DALLAS -- Despite the fact that Oklahoma is again the preseason favorite in the Big 12, the conference has a rather wide-open feel to it in 2012. The additions of West Virginia and TCU, both double-digit-win teams a year ago, provide two additional contenders. Throw in reigning champ Oklahoma State, albeit a weaker version without Justin Blackmon and Brandon Weeden, and the Big 12 includes three 2011 conference champions. That has to be unprecedented.
The reason about half of the league conceivably could win its BCS berth is due in part to question marks for each favorite's cause. Here are the chief concerns of the Big 12's top six contenders, in order of their projected finish from last week's media vote.
Oklahoma Sooners
Concern: Surrendering too many big plays versus passThe scene became far too familiar for the Sooners and their fans in 2011. At least once a game, and several times against Baylor, the ball would sail over the safety's head and into the arms of a wide-open receiver.
To read the rest of Travis Haney's blog on the biggest weaknesses for each of the Big 12 title contenders, you must be an ESPN Insider.
Travis Haney
ESPN Insider• Joined ESPN as Insider's national college football writer in April 2012
• Previously wrote for The Oklahoman and The Post and Courier
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Travis HaneyTravis Haney joined ESPN in April 2012 as Insider's national college football writer. He previously covered the University of Oklahoma Sooners for The (Oklahoma City) Oklahoman for one season, and the University of South Carolina Gamecocks for The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier for four. Additionally, Haney has contributed since 2003 to ESPN publications and projects, including ESPN The Magazine.
A native of Cleveland, Tenn., Haney's initial introduction to a college football cathedral was Neyland Stadium. He later graduated from the University of Tennessee, in 2003, and has spent time covering the Volunteers, the University of Georgia, Clemson University, and other schools. Safe to say, football, and football in the South, was injected into his bloodstream at a young age.
Haney is the author of three books -- Gamecock Glory and Gamecock Encore, which chronicled the South Carolina baseball team's run to the 2010 and 2011 national championships, and State of Disunion, a historical look at the Clemson-South Carolina football rivalry that he co-wrote with Larry Williams.
Haney resides in Charlotte, N.C. You can follow him on Twitter here.
