SBNation.com: All Posts by Bill Connelly

2013 TCU football's 10 things to know: Survive, then thrive

2013-06-19T15:28:10Z

Confused? Check out the glossary here.

1. I was nervous

I spend a decent amount of time talking up mid-majors. I could chew year ear off for 10 minutes on all the ways that last year's Utah State team was good enough to win the Pac-12 South. I will argue the merits for San Jose State and Fresno State in that race, as well. I will talk up 2010 Nevada, 2011 Toledo, a few different recent BYU teams, this year's UL teams (-Lafayette and -Monroe), etc.

And it goes without saying that I was a big, big fan of TCU and Boise State for quite a few years in a row. I will tell you how Boise State might have been the best team in the country in 2010 and how TCU may have deserved a BCS title shot over Oregon that same year.

When I advocate for these teams, I do believe what I'm saying, of course; but it's easy to champion a team when you know you'll never have to worry about being proven wrong. I can tell you that TCU would have beaten Auburn in 2010, or that Utah State would have beaten UCLA and company last year, and I can back it up with all the numbers you'd want to see; you can disagree if you want, but you can never prove me wrong. It's arguing in a vacuum.

I've been trying to champion TCU for quite a while without actual repercussions from reality, but the Horned Frogs' move to the Big 12 in 2012 meant that it was actually time to find out if they could handle a major conference load like I thought they could. That's money-where-your-mouth-is territory.

And it turned out that they would take the field in the Big 12 following a crippling run of injuries and off-the-field issues. Some key defenders were dismissed because of drug-related arrests in the spring, then a loaded offensive backfield lost its best players to injury, attrition, and rehab. TCU played a ridiculous number of youngsters and fielded its thinnest, greenest team in years.

But the Horned Frogs survived. They didn't by any means thrive -- their 7-6 record was their worst since 2004, Gary Patterson's fourth season in charge, and according to the F/+ rankings, this was their worst team since 2007 -- but despite the extreme youth and a complete lack of depth, despite going with an all-freshman backfield, they still won two road games versus ranked teams, still qualified for a bowl, and still delivered a boatload of hope for 2013. And now the backfield is (theoretically) healthy, and the defense is ridiculously experienced.

The Horned Frogs will have a serious role to play in a wide-open conference title race. They survived a challenging calendar year, and now it's time to thrive.

2012 Schedule & Results

Record: 7-6 \| Adj. Record: 8-5 \| Final F/+ Rk: 31
Date	Opponent	Score	W-L	Adj. Score	Adj. W-L
8-Sep	Grambling State	56-0	W	39.2 - 6.4	W
15-Sep	at Kansas	20-6	W	30.2 - 31.9	L
22-Sep	Virginia	27-7	W	35.3 - 19.4	W
29-Sep	at SMU	24-16	W	4.6 - 12.4	L
6-Oct	Iowa State	23-37	L	26.8 - 32.6	L
13-Oct	at Baylor	49-21	W	28.1 - 30.4	L
20-Oct	Texas Tech	53-56	L	35.7 - 24.4	W
27-Oct	at Oklahoma State	14-36	L	23.4 - 23.4	L
3-Nov	at West Virginia	39-38	W	20.7 - 12.8	W
10-Nov	Kansas State	10-23	L	21.7 - 13.6	W
22-Nov	at Texas	20-13	W	22.7 - 17.3	W
1-Dec	Oklahoma	17-24	L	27.6 - 23.5	W
29-Dec	vs. Michigan State	16-17	L	29.5 - 15.2	W

Category	Offense	Rk	Defense	Rk
Points Per Game	28.3	68	22.6	30
Adj. Points Per Game	26.6	80	20.3	11

2. One hit after another

TCU has ranked in the top 12 of Def. F/+ for five of the last six years; the Horned Frogs peaked in 2008 (second) and 2010 (third) but have maintained a mostly solid level of play for most of recent history.

But in 2011, they sank to 41st. They were perfectly decent late in the season, but they struggled at cornerback and allowed far more passing downs conversions than we were used to seeing. TCU was hit hard by graduation at safety and linebacker, and the tackle position was thinned out by the aforementioned drug busts, so there was actually reason to be concerned about the TCU defense. At least, that was the case until the season actually began.

Aside from a series of midseason glitches, the defense was just fine. The problems lied on the offensive side of the ball, where TCU lost offensive coordinator Justin Fuente to Memphis in the offseason, then lost running back Ed Wesley to unexpected departure, then lost running back Waymon James to injury, then lost quarterback Casey Pachall to arrest and rehab. Meanwhile, Matthew Tucker, the last third of what was supposed to be a three-headed running back, struggled with injuries and was barely full strength. The result: a scattershot offensive effort that declined as the season progressed.

Adj. Points Per Game (first 4 games): TCU 27.3, Opponent 17.5 (plus-9.8)
Adj. Points Per Game (next 4 games): TCU 28.5, Opponent 27.7 (plus-0.8)
Adj. Points Per Game (last 5 games): TCU 24.4, Opponent 16.5 (plus-7.9)

For three games, Pachall and TCU were just about untouchable. But Pachall was absolutely dreadful against SMU, then got arrested. Redshirt freshman Trevone Boykin took over, and while he showed strong maturity while thrust into a difficult situation, he didn't necessarily show much accuracy. He was incredible in the late-going against West Virginia, but TCU scored more than 20 points just once in its last six games. That's not going to win you much in the Big 12.

Offense

Category	Yards/ Game Rk	S&P+ Rk	Success Rt. Rk	PPP+ Rk
OVERALL	73	74	88	72
RUSHING	66	94	97	85
PASSING	62	54	63	52
Standard Downs		78	78	82
Passing Downs		81	105	61
Redzone		82	81	79

Q1 Rk	47	1st Down Rk	54
Q2 Rk	81	2nd Down Rk	87
Q3 Rk	38	3rd Down Rk	58
Q4 Rk	98

Quarterback

Note: players in bold below are 2013 returnees. Players in italics are questionable with injury/suspension.

Player

Ht, Wt

2013
Year

Rivals

Comp

Att

Yards

Comp
Rate

INT

Sacks

Sack Rate

Yards/
Att.

Trevone Boykin

6'2, 215

So.

*** (5.6)

167

292

2,054

57.2%

7.9%

6.0

Casey Pachall

6'5, 230

Sr.

**** (5.8)

948

66.0%

3.0%

9.1

Matt Brown

6'1, 190

Jr.

*** (5.7)

57.1%

22.2%

5.0

Tyler Matthews

6'4, 220

RSFr.

**** (5.8)

3. Hey, Casey

Pachall was simply outstanding in his first season succeeding Rose Bowl champion Andy Dalton, completing 67 percent of his passes with minuscule sack (3.4 percent) and interception rates (2.0 percent). The former four-star recruit has lovely size and arm strength, and he raised his game on passing downs: TCU ranked 29th overall on standard downs, but 11th on passing downs. I've long called passing downs the "playmaker downs," and Pachall has proven himself quite the playmaker. He should fit right in in the Big 12. Of course, Pachall hasn't exactly had the happiest offseason. It was recently revealed that Pachall failed a drug test in February and later admitted to having dabbled in marijuana, cocaine and ecstasy in the last year. He has since passed further drug tests and will not face (further) disciplinary actions this fall, but with the entire TCU team seemingly coming under the spotlight for drug issues, it was at least a little disheartening to see that the quarterback, the face of the program, was also involved.

I wrote that last summer. Pachall responded first by completing 54 of his first 71 passes (76 percent) for 841 yards, eight touchdowns and one interception in wins over Grambling, Kansas, and Virginia. He then completed 10 of 26 passes for 107 yards against SMU in one of the season's worst offensive performances, got arrested, and left the team for rehab. He was back with the team this spring with "the color back in his face," and if his head is on straight, he could very well be the best quarterback in the Big 12. He has completed two-thirds of his career passes, with 36 touchdowns to just eight interceptions. He's big, mobile, accurate, and exciting.

With him at quarterback, TCU's passing game could be both efficient and explosive; leading receiver Josh Boyce is gone, but there are plenty of reasons to believe that Brandon Carter (last year's No. 2) and LaDarius White (No. 5) are ready to thrive as go-tos. Throw in Cam White and interesting transfers like Florida's Ja'Juan Story, and you've got a potentially great aerial attack.

Stay in the game, Casey.

Running Back

Player	Pos.	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	Rushes	Yards	Yards/ Carry	Hlt Yds/ Carry	TD	Adj. POE
B.J. Catalon	RB	5'9, 190	So.	*** (5.7)	121	584	4.8	4.8	0	-2.2
Matthew Tucker	RB				118	515	4.4	3.1	6	-6.5
Trevone Boykin	QB	6'2, 215	So.	*** (5.6)	103	582	5.7	5.6	3	+9.6
Aundre Dean	RB				63	278	4.4	5.2	0	-1.8
Casey Pachall	QB	6'5, 230	Sr.	**** (5.8)	18	62	3.4	4.2	0	-2.0
Waymon James	RB	5'8, 203	Sr.	**** (5.9)	17	168	9.9	9.0	1	+7.4
Skye Dawson	WR				11	46	4.2	2.7	0	-0.5
Aaron Green (Nebraska 2011)	RB	5'11, 200	So.	**** (5.9)	24	105	4.4	N/A	2	N/A
Jordan Moore	RB	6'3, 210	So.	*** (5.6)
Kyle Hicks	RB	5'10, 190	Fr.	**** (5.8)

4. Hey, Waymon

I also wrote this last year:

Running backs Matthew Tucker and Waymon James. A fantastic trio of running backs became a duo when Ed Wesley left the team this offseason. But barring a run of injuries or suspensions, two great running backs are typically enough.

