Oklahoma Sooners

Inspired by Florida's "#ComePlayWRFortheJoker" campaign, our recruiting writers looked at other ways schools can sell themselves on the trail. Here's a look at recruiting pitches for the Big 12:

Baylor Bears
What they’re selling: The new 45,000-seat, $250-million on-campus stadium that will open in 2014. Recruiting is an arms race, and players like fancy stadiums and locker rooms, and Baylor’s upgrade puts them finally on the same level playing field as everybody else in the Big 12.
What they're missing: Help on defense -- specifically at defensive line and defensive back.

Iowa State Cyclones
What they’re selling: Paul Rhoads. He grew up miles from the campus and has helped turn around Iowa State with a physical and fundamentally sound style of football.
What they're missing: A true home-run threat at receiver.

Kansas Jayhawks
What they’re selling: Charlie Weis. He’s taken risks (juco infusion), repaired relationships with area high school coaches and widened KU’s recruiting pool.
What they're missing: Wins. When you’ve won only one conference game in three years, a little bit of everything is missing.

Kansas State Wildcats
What they’re selling: Bill Synder. The plan has worked for years in Manhattan. K-State doesn’t care how many stars a player has attached to his name, a player only earns an offer from K-State unless Snyder personally signs off on it after a lengthy review. It’s a plan that produced a No. 1 BCS ranking and a Big 12 championship in 2012.
What’s missing: I’ve been told by coaches for years that the most difficult position to recruit is defensive tackle. That’s why you often see even average defensive tackles rack up double-digit offers, and finding good depth at defensive tackle has been very difficult to do at K-State.

Oklahoma Sooners
What they’re selling: Oklahoma is proud of its football tradition, and few schools can match the Sooners’ track record for success, facilities and ability to prepare you for the next level.
What they're missing: A renewed focus on evaluating players. It’s what differentiated Bob Stoops’ staff when they started, and it’s how they found players like Sam Bradford, Josh Heupel, Juaquin Iglesias and Donald Stephenson. All at the time were considered to be three-star recruits but wound up being impact players for the Sooners.

Oklahoma State Cowboys
What they’re selling: Their ability to evaluate and develop offensive talent.
What they're missing: Elite players in the Lone Star State. With the best facilities in the conference, it might be just enough to get kids to visit.

Texas Longhorns
What they’re selling: Few in the nation can offer up the type of atmosphere, fan base, tradition and total student-athlete package like Texas can.
What they're missing: A true a difference-maker at quarterback. The last two Heisman Trophy winners have come from Texas high schools, and the Longhorns didn’t recruit one heavily and recruited the other as an athlete.

TCU Horned Frogs
What they’re selling: The Horned Frogs recruit to their style of smash-mouth play on both sides of the ball and don’t care how many stars a recruit has. It hurts them some in the recruiting rankings, but it helps them win a lot of ball games.
What they're missing: BCS conference depth. Heading into their second season in the Big 12 after a 7-6 season, the biggest thing the Horned Frogs need to do is to build the roster to be able to compete year in and year out in the BCS conference.

Texas Tech Red Raiders
What they’re selling: The Red Raiders went through a transition that brought Kliff Kingsbury to Lubbock, and the early reception has been nothing short of positive.
What they're missing: The Red Raiders have never had issues putting up points on people, but under Tommy Tuberville and Mike Leach there was little defense being played.

West Virginia Mountaineers
What they’re selling: WVU is a force in the Atlantic region, can recruit well in Pennsylvania and is arguably one of the best schools at identifying offensive talent in the JC ranks.
What they're missing: The 2014 class will have to be all about rebuilding in Morgantown, as the needs are mounting while several impact players have moved on.

The NFL draft is done, and you can find some raw data at the bottom of this post, but here are a few thoughts:

• You can see our thoughts on the first round here, so today, we'll focus on the rest of the draft.

