder that made it 30-24 with plenty of time still left on the clock.

Alabama was able to bleed the clock by getting a couple of first downs, and by the time Colorado got the ball back, there were only a few seconds left, and the Tide had survived.

It was a great fight back by Colorado, who looked to be down for the count after Alabama’s early haymaker.

Unfortunately, the deficit was just too big to overcome.

Alabama finishes 7-6, while Colorado finishes 6-7, which drops the Big 12 to 1-2 in the bowl season, with five more games to come, starting with Oklahoma St.’s (6-6) matchup with Indiana (7-5) in tomorrow‘s Insight Bowl.

After falling behind 27-0 to Alabama in the first 17+ minutes, Colorado woke up in the last few minutes of the first half to get back into the Independence Bowl with a flourish.

Things turned around the six-minute mark. Alabama was in Colorado territory once again, looking to put the game all but beyond reach, when John Parker Wilson was picked off, and the 35-yard return set Colorado up at the ‘Bama 43. Colorado got on the board with 2:05 left when Cody Hawkins threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Tyson DeVree to make it 27-7.

The Buffs forced a stop, and a 23-yard punt gave them another short field with more than a minute left on the clock. It took only six plays to drive 55 yards and punch it into the end zone again, as Hawkins connected with Dusty Sprague on a 25-yard touchdown with four seconds left in the half.

The second half is just getting underway, so it’s time to see if the Buffs can continue to build off of their big wave of momentum and turn up the pressure on the Crimson Tide.

After Texas’ big victory over Arizona St. kicked off bowl season for the Big 12, the last couple of days have brought struggles for the conference.

Texas A&M jumped out to a 14-0 lead over Penn State in last night’s Alamo Bowl, but the Nittany Lions scored 17 in a row to go up 17-14 at halftime. The Aggies tied the game at 17 in the third quarter before PSU struck back to take a 24-17 lead, which would turn out to be the final margin, as a drive from A&M’s 1 to PSU’s 1 in the fourth quarter came up short of the end zone, without the ball being handed to bulldozer Jorvorskie Lane on third or fourth down.

Tonight, Colorado is taking on Alabama in the Independence Bowl, and it’s not been a good start for the Buffaloes, as Alabama already has a 20-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Will the Buffs be able to mount a comeback? There’s plenty of game left, so we’ll find out. But, the defense certainly needs to step up, as Alabama has been able to move the ball at ease thus far.

Well, the Tide just scored again, as John Parker Wilson threw his third touchdown pass in the first 17:40 to put ‘Bama up 27-0.

Quite a hill to climb for Colorado, but, like I said, there’s plenty of game left.

Texas beat Arizona State 52-34 in the Holiday Bowl on Thursday night to kick off the Big 12’s participation in the bowl season, with seven more teams yet to take the field.

The Longhorns jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter, which proved to be too much for the Sun Devils to overcome.

Jamaal Charles ran for 161 yards and two touchdowns, and Colt McCoy had a great game, despite losing the handle multiple times - including one that was recovered in the end zone for a touchdown by tight end Jermichael Finley - throwing for 174 yards and a score, and doing his Vince Young impression by rushing for 84 yards and a touchdown.

The Longhorns defense forced five turnovers, and could have had a sixth, but in a play that we all have seen and heard about by now, Longhorns staffer Chris Jessie (Mack Brown’s stepson) reached out and touched a loose ball that had been fumbled by Arizona St. in the second quarter, which instead of being a turnover for Texas, wound up being a personal foul penalty which led to ASU‘s first touchdown.

But, it didn’t cost them, as the Longhorns were just too strong on both sides of the ball, and had the game well in hand by the time ASU scored a couple of fourth-quarter consolation touchdowns.

Both teams finished their seasons at 10-3, with Texas getting to ten wins for the seventh straight season.

Tonight, Penn St. and Texas A&M tangle in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, and tomorrow, Colorado takes on Alabama in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, LA, with Oklahoma State tangling with Indiana in the Insight Bowl on Monday, before we all hang up our 2008 calendars.

Things hasn’t been this good for the Big 12 North since 2001, when Nebraska (controversially) played for the national championship, and Colorado won the Big 12 title.