Whoops. Injuries resulted in the two combining for just 125 carries in 2012 -- 17 from James (who was lost with a knee injury in the second game) and 118 from a limping Tucker. Boykin and B.J. Catalon ended up carrying the bulk of the load for the running game, and while Catalon was certainly acceptable, he wasn't Tucker (when full-speed) or James.

Since the start of the 2011 season, James has averaged a ridiculous 7.6 yards per carry. If he is ready to carry the primary load, TCU should easily improve on last year's No. 94 ranking in Rushing S&P+, even if the mobile Boykin is on the bench.

Waymon James. John Reiger, US Presswire.

Receiving Corps

Player

Pos.

Ht, Wt

2013
Year

Rivals

Targets

Catches

Yards

Catch Rate

Yds/
Target

Target
Rate

%SD

Real Yds/
Target

RYPR

Josh Boyce

101

891

65.3%

8.8

26.4%

63.4%

8.9

108.3

Brandon Carter

5'11, 186

Jr.

*** (5.7)

590

60.0%

9.8

15.7%

46.7%

10.6

71.7

Skye Dawson

455

65.4%

8.8

13.6%

65.4%

8.6

55.3

Cam White

6'3, 200

Jr.

*** (5.7)

284

48.8%

6.6

11.2%

60.5%

6.6

34.5

LaDarius Brown

6'4, 220

So.

**** (5.9)

385

69.2%

9.9

10.2%

66.7%

10.2

46.8

B.J. Catalon

5'9, 190

So.

*** (5.7)

152

67.6%

4.5

8.9%

50.0%

4.8

18.5

Matthew Tucker

55.6%

3.8

4.7%

33.3%

4.0

8.4

Corey Fuller

87.5%

10.0

2.1%

100.0%

6.0

9.7

David Porter

6'0, 197

Jr.

*** (5.7)

33.3%

3.0

1.6%

0.0%

2.4

2.2

Griffin Gilbert

6'5, 220

So.

**** (5.8)

50.0%

2.8

1.0%

75.0%

2.2

1.3

Kolby Listenbee

6'1, 183

So.

*** (5.7)

33.3%

19.7

0.8%

0.0%

11.7

7.2

Ja'Juan Story (Florida)

6'4, 208

So.

**** (5.8)

Josh Doctson (Wyoming)

6'4, 185

So.

*** (5.5)

Ty Slanina

6'0, 182

Fr.

*** (5.7)

Charlie Reid

6'4, 225

Fr.

*** (5.7)

Cameron Echols-Luper

6'0, 190

Fr.

*** (5.7)

Offensive Line

Category	Adj. Line Yds	Std. Downs LY/carry	Pass. Downs LY/carry	Opp. Rate	Power Success Rate	Stuff Rate	Adj. Sack Rate	Std. Downs Sack Rt.	Pass. Downs Sack Rt.
Team	94.8	2.67	2.51	37.6%	72.4%	19.9%	62.6	5.6%	8.0%
Rank	91	98	110	77	39	81	115	77	88

Player	Pos.	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	Career Starts/Honors/Notes
Blaize Foltz	RG				27 career starts; 2012 2nd All-Big 12
James Fry	C				25 career starts
Eric Tausch	C	6'3, 300	Sr.	** (5.4)	14 career starts
Aviante Collins	RT	6'6, 285	So.	*** (5.5)	13 career starts
Tayo Fabuluje	RT	6'7, 315	Jr.	*** (5.6)	12 career starts
Joey Hunt	LG	6'3, 288	So.	*** (5.6)	1 career start
John Wooldridge	RG	6'5, 310	Sr.	*** (5.5)	1 career start
Halapoulivaati Vaitai	RT	6'6, 308	So.	*** (5.7)
Brady Foltz	LG	6'4, 325	So.	*** (5.6)
Jamelle Naff	RG	6'4, 325	So.	*** (5.7)
James Dunbar	LT	6'6, 305	Sr.	*** (5.6)
Michael Thompson	RG	6'5, 352	Jr.	*** (5.6)
Lloyd Tunstill	OL	6'4, 305	Jr.	** (5.3)
Eason Fromayan	RT	6'5, 280	Fr.	*** (5.6)

5. A line liability

You know what makes life even more difficult when you've got a freshman quarterback and a freshman running back? A line that struggles to create opportunities for them. A year after losing three starters, including all-Mountain West guard Kyle Dooley, to graduation, TCU's line struggled quite a bit. One has to assume that the line's life was made more difficult by the freshmen, too, but regardless, TCU's line stats stunk. The Horned Frogs were decent in short-yardage situations (Power Success Rate) but often allowed defenders into the backfield and created a mediocre-at-best number of opportunities for Catalon and company. They also allowed a ton of sacks, but I'll write that off to some degree as part of Boykin's learning process -- the sack rates were nice and small when Pachall was behind center.

Five players return with starting experience, which certainly doesn't hurt, but even with Pachall, James, Carter, and company all healthy and ready to explode, the offense still has a lower ceiling if the line doesn't improve.

Defense

Category	Yards/ Game Rk	S&P+ Rk	Success Rt. Rk	PPP+ Rk
OVERALL	16	15	10	19
RUSHING	10	11	10	15
PASSING	42	22	16	29
Standard Downs		21	14	28
Passing Downs		10	5	13
Redzone		25	10	46

Q1 Rk	13	1st Down Rk	23
Q2 Rk	10	2nd Down Rk	11
Q3 Rk	28	3rd Down Rk	7
Q4 Rk	6

6. The defense was young and thin … and improved

Damn, can Gary Patterson and coordinator Dick Bumpas coach a defense. A year after TCU struggled more than expected, then lost players unexpectedly, TCU fielded a defense that improved from 75th to 22nd in Passing S&P+, from 76th to 10th on passing downs, from 49th to 25th in Redzone S&P+, and from 41st to 12th in overall Def. F/+. The 4-2-5 scheme Patterson long ago mastered was a perfect fit in the spread-out Big 12, and even with some midseason struggles -- 471 yards to Oklahoma State, 56 points (in overtime) to Texas Tech -- TCU finished strong, allowing just 4.4 yards per play versus Kansas State and Texas, allowing just 24 points to Oklahoma, and giving up just 227 yards to Michigan State.

Those numbers are impressive enough on their face. But look at the players listed below. Two of the top three linemen were freshmen (and the third was a sophomore). Four of the top five linebackers were sophomores. Five of the top seven defensive backs were freshmen or sophomores. Now the Horned Frogs are in an incredible position, returning nine starters and basically all of last year's second string.

This defense has a very good chance of once again reaching the top five in Def. F/+, and while you will always allow yards and points in the Big 12, the defense could put TCU in a position to make a serious run at the conference title, especially with Pachall and James back on offense.

7. Somehow, passing was the more palatable option

TCU's pass defense improved dramatically in 2012, partially because of the improvement of the pass rush (star recruit Devonte Fields made an enormous impact as a true freshman) and partially because corners Jason Verrett and Kevin White were football magnets. They combined to defense 31 passes (22 from Verrett), and a new corps of safeties stepped up nicely.

But it was still quite a bit easier to pass on TCU than to run. An incredibly young defensive line held up beautifully to run blocking, and the 4-2-5 scheme, anchored by linebackers Kenny Cain and Joel Hasley, was once again effective at so quickly swarming to the football. Cain is gone, as is end Stansly Maponga, but literally everybody else returns from last year's squad. Assuming your typical year-to-year, experience-keyed improvement, we should probably expect TCU to move from 11th in Rushing S&P+ to at least seventh or eighth, and from 22nd in Passing S&P+ to at least 16th or 18th. TCU was occasionally leaky against the pass last year (18-for-33 for 324 yards versus OSU, a strange 19-for-39 for 303 versus Kansas), but those leaks should get plugged pretty well in 2013. Good luck figuring out how to move the ball against this D, at least after Fields returns from a two-game suspension that will hurt TCU against LSU.

Defensive Line

Category	Adj. Line Yds	Std. Downs LY/carry	Pass. Downs LY/carry	Opp. Rate	Power Success Rate	Stuff Rate	Adj. Sack Rate	Std. Downs Sack Rt.	Pass. Downs Sack Rt.
Team	114.6	2.48	3.02	33.2%	61.1%	23.4%	136.0	4.5%	7.4%
Rank	15	12	41	10	24	16	15	70	50

Name

Pos

Ht, Wt

2013
Year

Rivals

Tackles

% of Team

TFL

Sacks

Int

PBU

Devonte Fields

6'4, 240

So.

**** (5.8)

43.5

6.7%

18.5

Chucky Hunter

6'1, 300

Jr.

**** (5.8)

29.5

4.6%

3.5

Davion Pierson

6'2, 305

So.

*** (5.5)

25.0

3.9%

7.5

3.5

Stansly Maponga

20.5

3.2%

6.5

Jon Koontz

6'2, 265

Sr.

10.5

1.6%

David Johnson

6'2, 285

Jr.

*** (5.7)

6.0

0.9%

Jon Lewis

6'2, 290

Jr.

*** (5.6)

4.5

0.7%

James McFarland

6'3, 248

So.

*** (5.7)

4.0

0.6%

0.5

Josh Carraway

6'4, 240

So.

