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Predicting the 2019 Big 12 Season: Week 1

May 14, 2019
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Today is the beginning of my prediction series on the entire 2019 Big 12 football season. I will go through the entirety of the upcoming season, picking the winner of the conference before the season begins.

As you already know, since we are currently in summer, there is still a lot that can change but barring significant injuries for any of the teams we are in a good spot for some predictions.

With that said, let's do this!


Week 1

Friday, August 30th

Oklahoma State 42 at Oregon State 21 (Corvallis)

Oregon State gave up 40+ points seven times last season. This will be a nice opportunity for the Cowboys to break in their new players on offense. The Cowboys will be breaking in a new quarterback and I think Spencer Sander will be the guy. He was a big time recruit and he will be handed the keys to a loaded offense with the best receiver in the Big 12, Tylan Wallace. There will be growing pains early this year with a young quarterback but they start off strong. Sanders finds Wallace twice in the end zone and Chubba Hubbard runs in three touchdowns as the Cowboys cruise against a terrible defense.

Saturday, August 31st

Stephen F. Austin 17, Baylor 59 (Waco)

SFA finished 2-8 last year and they will head to Waco to face a team that made a six-game improvement last year. The Bears return a ton of talent again this season and it all starts with junior quarterback Charlie Brewer. He starts the season off in the right way with three touchdown passes. Denzel Mims, Josh Fleeks, and Ben Simms each catch one. Trestan Ebner and JaMycal Hasty both score on the ground as the Bears cruise on offense. James Lynch gets two sacks and JT Woods gets the first interception of the season. This one is over by the end of the 3rd, Gerry Bohanon and Jacob Zeno both get a series or two in the fourth quarter.

Indiana State 27, Kansas 30 (Lawrence)

Kansas lost its first game of the year last season against Nicholls and this year they face another tough FCS opponent. The Sycamores finished #22 in the country to end the year and return a very solid dual threat quarterback. This one will be close throughout. Pooka Williams rushes for 150 yards and scores three touchdowns to move the offense that will struggle to pass. The defense gives up points to the Sycamores. This one is tied going into the 4th but Carter Stanley leads a late field goal drive and the Jayhawks defense is able to hold on for the win.

James Madison 24, West Virginia 28 (Morgantown)

James Madison has been one of the best programs in the FCS not named North Dakota State and West Virginia has a ton of question marks. This will be the first game with new head coach, Neil Brown. I think Oklahoma transfer Austin Kendall gets the starting nod for the Mountaineers and he gets the offense going well enough in this one. He runs for a score and throws for one. Kennedy Mccoy and Martell Pettaway each rush for a touchdown. The defense struggles but at home the Mountaineers are able to get stops late a survive against a very good FCS foe.

Northern Iowa 24, Iowa State 34 (Ames)

Northern Iowa was really good at home last year but just 2-5 on the road. This is not much of a road game but Ames, as always, will offer a very nice home crowd for the Cyclones. Brock Purdy gets things rolling after this stellar freshman campaign as he throws two touchdowns to tight end Charlie Kolar. The run game leads the way as true freshman Breece Hall makes an impact with 100 yards and a touchdown. Kene Nwangwu also runs one in. The Cyclones defense gives up some points but they are able to pull away late.

Nicholls 14, Kansas State 31 (Manhattan)

Nicholls is a decent program and it beat Kansas last season but I don’t expect a repeat performance. Kansas State quarterback Skyler Thompson leads the offense to a productive day especially on the ground. Thompson scores one and Ball State transfer James Gilbert scores twice. Reggie Walker picks up two sacks as the defense seal the deal for the Wildcats in Chris Kileman’s debut. The Bill Snyder era is officially over.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff 7, TCU 66 (Fort Worth)

The Horned Frogs are playing the worst team that any Big 12 team will play all season long. Arkansas-Pine Bluff gave up 40+ points seven times and lost a game 90-6. TCU will get a chance to ease in a new quarterback behind a very strong ground game. Since we don’t know the status of recent Ohio State transfer Matthew Baldwin, I am going to use Alex Delton as the starter. Delton and Sewo Olonilua have a field day as they combine for four rushing touchdowns. The defense forces four turnovers as this game gets absolutely out of hand early.

Louisiana Tech 21, Texas 37 (Austin)

Texas starts the season with a ton of expectations this year and they have got to be happy to not play Maryland to start this season. They will be playing the most consistent team in Conference USA. They will be challenged early in this game as they look ahead to a showdown with LSU. The Longhorns lean on the run game as they go for over 200 yards thanks in large part to Sam Ehlingher and Keontay Ingram. The combo scores three times on the ground and Ehlingher hits Collin Johnson for a passing touchdown. The Longhorns young defense gets exposed a few times but gets better as the game progresses.