It’s a lot less controversial this year, though there’ll be a tad bit of resentment between Missouri fans if the Tigers fall in the Big 12 title game and Kansas winds up in a BCS bowl game with Oklahoma.

But, it’s a resurgent year for the division, which hasn’t been much of a force in the last several years, nationally or in conference, where the South has been superior, with Oklahoma and Texas perennially national championship contenders and taking four of the last five conference titles, with 2003 being the lone exception (Kansas State over the #1 Sooners).

Strangely enough, it’s coming in a year where Nebraska experiences a defensive implosion of massive proportions, goes 5-7, and fires its head coach after an embarrassing end to a promising season.

Instead of the South having the title contenders, as it was expected to, it’s the North, as Missouri and Kansas moved towards the top as many big names fell nationally.

And now, after #4 Missouri made Kansas the latest victim of the ‘#2 Curse,’ the Tigers are #1 and on the brink of playing for a national championship, if they get past the Sooners in the Big 12 title game on Saturday.

Not only that, but the two have produced a couple of unlikely Heisman contenders, and if Chase Daniel can have another big game and lead his team to a historic win, possibly the Heisman winner.

This isn’t going to be a one-year thing, either. Both Kansas and Missouri should be near the top again next season, and you’d have to think that it’s only a matter of time (and a good coaching hire) before the Huskers are contenders again. Also, Colorado should improve even more in 2008, and Kansas St., despite the disappointing end to its season, should contend for postseason play. Iowa State made strides towards the end of the year as well, and won’t be a pushover in Gene Chizik’s second season.

The North’s resurgence is not only good for the division, but for the conference as well. With both divisions strong again, things will be a lot more competitive in the North vs. South matchups.

So, regardless of where your allegiances lie, you should be beaming as a Big 12 fan right now, because the future is very, very bright.

Beasley the Beast

There’s a good chance that the Big 12 could have the country’s top freshman for the second year in a row, if K-State hotshot Michael Beasley keeps up his Kevin Durant-like pace.

In his debut last Friday against Sacramento St., Beasley scored 32 points, snagged 24 rebounds, and had four assists and four blocked shots in a 94-63 victory.

Then, two days later, Beasley had 31 points, 14 rebounds, and 3 assists before fouling out in a 76-66 win.

He’s doing more than just keeping up with O.J. Mayo (32 points in his USC debut vs. Mercer) and Eric Gordon (33 points, 7-11 from three-point range in his Indiana debut vs. UT-Chattanooga).

The one thing that all three have to work on is the fouls - Beasley has nine in two games, and Mayo and Gordon both had four in their debuts.

Good Starts All Around

It’s been a nearly perfect start for the Big 12 in the early going of the hoops season.

The only conference member to have a loss is Colorado, who lost 54-47 to New Mexico in Jeff Bzdelik’s debut as coach.

Collins Out for Six Weeks

Kansas got a big blow earlier this week when sophomore guard Sherron Collins had to have surgery on a stress fracture in his left foot.

Collins was averaging 16 points in the first two games for the #4 Jayhawks, but now, he’ll have to be laid up for the next six weeks.

But, if there’s good timing for an injury, it’s now. He’ll return just in time for the start of conference play.

But, with Brandon Rush still mending from ACL surgery, where’s the scoring going to come from in the meantime?

Mario Chalmers scored 23 points in Sunday’s win over Missouri-Kansas City, and with Collins out, Chalmers might get more opportunities to score. And, there’s also Darnell Jackson, Russell Robinson, and Darrell Arthur, so…Kansas should be a-okay.

And, Collins’ absence should also give freshman Tyrel Reed a chance to play more minutes. He’s a great shooter (as shown by his 3 of 4 from 3-point range in the season opener vs. Louisiana-Monroe), so he might be able to provide a big boost for the team and hone his skills at the same time.

With only a couple of weeks left in the regular season, the bowl picture is beginning to take shape.

The conference may have as many as ten bowl opportunities (seven direct tie-ins, three other potential opportunities) - an assured BCS bowl berth for the conference champion, then the Cotton, Independence, Insight, Alamo, Holiday, and Texas bowls for direct tie-ins, and then the Sun and Gator bowls, which will choose between a Big 12 and a Big East team for one of their spots, and a BCS at-large berth.