** (5.4)

4.0

0.6%

Terrell Lathan

6'5, 280

So.

*** (5.7)

2.0

0.3%

Matt Anderson

6'3, 245

Jr.

*** (5.6)

Mike Tuaua

6'3, 260

So.

Tevin Lawson

6'4, 275

Fr.

**** (5.8)

Linebackers

Name	Pos	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	GP	Tackles	% of Team	TFL	Sacks	Int	PBU	FF	FR
Kenny Cain	SLB				13	67.5	10.5%	5.5	1.5	2	4	0	1
Joel Hasley	MLB	6'1, 223	Jr.	NR	12	62.0	9.6%	8.5	2	0	2	0	0
Jonathan Anderson	MLB	6'3, 208	Jr.	*** (5.7)	13	23.0	3.6%	0	0	0	0	0	1
Marcus Mallet	SLB	6'1, 227	Jr.	*** (5.7)	12	15.5	2.4%	5	0	0	1	1	0
Paul Dawson	SLB	6'2, 230	Jr.	NR	13	11.0	1.7%	1	0	0	0	1	0
Alex Adewunmi	LB	6'1, 210	Sr.	NR	8	5.0	0.8%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dac Shaw	LB	6'2, 200	Fr.	*** (5.7)
Paul Whitmill	LB	5'11, 200	Fr.	*** (5.7)

Secondary

Name	Pos	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	GP	Tackles	% of Team	TFL	Sacks	Int	PBU	FF	FR
Elisha Olabode	FS	5'11, 193	Sr.	*** (5.6)	13	59.5	9.2%	3	0	4	9	2	1
Jason Verrett	CB	5'10, 176	Sr.	*** (5.7)	13	54.5	8.4%	5	0	6	16	0	0
Sam Carter	SS	6'1, 215	Jr.	*** (5.6)	13	51.0	7.9%	6.5	3	4	10	1	0
Chris Hackett	WS	6'2, 195	So.	*** (5.7)	13	49.0	7.6%	1.5	0	2	5	1	2
Kevin White	CB	5'10, 174	Jr.	*** (5.5)	13	32.0	5.0%	0	0	1	8	0	0
Derrick Kindred	SS	5'10, 210	So.	** (5.4)	12	17.0	2.6%	0	0	0	2	0	0
Geoff Hooker	FS	5'10, 186	Jr.	NR	13	10.0	1.5%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Keivon Gamble	CB	5'10, 180	Sr.	*** (5.6)	12	7.5	1.2%	0	0	0	0	1	0
Trent Thomas	SS	5'11, 190	Sr.	** (5.4)	8	2.5	0.4%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Zach Jackson	WS	6'0, 185	RSFr.	*** (5.5)
George Baltimore	DB	6'0, 205	Fr.	*** (5.7)

8. Best defense in the Big 12

I'm just repeating myself now, aren't I? Here are last year's Big 12 Def. F/+ rankings:

1. TCU (+14.6%, 12th overall)
2. Kansas State (+12.9%, 16th)
3. Oklahoma (+10.6%, 23rd)
4. Oklahoma State (+10.0%, 24th)
5. Texas (+4.5%, 40th)
6. Iowa State (+3.0%, 47th)
7. Texas Tech (-1.1%, 64th)
8. West Virginia (-2.4%, 69th)
9. Baylor (-5.1%, 79th)
10. Kansas (-6.0%, 84th)

Kansas State must replace nearly every starter, Oklahoma's secondary has been hit hard by graduation/attrition, and Oklahoma State is breaking in a new defensive coordinator after the old, incredibly underrated one was ousted. This isn't going to be the strongest year for Big 12 defenses, even if Texas bounces back as I assume it will. Meanwhile, TCU should field a top-10 unit.

And since I am indeed repeating myself here, I'll instead just take the time to remind you of this:

This just happened. RT @JasonKirkSBN: http://t.co/W2JSAUcJyH
— edsbs (@edsbs) June 16, 2013

Special Teams

Punter	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Punts	Avg	TB	FC	I20	FC/I20 Ratio
Ethan Perry	6'4, 230	So.	63	44.5	10	20	19	61.9%
Cale Patterson			3	34.4	1	1	0	33.3%

Kicker	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Kickoffs	Avg	TB	TB%
Jaden Oberkrom	6'3, 187	So.	70	61.5	33	47.1%
Ryan DeNucci	5'10, 195	Jr.	3	61.7	1	33.3%

Place-Kicker	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	PAT	FG (0-39)	Pct	FG (40+)	Pct
Jaden Oberkrom	6'3, 187	So.	42-42	11-16	68.8%	11-14	78.6%

Returner	Pos.	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Returns	Avg.	TD
Skye Dawson	KR			20	23.1	0
Brandon Carter	KR	5'11, 186	Jr.	7	25.1	0
Skye Dawson	PR			17	9.4	0
Deante' Gray	PR	5'10, 175	So.	7	22.4	1

Category	Rk
Special Teams F/+	55
Net Punting	41
Net Kickoffs	24
Touchback Pct	26
Field Goal Pct	57
Kick Returns Avg	49
Punt Returns Avg	19

9. Cannon Oberkrom

Jaden Oberkrom booted half of his kickoffs for touchbacks and made a higher percentage of his long field goals (40-plus yards) than his short ones. He has an absolute cannon, and there's a good chance that he doesn't really know where a given kick is going to go. That's fun. It's also possible that he will become even more of a weapon if TCU's offense improves enough to score a few more touchdowns and settle for fewer field goals.

2013 Schedule & Projection Factors

2013 Schedule
Date	Opponent	Proj. Rk
31-Aug	vs. LSU	3
7-Sep	SE Louisiana	NR
14-Sep	at Texas Tech	42
28-Sep	SMU	82
5-Oct	at Oklahoma	7
12-Oct	Kansas	104
19-Oct	at Oklahoma State	6
26-Oct	Texas	11
2-Nov	West Virginia	41
9-Nov	at Iowa State	76
16-Nov	at Kansas State	40
30-Nov	Baylor	36

Five-Year F/+ Rk	6
Two-Year Recruiting Rk	34
TO Margin/Adj. TO Margin*	+3 / +2.7
TO Luck/Game	0.1
Approx. Ret. Starters (Off. / Def.)	16 (7, 9)
Yds/Pt Margin**	-0.6

10. Time to surge

There is no consensus favorite in the Big 12 this year. The early publications suggest that writers really have no idea what to do with this conference, so allow me to make the case for TCU. The Horned Frogs have more proven quantities than Oklahoma, have fielded a more consistently strong defense than Oklahoma State (and could have a better offensive backfield, too), and won at Texas last year. Even with a terribly young team, they proved solid on the road, and call me crazy, but they probably aren't going to go winless at home in conference again.

TCU survived the roughest year imaginable in 2012 and emerged with a team that is both healthy and absurdly experienced. The defense will probably be lights-out, and if Casey Pachall and Waymon James can stay on the field, the Horned Frogs should expect quite an offensive surge.

Last year, I was hedging my bets like crazy on TCU. This year, I'm outright stating that, barring injury and other issues, this will almost definitely be a top-20 team, will probably be a top-15, and could quite possibly be a top-10 team. The numbers love them, and the eyeballs should, too. Stay in the game, Casey.

More from SB Nation:

Follow @SBNationCFB Follow @SBNRecruiting

• Preseason All-America team led by Jadeveon Clowney, Johnny Manziel

• Why Alabama will not threepeat

• 2013 bowl projections for all 35 games

• Bill Connelly’s Big 12 preview countdown almost done

• National recruiting coverage

• Today’s college football news headlines

Oof.

2013-06-19T15:27:11Z

Oof.

Bill on Solid Verbal

2013-06-19T10:12:15Z

Bill on Solid Verbal

I always enjoy chatting with Dan and Ty. There's just enough book talk for me to justify putting it on the Study Hall hub, though there will likely be another appearance in another month or so.

Mizzou Links, 6-19-13

2013-06-19T10:04:11Z

Yeah, get used to the self-shares ... I suck at pimping, but I'm going to be pimping the book as hard as I can.

Pace in college football: 2012

2013-06-18T18:21:37Z

We talk a lot about pace in college football, and while simply looking at the number of plays will give you a pretty good idea of how fast a team was moving, I've mentioned before that I like breaking things out by run and pass. Teams that pass a high frequency of the time are going to probably attempt more plays because of clock stoppages et al. But I like to create an "Expected Plays" figure based on a team's run-pass rates, then compare their total plays to that.

(I've also tinkered with making further adjustments by looking at the average number of plays their opponents typically faced -- if you played Baylor, for instance, you probably attempted a lot of plays in that game because THEY attempted a lot of plays -- but I haven't gotten incredibly far with that data. So keep that in mind when looking at this.)

Below are last year's FBS teams ranked by how many more plays they ran compared to the expectation. Expectations were set by simply creating a regression equation from run-pass rates and national averages. Nothing too fancy here, but this is basically where I get the "Adj. Pace" figure for my team previews.

The results are reasonably similar to looking at plays per game. The three most up-tempo teams in the country were Marshall, Louisiana Tech, and Nevada no matter how you gauge it. But run-happy teams like Tulsa, Oregon, Rice, and (especially) Air Force get a bump here. Meanwhile, wow, did Auburn just try to run out the clock from the opening kickoff.

Enjoy.