• What a nighmare spot for Geno Smith to land after a rough drop out of the first round. Sure, he might be able to earn some early playing time for the Jets, and it's not hard to see him beating out a couple of first-round picks in Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow, but the Jets are a complete zoo with six quarterbacks on the roster, and Chaz Schilens (what??) and former TCU receiver Jeremy Kerley as their top targets in the passing game. Good grief. Smith won't be pressured to play early, but it's hard to imagine him walking into a worse situation as a rookie quarterback, with no one to really learn from, tons of distractions and a zoo-like atmosphere on a Jets team that isn't expected to come anywhere close to the playoffs next season.
• On the flip side, how happy is Sam Bradford after this weekend? And how awesome is Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey getting to continue playing together? The Rams just gained an entire state as a fan base. You'll be able to see plenty of St. Louis games in West Virginia, I'm betting. Don't be surprised if both of those guys are starters in Week 1 for a team badly in need of receivers after losing Danny Amendola to the Patriots. Austin is obviously more physically gifted, but Bailey has great hands and knows how to play the position. You don't catch 25 touchdown passes on accident.
• Meanwhile, great landing spot for Landry Jones, who stuck around Oklahoma an extra year, passing up a first-round grade from the advisory committee. He appeared to regress this year, falling back to the fourth round. Walking into a place where he had to start early with few weapons would be a tough spot for any quarterback, even though Jones, with four years of starting experience, would be as ready as anyone. Instead, he'll sit behind Ben Roethlisberger, and considering how much Roethlisberger gets hit, don't be surprised if Jones is forced into starting duty once or twice next season. On a random note: Jones' landing spot is a little funny considering his wife played with Roethlisberger's little sister, Carlee, on the women's basketball team at Oklahoma.
• How perfect is Arthur Brown going to the Ravens? It's too bad he won't get to learn from Ray Lewis firsthand, but you can bet Lewis will have a hand in Brown's development. Brown is mean, fast and smart. That fits the Ravens perfectly.
• Jerry Jones loves him some Big 12 offensive skill talent. Dez Bryant blossomed this season, but the Dallas Cowboys went out and grabbed running back Joseph Randle and receiver Terrance Williams, the league's top rusher and receiver. I don't see Randle as a star in the NFL, but a solid contributor. Williams, though, will be fascinating to see in an offense thin at receiver behind Bryant. Miles Austin has had health issues, and Bryant has, too. Keep an eye out for Williams to make a splash in an offense that loves to throw it around. Randle will be backing up a familiar face in ex-Oklahoma running back DeMarco Murray.
• Great fit for Kenny Stills in New Orleans. The Saints have several aging receivers there to teach Stills a thing or two, but enough passes to get him some early experience. I'm betting on Stills as a 1,000-yard receiver in Year 3.
• Very cool reunion out in Arizona with Alex Okafor joining his old teammate, Sam Acho, on the Cardinals. It will be fun to see those guys on the field.
• Texas Tech was the only Big 12 team without a player drafted.
• Very shocked to see Oklahoma's Tony Jefferson and Iowa State's Jake Knott go undrafted. More so with Jefferson, who left school early and had great physical gifts. ESPN had him as the No. 5 safety in the draft at one point, but he wasn't among the more than 20 safeties drafted. Very odd. I have to wonder what's going on there. Has to be something other than his physical skills. He didn't necessarily show a lot of improvement throughout his career, but he was an All-Big 12 talent who made 100+ tackles this season. More on the Big 12's notable undrafted players later this morning.
• Not a good year for the Big 12 in the draft, with an all-time low 22 players drafted, but you also have to consider that it's just the second year that the league had just 10 teams. Texas A&M and Missouri had a combined eight draft picks, helping the 14-team SEC set an all-time record for draft picks by conference. By eight selections, of course. Generally, not a good trend for the Big 12. Most alarming: The SEC East and SEC West both had more draft picks than any other conference in college football. Good grief.

 

Here's the ranking of players drafted, by Big 12 team.

