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It turns out the brilliance of CRFF is equal to the genius of the Big 12 media.
And what can we discern from this pillow fight?
That 3rd, 4th, and 5th place are a crap shoot between the Wizard, Mack's replacement, and the "man" who is definitely over 40.
Everybody is in agreement that Kansas sucks at football.
Here are the polls, side by side...
| CRFF | B12M | |
| 1 | OU | OU |
| 2 | Baylor | Baylor |
| 3 | Texas | Kstate |
| 4 | OSU | Texas |
| 5 | Kstate | OSU |
| 6 | Tech | Tech |
| 7 | TCU | TCU |
| 8 | WV | WV |
| 9 | Iowa St | Iowa St |
| 10 | Kansas | Kansas |
OU and Baylor obviously have the respect of all the voters, as does Kansas.
Great minds think alike...sorta...
The fact is you could include Tech in that mess in the middle, but they have to prove they can win more than the first 7 games of the season. Numbers-wise, the media and CRFF felt Tech was a part of that group, while the media also included TCU if you look at how close the votes came out.
It doesn't matter what people know or don't know about the talent in Manhattan, all they know is that Snyder can pull a rabbit out of the hat.
Texas? Charlie Strong replaces Mack. QB is a big issue. But Strong had succes at Louisville. The boosters weren't so enamored with his selection as head coach. Who the hell knows what is going on in Austin, but it is still the University of Texas.....right? RIGHT?
He might be closer to 50 than 40, but Gundy is still a man. Is he a big enough man to reload a defense that lost pretty much every meaningful player that drove that unit last season, much less being led by a QB that benefited from the short leash, then was victimized by it? The loss of arguably one of the top 5 OL coaches in the country to that school with the horns?
Gerald Tracy spoke yesterday about the unpredictability of the Big 12. I think it's obvious not even OU and Baylor are safe.
But that unpredictability could mean, as Chris Ross spoke of, that the Big 12 could be left out of the College Football Playoff if there is cannibalization at the top and they don't end up with an undefeated champion.
The final verdict?
We THINK OU and Baylor are at the top.
Kansas is definitely the bottom, with Iowa State and West Virginia close enough to offer emotional support.
Vegas might not even touch the rest. The last three Big 12 champions were not predicted higher than 3rd...
- 2011...Oklahoma State, 3rd
- 2012...Kansas State, 6th
- 2013...Baylor, 5th
Such is the state of the Big 12.
The only dominance is ownership of the basement.