Offense	Games	Plays	Rushes	Passes	Plays/ Game	Rk	Rushes/ Game	Passes/ Game	% Run	Expected Plays	Diff	Rk
Marshall	12	1087	452	635	90.6	1	37.7	52.9	0.416	72.5	+18.1	1
Louisiana Tech	12	1052	512	540	87.7	2	42.7	45.0	0.487	71.5	+16.1	2
Nevada	13	1080	656	424	83.1	3	50.5	32.6	0.607	69.8	+13.3	3
Tulsa	14	1159	681	478	82.8	5	48.6	34.1	0.588	70.1	+12.7	4
Oregon	13	1059	669	390	81.5	9	51.5	30.0	0.632	69.5	+12.0	5
Baylor	13	1072	578	494	82.5	6	44.5	38.0	0.539	70.8	+11.7	6
Arizona	13	1080	526	554	83.1	3	40.5	42.6	0.487	71.5	+11.6	7
Clemson	13	1061	557	504	81.6	8	42.8	38.8	0.525	71.0	+10.6	8
Houston	12	984	375	609	82.0	7	31.3	50.8	0.381	73.0	+9.0	9
Rice	13	1025	592	433	78.8	14	45.5	33.3	0.578	70.2	+8.6	10
Ball State	13	1035	529	506	79.6	12	40.7	38.9	0.511	71.2	+8.4	11
Troy	12	963	442	521	80.3	10	36.8	43.4	0.459	71.9	+8.3	12
Syracuse	13	1028	540	488	79.1	13	41.5	37.5	0.525	71.0	+8.1	13
Arizona State	13	1012	561	451	77.8	18	43.2	34.7	0.554	70.6	+7.3	14
NC State	13	1037	432	605	79.8	11	33.2	46.5	0.417	72.5	+7.2	15
Oklahoma State	13	1014	507	507	78.0	16	39.0	39.0	0.500	71.3	+6.7	16
Air Force	13	952	795	157	73.2	40	61.2	12.1	0.835	66.6	+6.6	17
UCLA	14	1090	547	543	77.9	17	39.1	38.8	0.502	71.3	+6.5	18
Ohio	13	996	569	427	76.6	24	43.8	32.8	0.571	70.3	+6.3	19
Penn State	12	930	454	476	77.5	20	37.8	39.7	0.488	71.5	+6.0	20
Akron	12	945	342	603	78.8	15	28.5	50.3	0.362	73.3	+5.5	21
BYU	13	1000	475	525	76.9	23	36.5	40.4	0.475	71.7	+5.2	22
Fresno State	13	1006	443	563	77.4	21	34.1	43.3	0.440	72.2	+5.2	23
Indiana	12	934	381	553	77.8	19	31.8	46.1	0.408	72.6	+5.2	24
West Virginia	13	1001	446	555	77.0	22	34.3	42.7	0.446	72.1	+4.9	25
Offense	Games	Plays	Rushes	Passes	Plays/ Game	Rk	Rushes/ Game	Passes/ Game	% Run	Expected Plays	Diff	Rk
Nebraska	14	1040	627	413	74.3	31	44.8	29.5	0.603	69.9	+4.4	26
Army	12	847	730	117	70.6	59	60.8	9.8	0.862	66.2	+4.4	27
Georgia Tech	14	1000	794	206	71.4	51	56.7	14.7	0.794	67.2	+4.3	28
Northwestern	13	964	579	385	74.2	34	44.5	29.6	0.601	69.9	+4.2	29
Western Michigan	12	915	384	531	76.3	26	32.0	44.3	0.420	72.5	+3.8	30
Duke	13	989	420	569	76.1	27	32.3	43.8	0.425	72.4	+3.7	31
UL-Monroe	13	988	423	565	76.0	28	32.5	43.5	0.428	72.4	+3.6	32
North Carolina	12	897	446	451	74.8	29	37.2	37.6	0.497	71.4	+3.4	33
Texas Tech	13	992	380	612	76.3	25	29.2	47.1	0.383	73.0	+3.3	34
Ole Miss	13	961	519	442	73.9	35	39.9	34.0	0.540	70.8	+3.2	35
Northern Illinois	14	1023	596	427	73.1	42	42.6	30.5	0.583	70.2	+2.9	36
Kansas	12	871	533	338	72.6	46	44.4	28.2	0.612	69.8	+2.8	37
Toledo	13	961	494	467	73.9	35	38.0	35.9	0.514	71.1	+2.8	38
Arkansas State	13	951	525	426	73.2	41	40.4	32.8	0.552	70.6	+2.6	39
Texas A&M	13	959	479	480	73.8	37	36.8	36.9	0.499	71.3	+2.4	40
Tennessee	12	890	406	484	74.2	32	33.8	40.3	0.456	72.0	+2.2	41
Michigan State	13	956	470	486	73.5	38	36.2	37.4	0.492	71.5	+2.1	42
UAB	12	894	374	520	74.5	30	31.2	43.3	0.418	72.5	+2.0	43
Virginia	12	890	392	498	74.2	32	32.7	41.5	0.440	72.2	+2.0	44
Purdue	13	956	450	506	73.5	38	34.6	38.9	0.471	71.8	+1.8	45
Virginia Tech	13	943	482	461	72.5	47	37.1	35.5	0.511	71.2	+1.4	46
Buffalo	12	862	459	403	71.8	50	38.3	33.6	0.532	70.9	+1.0	47
East Carolina	13	946	430	516	72.8	44	33.1	39.7	0.455	72.0	+0.8	48
Missouri	12	867	424	443	72.3	48	35.3	36.9	0.489	71.5	+0.8	49
South Alabama	13	936	456	480	72.0	49	35.1	36.9	0.487	71.5	+0.5	50
Offense	Games	Plays	Rushes	Passes	Plays/ Game	Rk	Rushes/ Game	Passes/ Game	% Run	Expected Plays	Diff	Rk
Oregon State	13	946	408	538	72.8	44	31.4	41.4	0.431	72.3	+0.5	51
North Texas	12	850	473	377	70.8	56	39.4	31.4	0.556	70.5	+0.3	52
Florida International	12	854	452	402	71.2	52	37.7	33.5	0.529	70.9	+0.2	53
Ohio State	12	836	530	306	69.7	64	44.2	25.5	0.634	69.4	+0.2	54
Iowa State	13	923	445	478	71.0	54	34.2	36.8	0.482	71.6	-0.6	55
Wyoming	12	850	415	435	70.8	56	34.6	36.3	0.488	71.5	-0.7	56
TCU	13	911	483	428	70.1	63	37.2	32.9	0.530	70.9	-0.8	57
Massachusetts	12	854	378	476	71.2	52	31.5	39.7	0.443	72.2	-1.0	58
UNLV	13	918	427	491	70.6	58	32.8	37.8	0.465	71.8	-1.2	59
Louisville	13	915	432	483	70.4	61	33.2	37.2	0.472	71.7	-1.3	60
San Jose State	13	914	421	493	70.3	62	32.4	37.9	0.461	71.9	-1.6	61
Oklahoma	13	921	387	534	70.8	55	29.8	41.1	0.420	72.5	-1.6	62
San Diego State	13	885	543	342	68.1	81	41.8	26.3	0.614	69.7	-1.7	63
South Florida	12	836	405	431	69.7	64	33.8	35.9	0.484	71.6	-1.9	64
UTEP	12	831	425	406	69.3	69	35.4	33.8	0.511	71.2	-1.9	65
Notre Dame	13	893	488	405	68.7	75	37.5	31.2	0.546	70.7	-2.0	66
Hawaii	12	836	399	437	69.7	64	33.3	36.4	0.477	71.7	-2.0	67
Washington	13	904	428	476	69.5	67	32.9	36.6	0.473	71.7	-2.2	68
Texas	13	891	477	414	68.5	77	36.7	31.8	0.535	70.8	-2.3	69
SMU	13	916	366	550	70.5	60	28.2	42.3	0.400	72.8	-2.3	70
New Mexico	13	841	677	164	64.7	109	52.1	12.6	0.805	67.0	-2.3	71
Washington State	12	875	195	680	72.9	43	16.3	56.7	0.223	75.3	-2.4	72
LSU	13	883	495	388	67.9	84	38.1	29.8	0.561	70.5	-2.6	73
Utah State	13	892	456	436	68.6	76	35.1	33.5	0.511	71.2	-2.6	74
Bowling Green	13	895	438	457	68.8	72	33.7	35.2	0.489	71.5	-2.6	75
Offense	Games	Plays	Rushes	Passes	Plays/ Game	Rk	Rushes/ Game	Passes/ Game	% Run	Expected Plays	Diff	Rk
Kent State	14	942	563	379	67.3	88	40.2	27.1	0.598	70.0	-2.7	76
Middle Tennessee	12	812	461	351	67.7	86	38.4	29.3	0.568	70.4	-2.7	77
Colorado	12	829	376	453	69.1	70	31.3	37.8	0.454	72.0	-2.9	78
Stanford	14	946	529	417	67.6	87	37.8	29.8	0.559	70.5	-2.9	79
Wake Forest	12	829	375	454	69.1	70	31.3	37.8	0.452	72.0	-2.9	80
Florida Atlantic	12	826	384	442	68.8	73	32.0	36.8	0.465	71.8	-3.0	81
Wisconsin	14	924	607	317	66.0	100	43.4	22.6	0.657	69.1	-3.1	82
Vanderbilt	13	873	502	371	67.2	90	38.6	28.5	0.575	70.3	-3.1	83
California	12	817	414	403	68.1	79	34.5	33.6	0.507	71.2	-3.2	84
Pittsburgh	13	884	451	433	68.0	82	34.7	33.3	0.510	71.2	-3.2	85
UTSA	10	680	344	336	68.0	82	34.4	33.6	0.506	71.3	-3.3	86
Arkansas	12	825	349	476	68.8	74	29.1	39.7	0.423	72.4	-3.7	87
Boise State	13	872	469	403	67.1	91	36.1	31.0	0.538	70.8	-3.7	88
UL-Lafayette	13	872	467	405	67.1	91	35.9	31.2	0.536	70.8	-3.8	89
Miami-OH	12	834	302	532	69.5	68	25.2	44.3	0.362	73.3	-3.8	90
Central Florida	14	937	504	433	66.9	94	36.0	30.9	0.538	70.8	-3.9	91
Florida State	14	938	486	452	67.0	93	34.7	32.3	0.518	71.1	-4.1	92
Miami-FL	12	818	354	464	68.2	78	29.5	38.7	0.433	72.3	-4.1	93
Cincinnati	13	863	477	386	66.4	96	36.7	29.7	0.553	70.6	-4.2	94
Connecticut	12	807	386	421	67.3	89	32.2	35.1	0.478	71.6	-4.4	95
Southern Miss	12	791	450	341	65.9	101	37.5	28.4	0.569	70.4	-4.4	96
Utah	12	796	421	375	66.3	97	35.1	31.3	0.529	70.9	-4.6	97
Georgia	14	922	499	423	65.9	103	35.6	30.2	0.541	70.8	-4.9	98
Boston College	12	817	312	505	68.1	79	26.0	42.1	0.382	73.0	-4.9	99
Illinois	12	795	404	391	66.3	98	33.7	32.6	0.508	71.2	-5.0	100
Offense	Games	Plays	Rushes	Passes	Plays/ Game	Rk	Rushes/ Game	Passes/ Game	% Run	Expected Plays	Diff	Rk
Minnesota	13	846	496	350	65.1	108	38.2	26.9	0.586	70.1	-5.0	101
South Carolina	13	855	453	402	65.8	104	34.8	30.9	0.530	70.9	-5.1	102
Kansas State	13	840	512	328	64.6	110	39.4	25.2	0.610	69.8	-5.2	103
Navy	13	808	631	177	62.2	123	48.5	13.6	0.781	67.4	-5.2	104
Iowa	12	793	382	411	66.1	99	31.8	34.3	0.482	71.6	-5.5	105
Memphis	12	771	466	305	64.3	113	38.8	25.4	0.604	69.9	-5.6	106
Alabama	14	898	547	351	64.1	115	39.1	25.1	0.609	69.8	-5.6	107
Western Kentucky	13	839	481	358	64.5	112	37.0	27.5	0.573	70.3	-5.8	108
Kentucky	12	789	378	411	65.8	105	31.5	34.3	0.479	71.6	-5.9	109
Maryland	12	775	433	342	64.6	111	36.1	28.5	0.559	70.5	-5.9	110
Tulane	12	815	248	567	67.9	85	20.7	47.3	0.304	74.1	-6.2	111
Idaho	12	797	326	471	66.4	95	27.2	39.3	0.409	72.6	-6.2	112
New Mexico State	12	791	348	443	65.9	101	29.0	36.9	0.440	72.2	-6.3	113
Florida	13	825	501	324	63.5	117	38.5	24.9	0.607	69.8	-6.4	114
Mississippi State	13	848	406	442	65.2	107	31.2	34.0	0.479	71.6	-6.4	115
Temple	11	689	448	241	62.6	121	40.7	21.9	0.650	69.2	-6.6	116
USC	13	851	376	475	65.5	106	28.9	36.5	0.442	72.2	-6.7	117
Texas State	12	771	385	386	64.3	113	32.1	32.2	0.499	71.3	-7.1	118
Michigan	13	818	484	334	62.9	120	37.2	25.7	0.592	70.0	-7.1	119
Eastern Michigan	12	756	426	330	63.0	119	35.5	27.5	0.563	70.4	-7.4	120
Rutgers	13	823	420	403	63.3	118	32.3	31.0	0.510	71.2	-7.9	121
Central Michigan	13	826	400	426	63.5	116	30.8	32.8	0.484	71.6	-8.0	122
Colorado State	12	750	369	381	62.5	122	30.8	31.8	0.492	71.5	-9.0	123
Auburn	12	695	401	294	57.9	124	33.4	24.5	0.577	70.2	-12.3	124