1. Oklahoma -- six players
2. West Virginia -- three players
2. Texas -- three players
2. Kansas State -- three players
5. Iowa State -- two players
5. TCU -- two players
7. Baylor -- one player
7. Kansas -- one player
7. Oklahoma State -- one player
10. Texas Tech -- zero players

Here are the conference rankings:


1. SEC -- 63 players
2. ACC -- 31 players
3. Pac-12 -- 28 players
4. Big 12 -- 22 players
4. Big Ten -- 22 players
6. Big East -- 18 players

Here is the full list of the 22 players from the Big 12 who were drafted:

Oklahoma's defense made it through the second week of November and had given up more than 21 points just twice. The Sooners lost both games, but any good Big 12 offense can feel good about its chances if its defense gives up just 24 and 30 points, especially at home.

New defensive coordinator Mike Stoops looked like he'd made an impact, but after beating Iowa State in Ames, the streak of strong defensive play from the Sooners stopped. It survived 34 points from Baylor and big plays late from quarterback Landry Jones helped the Sooners beat West Virginia and rival Oklahoma State despite giving up 49 and 48 points, respectively.

Jones' heroics overshadowed the defensive struggles a bit, but there was no hiding from an embarrassing 41-13 blowout loss at the hand of ex-Big 12 rival Texas A&M, lowlighted by 229 rushing yards and 287 passing yards from Heisman winner Johnny Manziel, who also accounted for four touchdowns.

"You can’t give up that many yards and that many points and expect to win. We’ve got to find ways to be better against those kinds of teams. That’s what we’re concentrating on [this spring]," Stoops said. "A lot of teams you can go out there and it doesn’t matter what you play, you can beat a lot of teams, but when you go up against the top-level teams, you’ve got to come up with something a little different and variations and that’s where we came up short, those kinds of games."

There's no excusing the points, but how much of those struggles were the Sooners playing poorly, and how much of it was going head-to-head with four teams that ranked in the top 10 in total offense and scoring offense?

"Our plan was off against Tavon Austin, they kind of caught us with our pants down, and we didn’t have really an answer. Structrually, you’ve got to be better than that," Stoops said. "A&M, I think that was probably one of the hardest teams we’ve had to defend here ever, maybe."

Austin spent almost all his time at West Virginia as a receiver, but the Mountaineers moved him to running back against the Sooners. He promptly racked up a school-record 344 rushing yards and had 572 all-purpose yards, seven short of the NCAA record. Against the Aggies, the Sooners' pass rush went absent and the linebackers and secondary consistently lost contain on Manziel, who turned broken plays into big plays on countless occasions in the Aggies' romp.

"Those three teams average more than 550 yards a game so that’s their average. You’ve got to look at it, but certainly we want to have our expectations," Stoops said of the Aggies, Cowboys and Mountaineers. "It’s a little bit of us not being good enough schematically and position by positon. When you get stressed like that when you play good teams, you get stressed across the board, and we have to be better than we were a year ago, and that’s individually and schematically."

Nonconference schedules can reveal many things. They can be the difference between a BCS championship berth or being left behind, and they can provide a glimpse of future success or future disappointments. Here's a look at the Big 12's 2013 nonconference schedules ranked from toughest to easiest.

1. Oklahoma: Louisiana-Monroe, Tulsa, at Notre Dame

All three of OU’s nonconference opponents won at least eight games in 2012, making the Sooners’ nonconference schedule a solid test as they look to break in a new quarterback. And their visit to South Bend, Ind., could be one of college football’s top matchups in 2013.

2. TCU: LSU (at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas), Southeastern Louisiana, SMU

The opener against the Tigers will be one of the highlight games of opening weekend and raises the overall ranking of TCU's nonconference schedule. It’s an opportunity for TCU to prove itself and send a message for the Big 12. And TCU's home contest against SMU should be a solid test, as well.

3. Texas: New Mexico, at BYU, Ole Miss

After a fairly easy season opener, the Longhorns travel to Provo, Utah, to face BYU in a game that could be tougher than most people expect. Then UT hosts Ole Miss, giving the Rebels a chance to avenge their home loss to the Longhorns in 2012. Facing the Cougars and Rebels in back-to-back weeks will be a tough test for Mack Brown's squad.