And, as it stands, nine conference teams may be able to hit the magic six-win mark needed to qualify for bowl participation.

In the North, Kansas and Missouri are locks, and in the South, Oklahoma, Texas, and Texas Tech are locked in. Texas A&M is already bowl-eligible at 6-5 with a rivalry game against Texas left, but the Aggies will be sputtering towards the postseason (but that’s another story entirely).

The only teams actually eliminated from postseason contention are Baylor, who is 3-7, and Iowa St., who has knocked off two potential bowl teams in a row, but is still only 3-8.

That leaves four teams - Kansas St. (5-5), Nebraska (5-6), Colorado (5-6), and Oklahoma St. (5-5).

Ron Prince’s Wildcats looked all set to wrap up a bowl bid a couple of weeks ago, as they were 5-3 with Iowa St. and Nebraska looming.

But, they lost 31-20 on the road to the 1-8 Cyclones, and this past Saturday, were on the short end of a 73-31 beatdown against Nebraska.

Oklahoma St. was 5-3 two weeks ago as well, with two tough, but very winnable home games upcoming. And they were a quarter away from that all-important sixth win, taking a 35-14 lead into the fourth quarter against Texas. But, the Cowboys wound up losing 38-35, and on Saturday, couldn’t make any early lead stand up in a 43-28 loss to the Jayhawks.

The Nebraska-Colorado game will decide if the conference winds up with nine bowl-eligible teams.

But, will all of those teams be suiting up for the postseason?

Whether or not that happens depends on a few things - if the Big 12 gets two teams in the BCS, if the Sun and/or Gator bowls go with Big East teams, and if the first two don’t work in the conference’s favor, if another bowl in need would want to take a chance on a 6-6 Big 12 team, or perhaps a 7-5 or better team from another conference (like the Big 12, Big 10, ACC, SEC, or one of the non-BCS conference that might have more bowl-eligible teams than tie-ins).

CBS Sports currently has the Big 12 getting two BCS bids (Oklahoma and Kansas) and eight bids overall, with Kansas St. being the lone bowl-eligible team left out (and Nebraska getting in over Colorado).

In Stewart Mandel’s projections on SI.com, he has nine conference teams getting in (Oklahoma and Texas in the BCS), including Kansas St.

Kansas St.‘s fate rests on beating either Missouri at home this week or win at Fresno St. in two weeks to be bowl-eligible, which isn‘t an enviable position to be in.

In the end, the Big 12 should be more than well-represented in the postseason, no matter who gets in and where they go.

Where will they go? Well, we’ll know after these next few exciting weeks of action.

Before Kansas and Missouri can tangle for the Big 12 North title in two weeks, they each have two more obstacles to climb.

Neither team can underestimate their opponent this weekend, as 9-0 and #4 Kansas has a daunting trip to Stillwater to face an Oklahoma St. team that can score points in a flourish - but has to work on their finishing skills. 8-1 and new #7 Missouri, meanwhile, welcomes Texas A&M to town. It could go two ways for A&M, given the recent development with their coach maybe, possibly, maybe not getting push out of the door - either the Aggies will go out and play fired up, in the hopes that they can somehow save Coach Fran’s job, or they’ll go in with little confidence and get beaten up and down the field.

Oklahoma St. is one of three conference teams looking to become bowl eligible this weekend. Colorado (5-5, 3-3) goes to Iowa St. in search of their sixth win, but as Kansas St. learned last week, the Cyclones aren’t going to give them anything. The Wildcats will take their second crack at getting win #6 when they go to Lincoln to take on the hapless Huskers, who, believe it or not, could still make a bowl, if they win their last two games.

The matchup of the weekend might be Texas-Texas Tech on Saturday afternoon in Austin. Last season, the Red Raiders led 21-0 after a quarter, but Texas battled back for a 35-31 win in Lubbock. Texas Tech will be looking for a little revenge, and they might be able to pull it off, given Graham Harrell’s success against the Longhorns last year (519 yards, three touchdowns) and the fact that Texas’ defense has had its share of issues this season. But, Tech’s going to have to get a lot more than -1 yard rushing, like they did in last year’s heartbreaker.

In the other game on the schedule, Oklahoma hosts Baylor, looking to improve to 9-1 and keep themselves in the national championship hunt.