Mizzou's Greatest, #65: "Did you see him? Did you see him take that man and throw him down?"

2013-06-18T17:00:07Z

As much as I love Mike Kelly, and as much as I loved John Kadlec in the booth, this might be the single greatest call in Missouri's history. It might also be the greatest touchdown.

"Alright now, Jim Wilder, listen to me. I'm going to buy you the biggest steak dinner you could eat."

"Lewis comes out to the left side. [pause] I think he's a vegetarian, isn't he?"

[Laughs all around]

"Wilder!"

"WILDER!"

"JIM WILDER"

"OHHHHHH. OHHHHH."

"TOUCHDOWN."

"[unintelligible]"

"DID YOU SEE THAT? DID YOU SEE HIM? DID YOU SEE HIM TAKE THAT MAN AND THROW HIM DOWN?"

"You will not believe what Wilder did."

If Wilder didn't have the "Sikeston Train" nickname before this play, he had it afterward.

2013 Baylor football's 10 things to know: Hip, trendy, and ready to stay a while

2013-06-18T15:16:47Z

Confused? Check out the glossary here.

1. A sea change

Generally speaking, college football is cold and slow to handle change. You are what you are, and while your short-term fortunes can change, well, the term regression toward the mean was meant for college football. But sometimes the ground changes beneath your feet, and you don't even realize it until it's already happened.

4, 2, 2, 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 5, 4, 3, 4, 4. That's the number of games Baylor won in each of its first 14 seasons in the Big 12. Dave Roberts won four games in two years as head coach. Kevin Steele won nine in four. That Guy Morriss actually managed a 5-6 season at one point was a pretty big deal.

Baylor's fortunes were so bad that they changed history; one of the most common Big 12 narratives was how Baylor used political string-pulling to get into the Big 12 instead of an obviously more deserving TCU program. (Winning seasons in the 17 years before Big 12 formation: Baylor 12, TCU 4.) We just accepted that narrative as truth because Baylor just seemed to have no hope, no history, and no future.

As Art Briles begins his sixth year in charge in Waco, however, things have not only changed, but changed dramatically. Now we're talking about Baylor as a Big 12 dark horse. We're writing series of posts (part one, part two) about how to try and stop the Baylor offense. We're talking about the possibility of the program winning its second Heisman in three years. We're talking about strength records and new stadiums. We're talking about Texas (Texas!) being unable to compete with Baylor (Baylor!) on the recruiting trail (well, at one position, anyway). This is up-is-down, left-is-right territory. Briles, full of piss, vinegar, offensive prowess and an accent so thick that it invades the written word, has not only made us forget what Baylor used to symbolize, but he has also made this program the hip new college football school.

Baylor!

College football doesn't change much, but when it does, it evidently doesn't go halfway. Granted, the Bears' turnaround has only stretched about three years so far, but the foundation for a long-term run of success is in place. Now we just have to find out whether change reaches the defensive side of the ball in Waco. It did at the end of last season, but that's not exactly a huge sample size.

2. Holding steady without the Heisman

As ridiculously impressive as it was for Briles to craft a 10-win season in his fourth year in Waco, his accomplishments in Year 5 might have been even more staggering: he held steady. Without quarterback Robert Griffin III, star receiver Kendall Wright, running back Terrance Ganaway, and two all-conference offensive linemen, the Baylor offense fell all the way from second in Off. F/+ to third. The defense improved from 87th in Def. F/+ to 79th, and at the end of the day Baylor ranked just four spots lower overall (30th) than it had in its transcendent, supposedly once-in-a-generation season (26th).

The close-game record changed the win total -- Baylor went 4-1 in one-possession games in 2011 and 3-3 in 2012 -- but maintaining your status after you lose breakthrough talent is really, really impressive. And perhaps more than anything else, that type of system maintenance, the proof that your program is more than just one person, is what gives recruiting a boost.

2012 Schedule & Results

Record: 8-5 \| Adj. Record: 11-2 \| Final F/+ Rk: 30
Date	Opponent	Score	W-L	Adj. Score	Adj. W-L
2-Sep	SMU	59-24	W	56.5 - 31.8	W
15-Sep	Sam Houston State	48-23	W	32.3 - 30.7	W
21-Sep	at UL-Monroe	47-42	W	34.5 - 36.7	L
29-Sep	at West Virginia	63-70	L	39.0 - 43.1	L
13-Oct	TCU	21-49	L	51.3 - 34.3	W
20-Oct	at Texas	50-56	L	39.9 - 35.6	W
27-Oct	at Iowa State	21-35	L	35.5 - 32.0	W
3-Nov	Kansas	41-14	W	28.6 - 27.5	W
10-Nov	at Oklahoma	34-42	L	30.4 - 27.7	W
17-Nov	Kansas State	52-24	W	41.8 - 19.3	W
24-Nov	vs. Texas Tech	52-45	W	41.3 - 37.6	W
1-Dec	Oklahoma State	41-34	W	41.2 - 24.9	W
27-Dec	vs. UCLA	49-26	W	37.7 - 16.2	W

Category	Offense	Rk	Defense	Rk
Points Per Game	44.5	5	37.2	113
Adj. Points Per Game	39.2	5	30.6	88

3. Are three games enough?

If not for Louisville, I think Baylor might have been a prime candidate for the West Virginia Effect™, due to which we severely overreact to a great bowl performance and give a team far more of a boost in the preseason polls than it deserves. Baylor laid an outright whipping on UCLA, the Pac-12 runner-up, in the Holiday Bowl in December, sprinting out to a 35-7 lead and coasting to an easy 49-26 win. The offense was great, of course, but what got people's attention was the defense. Baylor sacked UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley six times and held the Bruins to 13 points in their first 12 drives. (The only touchdown came from a 21-yard drive following a Baylor fumble.) We got to see a vision of the aggressive 4-2-5 defense Phil Bennett has spent a couple of years devising, and it was beyond intriguing.