4. Iowa State: Northern Iowa, Iowa, at Tulsa

The Cyclones' road test at Tulsa won’t be easy as ISU looks to avenge its Liberty Bowl loss to the Golden Hurricane. This game could be considered a conference matchup in some ways as it will be the third meeting between the two teams in two years. Add rival Iowa to the mix and suddenly ISU has one of the conference’s tougher nonconference slates.

5. Oklahoma State: Mississippi State (at Reliant Stadium in Houston), at Texas-San Antonio, Lamar

The Cowboys' season opener is the lone saving grace in this nonconference lineup. The Bulldogs should be a solid early test for OSU, but neither UTSA nor Lamar should prove to be major hurdles.

6. Kansas: South Dakota, at Rice, Louisiana Tech

Rice, which defeated KU in Manhattan, Kan., last season, and Louisiana Tech will be tough tests for the Jayhawks. Both games should give a glimpse of how much KU has improved in Charlie Weis’ second season at the helm.

7. Texas Tech: at SMU, Stephen F. Austin, Texas State

The Red Raiders' toughest matchup should be its opener at SMU. In Kliff Kingsbury’s first season, Texas Tech will have the chance to get its feet wet in nonconference play even though a Big 12 battle with TCU is sandwiched between its matchups with SFA and Texas State.

8. West Virginia: William & Mary, Georgia State, vs. Maryland (at Ravens Stadium in Baltimore)

Not much of a nonconference slate for WVU, with the Terps as the lone BCS team on the schedule. Things set up well for Dana Holgorsen’s offense as the Mountaineers try to replace quarterback Geno Smith and receivers Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey.

9. Kansas State: North Dakota State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Massachusetts

Louisiana-Lafayette could provide the sternest test for the Wildcats, but there’s no reason why KSU can’t enter Big 12 play undefeated. Their nonconference schedule sets up well for a team looking to replace standout quarterback Collin Klein.

10. Baylor: Wofford, Buffalo, Louisiana-Monroe

It’s unlikely Baylor will get tested before its first conference game. The Bears were recently forced to add FCS opponent Wofford after their game with SMU was cancelled, so Louisiana-Monroe could be their toughest nonconference test. They should pile up the victories but might not know much about their team before conference play.

Bob Bowlsby was in Stillwater on Wednesday for Oklahoma State's game against Iowa State, but turned a whole lot of heads when he told the Associated Press of the Big 12's plans to continue to move toward re-instituting the Big 12 Championship game. The Big 12 will seek a waiver from the NCAA to hold a title game with just 10 teams in the league.

"At a time when lots of deregulation is taking place, it seems a little bit odd that the NCAA would be describing how we determine our champions," Bowlsby said Wednesday night, when he watched the Iowa State-Oklahoma State men's basketball game.

"I think it's reasonable to say if you're going to have a champion that you're going to have to designate it in one fashion or another. But to say it has to be between 12 schools or that there has to be divisional play or there has to be a round-robin, we're deregulating lots of things and that certainly is a candidate."

Bowlsby's news is surprising considering it never came up in his meetings with the media during this week's Big 12 athletic directors' meetings.

Reports leaked out this month that Bowlsby had planned to explore the waiver, but this latest news makes it clear that he's serious about bringing back the Big 12 title game, which hasn't been played since Oklahoma beat Nebraska in 2010. Oklahoma State won the outright title in Stillwater in 2011, and Kansas State shared the 2012 title with Oklahoma after both teams went 8-1 in Big 12 play this season.

More on this later today.

You can keep up with our scouts in Mobile, Ala., at the Senior Bowl this week with ESPN Insider, but here's a taste of what they've seen from the Big 12 talents this week:

Kansas State receiver Chris Harper got his first notebook mention of the week after a strong practice for the North team. Scouts love his size (228 pounds) and ability to box out defenders for the ball, but had big questions about his speed and ability to get off the line. I'd agree with those. He's not a physical freak, but he's a great route-runner with really good hands. That can pay off at the next level. Our scouts said he had trouble getting free on underneath routes. We saw that at Kansas State. He's most effective out on the edge with cornerbacks, where safeties and linebackers couldn't necessarily help.

