#4 Oklahoma (Projection 9-3)

The biggest move made by this Sooner team in the off season was the rehiring of defensive coordinator and Bob’s little brother Mike Stoops. Former defensive coordinator Bret Venables left for Auburn and Mike got replaced at Arizona by Rich Rod. With the loss of two starting offensive linemen this OU defense could be the backbone of the team. They return 7 starters on defense and do not start a single lower classman, nothing but Seniors and Juniors on the field for this defensive unit. Look for them to improve from 55th Overall last year. The biggest loss for OU was WR Ryan Broyles to the NFL. QB Landry Jones loved going to Broyles and he might have a tough time not seeing #85 out there to start the year. The Sooners do have to travel to Fort Worth and Morgantown to take on new comers TCU and WVU and will be lucky to get a split for those two road games. They’ve got BIG home games against Kansas State and Notre Dame and let’s not forget about the Red River Shootout with UT. It’s gonna be an uphill battle for this Sooner team to hang on to this generous Pre Season Top 5 ranking.

#11 West Virginia (Projection 11-1)

The Mountaineers make the upgrade from the Big East to the Big XII and could easily be making an immediate impact. This team went 10-3 last year and won a BCS game by 37 points. No reason for them to shyly enter the offensive minded Big XII conference. Head Coach Dana Holgorsen was Mike Leach’s right hand man at Texas Tech for seven years and then helped put U of H and Oklahoma State back on the map. This guy knows the Big XII and shouldn’t have any problems making the transition. WVU returns seven starters on offense and draws an extremely favorable schedule. They get OU, TCU, and Kansas State all at home. Their BIG road game is in Austin but the good news is that it’s October 6th and UT still might be ironing out the wrinkles in their QB system. It’s tough to find too many losses on their schedule this year and they’re my pick to win the Big XII, look out for West Virginia this year.

#15 Texas(Projection 9-3)

The Longhorns are now 13-12 over the last two years with only one Bowl appearance and Mac Brown’s seat may be getting a little warm under him. UT had a battle for QB all last year and they’ll be starting this year in the same spot. There were rumors that the job was going to neither David Ash nor Case McCoy and that Freshman Connor Brewer was going to win the starting gig. This could spell trouble for the Horns on offense this year. Ash has been named the starter, but I’m not sure how many questions that answers for this Horns offense. This kid went through five games last year without throwing a TD and logging 6 INTs. Their ground game has depth and should help take pressure off Ash or McCoy but defenses will quickly learn to start putting eight in the box and make Ash use his arm to beat them. Defensive Coordinator Manny Diaz will have this defense geared up and ready, this is definitely one of the best squads in the nation. The question becomes can the offense stay on the field long enough to keep the defense fresh come late in games. Some projections have UT going 10-2 this year, I think they’re praying to go 9-3.

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