And really, the improvement didn't just take place in the bowl game. It began a couple of months earlier.

Adj. Points per Game (first 9 games): Baylor 38.7, Opponent 33.3 (plus-5.4)
Adj. Points per Game (last 4 games): Baylor 40.5, Opponent 24.5 (plus-16.0)

Baylor lost four games in a row in late-September and October, allowing 52.5 points per game and losing two tight contests at West Virginia and Texas. But the defense improved to an average level against Kansas and Oklahoma, then surged. Baylor was somewhere between above average and great against Kansas State, Oklahoma State, and UCLA.

So ... are three games enough, then? Late-season improvement can be sustainable if you return enough of your core, and between safety Ahmad Dixon, corner Joe Williams, and linebackers Bryce Hager and Eddie Lackey, Baylor does seem to have an impressive number of play-makers returning. The Football Outsiders projections are going to be conservative toward Baylor because of past defensive history, but how much of this tiny glimpse of quality can we expect to see in 2013?

The answer to that question will dictate whether we're talking about another eight-to-10-win season or a second major breakthrough in three years. The offense will almost certainly be excellent; that much, we know. But the defense is the reason why Baylor still has yet to rank in the F/+ top 25.

Offense

Category	Yards/ Game Rk	S&P+ Rk	Success Rt. Rk	PPP+ Rk
OVERALL	2	12	11	15
RUSHING	14	12	6	23
PASSING	4	12	18	13
Standard Downs		20	13	28
Passing Downs		5	5	5
Redzone		30	12	65

Q1 Rk	7	1st Down Rk	9
Q2 Rk	10	2nd Down Rk	8
Q3 Rk	9	3rd Down Rk	12
Q4 Rk	8

4. The ultimate spread

Teams that want to bring outside defensive backs on blitzes or disguise which players will be covering the slot receivers have tremendous difficulty doing so when the receivers are so far away from the offensive line.

If you want the Baylor QB to wonder whether you are blitzing off the edge or covering the slot receiver, you'll have to really book it right before or after the snap in order to reach your assignment, or the QB will have a pretty open pitch-and-catch for easy yardage.

That's from a great Football Study Hall piece on Baylor's offense. There are spread offenses, and there are spread offenses. Baylor stretches you from sideline to sideline, forces you to make decisions and sacrifices, then punishes you for whatever you decided. If you pay too much attention to the track stars on the perimeter, Baylor destroys you with the run up the middle. If you mind the middle, you get destroyed either on the perimeter or over the top.

The Bears are going to threaten to set records on you one way or another; you get to decide whether they do it via ground or air.

The Baylor spread offense is, conceptually, what the spread offense was designed to be. Baylor combines ridiculously fast skill position players with mean, burly linemen and smart, interesting quarterbacks. Briles and coordinator Philip Montgomery give the quarterback a lot of rope and a lot of options, and it has paid off handsomely. And because of both brains and improved recruiting, Baylor's offense rivals Oklahoma State's for the best plug-and-play offense in the country. It speaks volumes that the Bears are on their third quarterback in three years, a mid-three-star recruit who has thrown just 14 passes in his career, and we are simply assuming that he is going to throw for 3,500 to 4,000 yards and rush for 500-plus.

Bryce Petty and Glasco Martin. Jerome Miron, US Presswire.

Quarterback

Note: players in bold below are 2013 returnees. Players in italics are questionable with injury/suspension.

Player

Ht, Wt

2013
Year

Rivals

Comp

Att

Yards

Comp
Rate

INT

Sacks

Sack Rate

Yards/
Att.

Nick Florence

286

464

4,309

61.6%

3.7%

8.8

Bryce Petty

6'3, 230

Jr.

*** (5.6)

70.0%

9.1%

8.5

Seth Russell

6'3, 200

RSFr.

*** (5.5)

Running Back

Player	Pos.	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	Rushes	Yards	Yards/ Carry	Hlt Yds/ Carry	TD	Adj. POE
Glasco Martin	RB	6'1, 220	Sr.	**** (5.8)	179	893	5.0	5.5	15	+4.0
Lache Seastrunk	RB	5'10, 210	Jr.	***** (6.1)	131	1,012	7.7	8.4	7	+29.8
Nick Florence	QB				121	652	5.4	4.5	10	+7.1
Jarred Salubi	RB				116	464	4.0	2.1	3	-7.3
Bryce Petty	QB	6'3, 230	Jr.	*** (5.6)	9	17	1.9	2.6	1	-1.3
Johnny Jefferson	RB	5'10, 195	Fr.	*** (5.7)

5. If you're looking for a red flag…

...you might want to pay attention to the depth at running back and offensive line. You can only hope to slow this offense down by dominating in the trenches and forcing it to become one-dimensional, and Baylor is just a couple of injuries from making that possible.

Make no mistake: The starters are good to great. Lache Seastrunk clicked midway through last season, becoming the primary running back over the last six games and gaining 831 yards (a ridiculous 8.1 per carry) in that span. Almost overnight, the Oregon transfer transformed into the five-star prospect he was supposed to become. His emergence, meanwhile, made Glasco Martin one of the best backup running backs and short-yardage specialists in the country. Meanwhile, up front Baylor has an all-conference guard in Cyril Richardson and a couple of experienced, mean SOBs in tackles Spencer Drango and Troy Baker.

But the two-deep on the line is filled with sophomores and redshirt freshmen, and there is virtually no experience at running back after Martin and Seastrunk. If two of the five players above go down, then there are some very young, untested players getting major minutes.

Now, if the biggest red flag you can find starts with "If somebody gets hurt...", then you're probably talking about a tremendous offense. And we are.

Receiving Corps

Player

Pos.

Ht, Wt

2013
Year

Rivals

Targets

Catches

Yards

Catch Rate

Yds/
Target

Target
Rate

%SD

Real Yds/
Target

RYPR

Terrance Williams

151

1832

64.2%

12.1

33.7%

65.6%

12.2

245.1

Tevin Reese

5'10, 170

Sr.

** (5.4)

957

62.4%

11.3

19.0%

74.1%

11.5

128.0

Lanear Sampson

646

63.4%

7.9

18.3%

65.9%

8.1

86.4

Levi Norwood

6'1, 185

Jr.

*** (5.5)

487

75.5%

9.2

11.8%

56.6%

9.0

65.2

Antwan Goodley

5'10, 220

Jr.

*** (5.6)

171

68.0%

6.8

5.6%

52.0%

6.7

22.9

Lache Seastrunk

5'10, 210

Jr.

***** (6.1)

107

64.3%

7.6

3.1%

78.6%

6.7

14.3

Jordan Najvar

6'6, 260

Sr.

83.3%

6.7

2.7%

66.7%

6.9

10.7

Jarred Salubi

66.7%

3.7

2.7%

41.7%

4.4

5.9

Clay Fuller

6'1, 205

Jr.

60.0%

7.8

1.1%

40.0%

8.0

5.2

Darryl Stonum

100.0%

17.0

0.7%

66.7%

15.8

6.8

Jay Lee

6'3, 210

So.

*** (5.7)

Corey Coleman

5'10, 190

RSFr.

**** (5.8)

Lynx Hawthorne

5'11, 200

RSFr.

*** (5.5)

Shock Linwood

5'8, 200

RSFr.

*** (5.5)

Kaleb Moore

5'11, 190

RSFr.

** (5.2)

Robbie Rhodes

6'1, 186

Fr.

**** (6.0)

Vequan Jones

6'4, 201

Fr.

*** (5.7)

6. The receiving corps: probably not a red flag

Baylor was strangely thin at receiver last year, with four receivers accounting for 83 percent of all targets. Now two of those four are now gone. Terrance Williams eased into the No. 1 role with no problem following the departure of Kendall Wright, and there's no guarantee that Tevin Reese's transition will be as smooth. Plus, there is almost no proven wide receiver (as opposed to inside receiver) on the roster, and there is almost no way to avoid relying on true and redshirt freshmen to some extent. This has all the makings of another red flag...

...but I just can't get myself to worry about it. Can you? Reese and Levi Norwood are tremendous inside receivers, redshirt freshman Corey Coleman should ease into the rotation with relative ease, and one of those true freshmen is Robbie Rhodes, the No. 8 receiver in the country (No. 69 overall, No. 8 in the state of Texas) according to Rivals.com. With Lache Seastrunk commanding quite a bit of attention, new starting quarterback Bryce Petty (who has earned Phil Steele's preseason all-conference nod before his first start) should still find plenty of easy throws to make.