Texas defensive end Alex Okafor's up and down week continued, but he impressed on Wednesday in 1-on-1 workouts. There's some questions about his run-stopping ability and breaking loose against double teams, but he's at least earning some attention.

Oklahoma tackle Lane Johnson is turning heads for the South team this week. Scouts are raving about his long arms and quickness. Considering he's a former quarterback, that's not much of a surprise.

This is one of the fans' favorite posts of the year, and I always like looking back on the season in the Big 12. To be fair, my only candidates are games I actually attended. I suspect the Oklahoma-Notre Dame and Red River Rivalry games should be on this list, but I can't attest to personal experience. The list of games I attended is at the bottom of the post. You can click on each game to see our game coverage.

This list is naturally predisposed to include close games, which Bill Snyder Family Stadium didn't see enough of this season. That's why Kansas State fans didn't make an appearance, though games against Texas Tech and Oklahoma State weren't far off.

1. Kansas State at Oklahoma: The Sooners fans were in full throat when they realized early on that Kansas State meant business and could win this game. This was one of the best games of the season, and the Sooners fans provided a great atmosphere for it to take place. The team just didn't show up quite as well as the fans.

2. Texas at Oklahoma State: I was down on the field for the final few minutes of this one, including Texas' crazy comeback. Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka made the trip to Stillwater, too, but Oklahoma State fans wanted this one bad. It was obvious. They didn't get the win, but they did earn a lot of respect with a crazy-loud night in Oklahoma.

3. West Virginia at Texas: Odd that the top three games on this list all involved home teams that didn't win, but Texas fans were undefeated and ready for Geno Smith in this showdown of undefeateds. West Virginia got the best of Texas late, but a handful of big plays on defense early ignited this crowd, landing it at No. 3 on our list.

4. Oregon vs. Kansas State (Fiesta Bowl): You've got to love this game and this stadium. The pregame atmospheres for these are always fantastic, and that was the case with the Fiesta Bowl. A kickoff return for a touchdown got the Oregon fans started, and Kansas State's second-quarter rally provided a solid answer for the folks in purple. The second half wasn't quite as intense, but it was still a memorable game.

5. Kansas State at Baylor: Baylor loses points for not filling the stadium here, but the fans who showed were loud and stormed the field after the season-making upset. The second half was delirious, especially when Lache Seastrunk broke it open with an 80-yard score. It seemed like Baylor fans couldn't believe what they were watching, but big play after big play and a huge defensive performance buoyed this crowd.

Games I attended:

• Week 1: SMU at Baylor
• Week 2: Miami at Kansas State
• Week 3: Home
• Week 4: Kansas State at Oklahoma
• Week 5: Texas at Oklahoma State
• Week 6: West Virginia at Texas
• Week 7: West Virginia at Texas Tech
• Week 8: Kansas State at West Virginia
• Week 9: Texas Tech at Kansas State
• Week 10: Oklahoma State at Kansas State
• Week 11: Kansas State at TCU
• Week 12: Kansas State at Baylor
• Week 13: Home
• Week 14: Oklahoma at TCU
• Bowls: Oregon vs. Kansas State (Fiesta Bowl) and Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma (Cotton Bowl)

As we continue our season wrap, we'll be looking to 2013 today. Let's take a look with some bold predictions in 2013.

1. The Big 12 will not expand or institute a championship game. I get the questions every day, but I simply don't believe the Big 12 will seriously consider expansion before the new college football playoff is in place, and the Big 12 gets an idea for where it stands in the college football landscape. Bob Bowlsby turned heads when a report surfaced that he'd inquired to the NCAA about bringing back the championship game, but that's a long way from actually doing so. Bringing back a No. 1 versus No. 2 league title game unless the Big 12 is a 12-team league with divisions is the surest way for the Big 12 to find it difficult to crack the four-team playoff.