Montana State 17, Texas Tech 42 (Lubbock)

The Matt Wells era will officially begin against Montana State and it should start off in the right way for the Red Raiders. Montana State got blown out against most of the good teams they played last season. Alan Bowman throws for 300 yards and three touchdowns. TJ Vasher, Ta’Zhawn Henry, and McLane Mannix each catch one. Henry also scores on on the ground as Tech rolls.

Houston 34, Oklahoma 55 (Norman)

The best game of the week features offense and offense and more offense. Houston will head to Norman with a new head coach Dana Holgorsen plus the best quarterback in the American Athletic Conference D’Eriq Kings and a ton of offensive weapons. On the flip side, Oklahoma beat Holgorsen’s West Virginia team every single time (seven times) they faced each other. Jalen Hurts shows that the offense will still roll very well especially against a porous Houston defense. The game goes back and fourth in the first half before OU eventually pulls away in the shootout. Grant Calcaterra and CeeDee Lamb each catch a touchdown. Trey Sermon, Jalen Hurts, and Kennedy Brooks each run one in. Hurts goes for 350 total yards of offense and four touchdowns. The defense gets gashed but makes enough plays for the offense to get a comfortable lead.


Standings

1. Baylor — 1-0 (0-0)

1. Iowa State — 1-0 (0-0)

1. Kansas — 1-0 (0-0)

1. Kansas State — 1-0 (0-0)

1. Oklahoma — 1-0 (0-0)

1. Oklahoma State — 1-0 (0-0)

1. TCU — 1-0 (0-0)

1. Texas — 1-0 (0-0)

1. Texas Tech — 1-0 (0-0)

1. West Virginia — 1-0 (0-0)

Discussion from...

Predicting the 2019 Big 12 Season: Week 1

5,698 Views | 4 Replies | Last: 4 yr ago by graysongrundhoefer
Mahan1979
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I'll be watching that WV - James Madison game closely. Could be another embarrassing upset brewing if WV is not careful.
graysongrundhoefer
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Mahan1979 said:

I'll be watching that WV - James Madison game closely. Could be another embarrassing upset brewing if WV is not careful.
I agree I don't feel great about picking all of the Big 12 teams to win week 1. They are definitely one that I could see losing along with Kansas.
Meladee
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in hindsight, you should feel great that you picked the Big 12 to win because somehow they all did.

I thought it would be fun to pull these back out and compare Grayson's projected score to actual.

Below is the actual score with a +/- next to it to indicate how far or close Grayson was. + indicates the team scored more, - the team scored less.

I have to add, I was impressed with some of these, just how close they were. I think we all failed a little as a board by the fact that we didn't question Grayson thinking TCU would score 66.

I found a lot of Grayson's picks to be pretty impressive. Most of them he nailed the texture of the game. Just two outliers in TCU and KState, either an over-rating of their offense or an underrating of their FCS opponent.

OSU 52 - OSUw 36 (+10/+15)
BU 56 - SFA 17 (-3/0)
KU 24 - IndSt 17 (-6/+10)
WVU 20 - JMU 13 (-8/-9)
ISU 29 - NIU 26 (-5/+2)
KState 49 - Nich 14 (-18/0)
TCU 39 - APB 7 (-27/0)
UT 45 - LaTech 14 (+8/+7)
TTU 45 - MonSt 10 (-3/-7)
OU 49 - UH 31 (-6/-3)
graysongrundhoefer
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Staff
Meladee said:

in hindsight, you should feel great that you picked the Big 12 to win because somehow they all did.

I thought it would be fun to pull these back out and compare Grayson's projected score to actual.

Below is the actual score with a +/- next to it to indicate how far or close Grayson was. + indicates the team scored more, - the team scored less.

I have to add, I was impressed with some of these, just how close they were. I think we all failed a little as a board by the fact that we didn't question Grayson thinking TCU would score 66.

I found a lot of Grayson's picks to be pretty impressive. Most of them he nailed the texture of the game. Just two outliers in TCU and KState, either an over-rating of their offense or an underrating of their FCS opponent.

OSU 52 - OSUw 36 (+10/+15)
BU 56 - SFA 17 (-3/0)
KU 24 - IndSt 17 (-6/+10)
WVU 20 - JMU 13 (-8/-9)
ISU 29 - NIU 26 (-5/+2)
KState 49 - Nich 14 (-18/0)
TCU 39 - APB 7 (-27/0)
UT 45 - LaTech 14 (+8/+7)
TTU 45 - MonSt 10 (-3/-7)
OU 49 - UH 31 (-6/-3)

Haha wow I am going to be held accountable! Hopefully week two goes as well.
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