Offensive Line

Category	Adj. Line Yds	Std. Downs LY/carry	Pass. Downs LY/carry	Opp. Rate	Power Success Rate	Stuff Rate	Adj. Sack Rate	Std. Downs Sack Rt.	Pass. Downs Sack Rt.
Team	117.7	3.30	3.71	40.6%	66.7%	15.6%	141.6	2.5%	5.5%
Rank	8	11	18	46	62	14	28	21	47

Player	Pos.	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	Career Starts/Honors/Notes
Cyril Richardson	LG	6'5, 335	Sr.	*** (5.5)	29 career starts; 2012 2nd All-Big 12
Ivory Wade	C				46 career starts
Cameron Kaufhold	RG				38 career starts
Spencer Drango	LT	6'6, 315	So.	**** (5.8)	13 career starts
Troy Baker	RT	6'6, 315	Jr.	*** (5.7)	13 career starts
Jake Jackson	RG				3 career starts
Kelvin Palmer	RT	6'4, 290	Sr.	*** (5.5)
Stephan Huber	C	6'4, 290	Sr.	*** (5.5)
Desmine Hilliard	RG	6'4, 330	So.	** (5.4)
Pat Colbert	LT	6'5, 295	So.	*** (5.5)
LaQuan McGowan	LG	6'7, 375	So.	*** (5.6)
Kyle Fuller	C	6'4, 295	RSFr.	*** (5.7)
Tre'Von Armstead	RT	6'6, 280	RSFr.	*** (5.5)
Jason Osei	RG	6'4, 315	RSFr.	NR
Maurice Porter	OL	6'5, 285	Fr.	*** (5.7)

Defense

Category	Yards/ Game Rk	S&P+ Rk	Success Rt. Rk	PPP+ Rk
OVERALL	123	77	81	78
RUSHING	78	71	75	70
PASSING	123	77	88	75
Standard Downs		69	73	68
Passing Downs		90	93	89
Redzone		75	53	93

Q1 Rk	71	1st Down Rk	62
Q2 Rk	85	2nd Down Rk	51
Q3 Rk	30	3rd Down Rk	112
Q4 Rk	79

7. Get the ball back, one way or another

I wrote a book this offseason, one I will be pounding you over the head about soon enough. One of my favorite quotes in it comes from Bob Stitt, head coach of the Colorado School of Mines.

Playing bend-don’t-break defense doesn’t work. You want to keep the opponent’s defense on the field; you want fast drives, for better or worse.

I don't know how much Stitt and Briles have ever associated with each other, but they are kindred spirits. In 2012 especially, Baylor's defense was fast, aggressive, disruptive, and all sorts of leaky. Baylor recorded a decent 66 tackles for loss, an above average 71 passes defensed, and a strong 13 forced fumbles. And they also allowed 6,529 yards.

Phil Bennett, of course, knew what he was getting into when he took the defensive coordinator job under Briles.

It's almost 100 percent we're gonna have to play more snaps. We're gonna have to play more guys. If Art can score 49 points, we can hold 'em to 39. That's the thing you look at. On defense you've gotta play good red zone, get some big takeaways, and do what we do. I might not have the numbers I had earlier in my career, but I'll win more games than I ever did before.

The Bears were more successfully aggressive late in the season, and we can take guesses as to whether that is maintainable, but here's what we know: in the six-game, season-ending stretch that saw Baylor playing much better defense, there wasn't one specific aspect of the game that consistently improved. Kansas averaged 6.7 yards per rush (a huge number), but Kansas State and UCLA each averaged 3.1. Texas Tech averaged 8.8 yards per pass, but UCLA and KSU averaged 5.1 and Kansas averaged 2.9.

Baylor opponents, first 7 games: 4.8 yards per rush, 8.3 yards per pass
Baylor opponents, last 6 games: 5.3 yards per rush, 6.2 yards per pass

Baylor's run defense was great against good running teams and suspect against others, and the overall pass defense improved by quite a bit. Sustained improvement in pass defense could happen with the players Baylor returns, but only if it gets a lot more help from the pass rush than it did in 2012.

Defensive Line

Category	Adj. Line Yds	Std. Downs LY/carry	Pass. Downs LY/carry	Opp. Rate	Power Success Rate	Stuff Rate	Adj. Sack Rate	Std. Downs Sack Rt.	Pass. Downs Sack Rt.
Team	97.7	2.85	3.40	39.8%	70.9%	16.1%	70.3	2.2%	4.5%
Rank	69	52	81	70	85	101	104	117	98

Name	Pos	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	GP	Tackles	% of Team	TFL	Sacks	Int	PBU	FF	FR
Terrance Lloyd	DE	6'3, 245	Jr.	*** (5.6)	13	41.5	5.1%	9	4	0	0	2	1
Chris McAllister	DE	6'3, 255	Sr.	*** (5.5)	13	35.0	4.3%	8	6	0	6	2	1
Gary Mason, Jr.	DT				13	22.5	2.8%	6	2	0	5	0	0
Nick Johnson	NT				13	14.0	1.7%	1	0	0	2	1	0
Beau Blackshear	NT	6'4, 300	So.	*** (5.6)	13	11.5	1.4%	1	0	0	0	0	0
Javonte Magee	DT	6'5, 275	So.	**** (5.9)	9	8.0	1.0%	1	0	0	0	0	0
Cordarius Golston	DE	6'0, 225	Sr.	*** (5.6)	12	4.0	0.5%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Trevor Clemons-Valdez	DT	6'3, 290	So.	*** (5.6)	10	4.0	0.5%	0	0	0	0	0	1
Jamal Palmer	DE	6'3, 245	So.	*** (5.5)	8	3.0	0.4%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Suleiman Masumbuko	DT	6'2, 290	So.	*** (5.6)	13	0.5	0.1%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Shawn Oakman	DE	6'9, 270	So.	**** (5.8)
Brian Nance	DE	6'3, 250	Fr.	**** (5.8)
Andrew Billings	DT	6'1, 305	Fr.	**** (5.8)

8. Rushing the passer in the Big 12: kind of a necessity

Baylor recorded six sacks against UCLA. That's awesome and leaves us with quite the West Virginia Effect. But the Bears only logged 13 sacks in the first 12 games, an absolutely awful total considering how many pass attempts you face in the Big 12. Only three Bears had more than two sacks last year, and while all three return, they need more.

Chris McAllister is a particularly disruptive end, and Bryce Hager is a strong blitzer, but Baylor still had almost the nation's worst standard downs pass rush in the country. No matter how active the secondary is, it can only guard Big 12 receivers for so long.

Until proven otherwise, UCLA was the outlier here, not the new rule. Exciting, enormous Penn State transfer Shawn Oakman and four-star freshman Brian Nance are exciting additions, but there's potentially a long way to go here.

Linebackers

Name

Pos

Ht, Wt

2013
Year

Rivals

Tackles

% of Team

TFL

Sacks

Int

PBU

Bryce Hager

MLB

6'2, 235

Jr.

** (5.3)

98.0

12.0%

Eddie Lackey

WLB

6'0, 225

Sr.

*** (5.6)

87.5

10.7%

Brody Trahan

WLB

5'11, 245

Sr.

** (5.3)

21.0

2.6%

Rodney Chadwick

11.5

1.4%

Aiavion Edwards

MLB

6'1, 225

RSFr.

*** (5.7)

Kendall Ehrlich

WLB

6'1, 225

RSFr.

*** (5.6)

Raaquan Davis

6'2, 208

Fr.

*** (5.7)

Secondary

Name	Pos	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	GP	Tackles	% of Team	TFL	Sacks	Int	PBU	FF	FR
Ahmad Dixon	S	6'0, 205	Sr.	**** (5.9)	13	84.0	10.3%	6	1	2	3	0	0
Sam Holl	NB	6'2, 210	Sr.	*** (5.5)	13	73.5	9.0%	1	0	3	7	2	2
Chance Casey	CB				13	70.5	8.6%	2	0	0	5	1	0
Mike Hicks	S				9	60.0	7.4%	0	0	2	6	0	1
Joe Williams	CB	5'11, 190	Sr.	**** (5.8)	13	46.5	5.7%	1	0	3	12	0	0
K.J. Morton	CB	5'10, 190	Sr.	** (5.4)	7	30.5	3.7%	1	0	1	1	2	0
Josh Wilson	S				13	22.5	2.8%	0	0	0	1	0	0
Demetri Goodson	CB	6'0, 200	Sr.	NR	4	15.5	1.9%	2	0	1	2	0	0
Darius Jones	CB	5'11, 190	Sr.	*** (5.7)	13	12.0	1.5%	0	0	1	0	0	0
Prince Kent	NB	6'3, 220	Sr.	**** (5.8)	13	5.5	0.7%	1	0	0	0	0	0
Terrell Burt	S	5'10, 185	So.	*** (5.5)	13	3.5	0.4%	0	0	0	0	0	0
JeMarcus Johnson	S	6'1, 175	So.	*** (5.5)	9	3.0	0.4%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Anthony Webb	S	6'0, 190	So.	*** (5.5)
Ryan Reed	CB	5'9, 195	RSFr.	*** (5.7)
Orion Stewart	S	6'2, 185	RSFr.	** (5.3)
Xavien Howard	CB	6'2, 200	RSFr.	** (5.2)
Kiante' Griffin	NB	6'0, 215	Fr.	*** (5.7)
Alfred Pullom	DB	6'1, 187	Fr.	*** (5.7)

9. The back seven is active

With any sort of pass rush at all, the strength of the Baylor defense -- an active back seven -- could wreak havoc. Hager and Eddie Lackey combined for 24 tackles for loss last year (and yes, facing a ton of plays does pad your defensive stats in some ways), safeties Ahmad Dixon and Sam Holl combined for seven tackles for loss and 15 passes defensed, and Joe Williams had 15 passes defensed on his own. You can tell what Bennett is trying to do here, but while the Bears are guaranteed to allow points and yards, they still need to cut down on the errors and increase the disruption up front to threaten for the Big 12 title.