2. Neither Texas nor Oklahoma will win the Big 12's automatic BCS bid. Simply put, TCU and Oklahoma State are likely better teams. One of those two will win the league and represent the Big 12 in the Fiesta Bowl as its BCS representative. Texas is good, but not quite good enough and will have a difficult decision to make about Mack Brown's future after falling short. Oklahoma is just losing too much on defense and trying to live without Landry Jones, which fans will find more difficult than they imagined.

3. The Big 12 will have a Davey O'Brien Trophy finalist. The Big 12 is reloading at quarterback, and will likely have only one starting quarterback in 2013 (barring what happens at TCU) who started at least half of his team's games in 2012: Texas' David Ash. It won't necessarily be him at the awards ceremony, but I believe in the Big 12's quarterback development, and we'll see a breakout star next year. Will it be Michael Brewer at Tech? Bryce Petty at Baylor? Ford Childress/Paul Millard in Morgantown or Blake Bell in Norman? What about Daniel Sams or Jake Waters at K-State?

4. Three Big 12 teams will finish in the national top 35 in total defense. This year, the Big 12 had only one team (TCU) crack the top 35. There will be great defenses coming back. Look for Texas, TCU and Oklahoma State to grab this accomplishment, and Texas Tech might not be far off, too. Offenses as a whole will be down from their crazy pace next year, and that's an opportunity for some experienced defenses.

5. The Big 12 will not play for a national title ... again. It's getting old for the league these days. Texas and Oklahoma both played a part in the SEC capturing seven consecutive national titles, but the Big 12's sat on the sidelines on that Monday night in January for each of the past three seasons. Make it four next year.

6. Texas Tech will be the Big 12's biggest overachiever. They'll do it on the back of Brewer, who I buy as the most likely breakout star for the Big 12 next year. He's got great running backs, a great system and great, experienced receivers. Having Eric Ward back will be huge, and Jace Amaro and Jakeem Grant will continue to grow. I'm a little cautious on picking them in the top half of the league in the preseason, but I wouldn't be surprised at all to see the Red Raiders finish in the top three or four next year.

7. Baylor will win at least eight games again. The Bears' offense will be back, and the defense will be a little bit improved. It'll be enough to win eight games in three consecutive seasons with three different quarterbacks. That's crazy, and yet another testament to what Art Briles has done in Waco.

8. Kansas will win a Big 12 game. It has to happen eventually, doesn't it? The Big 12 losing streak now stands at 21 games. It won't reach 30 this time next year.

Time to continue our series on the best and worst moments of 2012 for each team in the Big 12. Next up: Oklahoma.

Worst moment: Fumbles let outright title get away

Oklahoma has to feel like that fateful night in September should have gone differently. Landry Jones got caught from behind and coughed up the ball for an easy scoop and score for K-State. Inside the 5-yard line, Blake Bell inexplicably fumbled a good snap and lost a chance at seven more points with a mistake that was way out of character. The result: A 24-19 loss on their home field to Big 12 title-winner K-State. A win would have given the Sooners an outright title, but the loss in the conference opener was the second in two seasons in Big 12 play for Oklahoma, who had lost just one Big 12 game at home between 1999 and 2010.

Best moment: Rivalry Revelry

Oklahoma trailed Oklahoma State by 11 in the second half, but the Sooners rallied with a dramatic punt return for a touchdown from Jalen Saunders to tie the game. Facing a fourth-and-1 with just seconds to play, the Belldozer earned some redemption for the early-season miscue, powering over a defender for a game-tying score and a celebration on the way to the sideline. In overtime, Brennan Clay clinched the win with a beastly 18-yard touchdown run that featured a big-time truck of an Oklahoma State defender on the way into the end zone. That keyed off an even bigger celebration that kept Oklahoma in the hunt for the Big 12 title and BCS bowl bid, as well as retaking the state's bragging rights after losing a blowout in Stillwater a year earlier.

More best and worst of 2012:

• Oklahoma State
• TCU
• West Virginia
• Texas Tech
• Texas