By Jason Fleck
It is panning out to be another exciting weekend in the Big 12. It will all be on the line this weekend with both Kansas State and Oklahoma looking to clinch at least a piece of the Big 12 Conference Title and all they have to do is win. That is sure easier said than done though, with every team except for Kansas heading to a bowl game this bowl season it could be another one of those unpredictable weekends that we have come to expect in the newly revamped Big 12. This conference has proved to be one of the deepest in college football in only its first season after realignment. On any given weekend in any game there has been a chance that the best team on paper is definitely not guaranteed to come out with a win. No other conference has 90% of its teams headed to bowl games, proof of just how deep this conference truly is. It all comes down to this weekend; every team starts the season vying for a championship. For both Kansas State and Oklahoma, there is absolutely no better situation than a conference championship to be decided on the final week. That is exactly what is happening and no other ending would cap of the season correctly.
Kansas State will be playing their first game since being shockingly upset by Baylor. Will the Big 12 title be enough to play for after a chance at the National Championship disappeared on the only weekend that this Wildcat team didn’t show up to play? Bill Snyder should have this team back to form and ready to go out and end this once magical season on a high note and win the school’s first Big 12 Title since 2003, when they shocked then no. 1 ranked Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship game. Oklahoma has won five Big 12 Championships since their loss to Kansas State in 2003. This year they won’t be on the same field, but the same prize is on the line.
Texas will go into Bill Snyder Stadium after their Big 12 Title hopes and an at-large BCS bowl bid were lost following a loss to TCU on Thanksgiving. We can name this one the Disappointment Bowl, with both teams having lost so much with their most recent due to missteps. Oklahoma will have to go into Amon Carter Stadium and play a TCU team that is coming off an emotional win over the Longhorns in Austin. Oklahoma’s national title hopes ended when they lost to Kansas State earlier in the season, but they kept playing and kept their chance at another Big 12 Title alive. Now they will hand the title over to that same Kansas State team, share it with them, or steal it back. In the end this new look Big 12 Conference will crown a new champion or co-champions. Even after the realignment the eventual champion won’t be a new Big 12 team, some things don’t change.
Game Info:
#18 TEXAS vs #6 KANSAS ST
SAT. DEC.1 – 7:00PM / ABC
BILL SNYDER STADIUM