Special Teams

Punter	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Punts	Avg	TB	FC	I20	FC/I20 Ratio
Spencer Roth	6'4, 225	Jr.	36	43.8	4	8	13	58.3%

Kicker	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Kickoffs	Avg	TB	TB%
Aaron Jones	6'3, 190	Sr.	95	58.7	39	41.1%
Chris Winkler			4	47.2	0	0.0%

Place-Kicker	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	PAT	FG (0-39)	Pct	FG (40+)	Pct
Aaron Jones	6'3, 190	Sr.	71-71	11-16	68.8%	5-11	45.5%

Returner	Pos.	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Returns	Avg.	TD
Antwan Goodley	KR	5'10, 220	Jr.	24	22.6	0
Darius Jones	KR	5'11, 190	Sr.	11	23.1	0
Darryl Stonum	KR			8	19.1	0
Levi Norwood	PR	6'1, 185	Jr.	14	10.4	0

Category	Rk
Special Teams F/+	102
Net Punting	68
Net Kickoffs	74
Touchback Pct	45
Field Goal Pct	104
Kick Returns Avg	70
Punt Returns Avg	52

2013 Schedule & Projection Factors

2013 Schedule
Date	Opponent	Proj. Rk
31-Aug	Wofford	NR
7-Sep	Buffalo	101
21-Sep	UL-Monroe	86
5-Oct	West Virginia	41
12-Oct	at Kansas State	40
19-Oct	Iowa State	76
26-Oct	at Kansas	104
7-Nov	Oklahoma	7
16-Nov	vs. Texas Tech	42
23-Nov	at Oklahoma State	6
30-Nov	at TCU	16
7-Dec	Texas	11

Five-Year F/+ Rk	53
Two-Year Recruiting Rk	34
TO Margin/Adj. TO Margin*	+2 / +0.1
TO Luck/Game	0.7
Approx. Ret. Starters (Off. / Def.)	13 (6, 7)
Yds/Pt Margin**	-0.6

10. All I ask, Sports God…

…is to see Alabama and Baylor play against each other at some point while Nick Saban and Art Briles are still in charge. These two teams very nearly play different sports, and I really want to see what Saban would try to do to stop the Briles attack.

I also want to see what Baylor is capable of this season. The future is bright and seemingly getting brighter, but the Big 12 is in flux, and it is certainly conceivable, even likely, that a version of Baylor with even just a top-50 defense could threaten to reach its first BCS-grade bowl since the 1957 Sugar Bowl.

I can't predict that, though. The schedule is conducive for a lofty win total, with three rather easy non-conference home games (I'm not sleeping on ULM, but it's still a game Baylor should win) and Oklahoma and Texas at home. But to win the conference, the Bears will probably have to win at either Oklahoma State or TCU, and I just can't pick that right now.

Still ... that I had to slowly talk myself out of Baylor winning the Big 12 is staggering. After winning 26 games in seven years (and 17 the seven years before that), Baylor has won 25 in three and should rather easily nab at least another eight, minimum, this year. Art Briles is an unbelievable coach, and the moment he figures out the right chemistry on defense, things get even scarier for the rest of the Big 12.

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Mizzou's Greatest, #67-66: Brad Smith and Brad Smith versus Texas Tech

2013-06-18T14:00:07Z

Maybe things would have turned out alright if the young churchgoer from Youngstown had chosen West Virginia or one of the MAC schools pursuing him. Maybe Gary Pinkel's "process" would have generated results with Sonny Riccio and/or whatever other quarterback they may have signed during what became the Smith years. But I don't think any of us want to find out about that piece of alternate history. Even if the wins persisted, we still would have been deprived of watching this man run for four years.

When Brad Smith was inducted into Mizzou's athletics hall of fame in 2011, Dave Matter wrote a piece for the Trib that was lovely even though it included me. In it, I tried my best to describe what made watching Smith so special and unique.

Smith holds Missouri’s career rushing record with 4,289 yards, but digits barely begin to tell the story.

“What made Brad unique was just the artistry involved with his abilities,” said Bill Connelly, who writes for the MU fan blog Rock M Nation. “A lot of times great players are great in almost standard ways. But seeing him run was such a unique thing. Beyond that — and this sounds like the way Bill Simmons talks about Larry Bird — but after a while Missouri fans could see the runs happen before they actually happened. You could see if he gets that block he’s going to juke that guy and get in the open field. You started anticipating these things. That made it a really rewarding experience to watch him over the course of four years.”

There were so many Brad moments, so many instances that we remember from games that we don't. There were the "Who the hell is this guy??" runs against Illinois, the ones that made John Kadlec's voice crack in the radio booth.

There was the tightrope act of all tightrope acts against Troy in 2002, where he slowed up and acted like he was running out of bounds, then burst ahead for another 20 yards.

There was the juke he threw on the Oklahoma safety in a go-ahead, fourth-quarter run in 2002.

There was the game-winning, one-yard plunge in College Station.

There was the throwback catch-and-run against Nebraska in 2003, followed by the sideline touchdown that kick started the fourth quarter, one of the most perfect quarters in Missouri history.

There was the 36-yard burst against Iowa State in 2004, one that both eventually prevented ISU from winning the North and announced that, after a ridiculously frustrating year, the old Brad was still in there somewhere, waiting to erupt.

There was the 59-yard eruption down the right sideline against Oklahoma State in 2005, one that led to a score that all but iced the game.

There was the no-safeties play against Nebraska in 2005, the one where The Beef and I both said "No safeties! He's going to run for an 80-yard touchdown!" right before he ran for an 80-yard touchdown.

There was the absurd Independence Bowl rally against South Carolina, his punctuation mark, set up by another 59-yard run late in the fourth quarter.

There were the ridiculous stats (first player to ever average a 2,000-yard passing and 1,000-yard rushing season over the course of a career) and honors (his MUtigers.com profile is quite cluttered).

I mean, just go back and peruse the Sarah Becking photo archive -- 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005; it is Brad Smith, for better and, sometimes, for worse.

But for me, the ultimate Brad moment, the one I think of first, was a random home game from his sophomore year. Playing against, and whipping, a Mike Leach team is always fun. But Brad made it something more.

No player on any team during the 2003 season ran up a day like Smith enjoyed against Texas Tech on Oct. 25. He needed only 19 carries to shred the Red Raiders for 291 yards, the NCAA high for that season and just 17 yards shy of the single-game NCAA record for quarterbacks. He could have gone for more yardage, but five times he had to cut runs short — in the end zone.

Smith’s final carry that day, a 61-yard touchdown, was the vintage Smith run, Connelly said.

“As soon as he faked the handoff, we started celebrating,” he said. “We could tell he was going around the left side. We could tell he was going to juke the cornerback to the ground. And he was going to trot 60 yards for the touchdown. You could see it as soon as it started happening. That was the most quintessential Brad Smith play I can remember.”

When he juked out the cornerback on that final touchdown run, I remember actually releasing an "Aww." I felt bad for Tech at that point. It was just unfair that one person was doing this to their entire defense. But I enjoyed it in the same way that I enjoy running up the score on hapless video game opponents on Rookie mode; we all have a cruel side.

So what's your Brad moment? Everybody has one.

SBNation.com: All Posts by Bill Connelly

2013 TCU football's 10 things to know: Survive, then thrive

1. I was nervous

2012 Schedule & Results

2. One hit after another

Offense

Quarterback

3. Hey, Casey

Running Back

4. Hey, Waymon

Receiving Corps

Offensive Line

5. A line liability

Defense

6. The defense was young and thin … and improved

7. Somehow, passing was the more palatable option

Defensive Line

Linebackers

Secondary

8. Best defense in the Big 12

Special Teams

9. Cannon Oberkrom

2013 Schedule & Projection Factors

10. Time to surge

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Oof.

Oof.

Bill on Solid Verbal

Bill on Solid Verbal

Mizzou Links, 6-19-13

1. Phelps is official

2. DGB

3. The latest recruiting

4. So that's that then

5. Walsworth-Hawthorne

6. NERRRRRRRDS

7. As long as Barry Switzer's on it...

8. SELF-SHARE

Pace in college football: 2012

Mizzou's Greatest, #65: "Did you see him? Did you see him take that man and throw him down?"

2013 Baylor football's 10 things to know: Hip, trendy, and ready to stay a while

1. A sea change

2. Holding steady without the Heisman

2012 Schedule & Results

3. Are three games enough?

Offense

4. The ultimate spread

Quarterback

Running Back

5. If you're looking for a red flag…

Receiving Corps

6. The receiving corps: probably not a red flag

Offensive Line

Defense

7. Get the ball back, one way or another

Defensive Line

8. Rushing the passer in the Big 12: kind of a necessity

Linebackers

Secondary

9. The back seven is active

Special Teams

2013 Schedule & Projection Factors

10. All I ask, Sports God…

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Mizzou's Greatest, #67-66: Brad Smith and Brad Smith versus Texas Tech