Pressing questions for several Big 12 staffs this spring
The Big 12 has become college football’s grab-bag conference, as six different schools have played in the league’s title game over the last three years.
In 2022, Kansas State and TCU were the only two schools to win double-digit games from the conference, with the Horned Frogs making a Cinderella run all the way to the national title game.
This fall, the conference welcomes Cincinnati, BYU, UCF and Houston to the league, meaning Big 12 will feature 14 teams for one season before Texas and Oklahoma join the SEC in 2024.
The Longhorns *look* like the odds-on favorite to win the league, but that’s been (foolishly) predicted many times before.
The newcomers could face some early growing pains making the weight class jump to the Power 5, but since the league has been defined by its recent parity, maybe not?
Oklahoma State has had a messy offseason, while West Virginia has a head coach openly acknowledging he faces “a win now” year.
With all that, here are my most pressing storylines for several Big 12 staffs this spring.
Can Brent Venables fix Oklahoma’s defense?
Brent Venables had a rather disastrous debut as the Sooners’ new head coach in 2022, as OU had its worst season in close to 25 years thanks to a defense that ranked No. 100 nationally in scoring and 82nd in yards per play allowed.
Under Lincoln Riley, the Sooners were never a stout defensive team, but the unit actually regressed in 2022 — despite that side of the ball being Venables’ specialty.
Oklahoma allowed 40 points or more five times. They lost five one-score games, too.
During a three-game losing streak in the middle of the season, the Sooners were manhandled on the ground, allowing an average of 310 rushing yards per game and 12 total rushing scores.
Venables didn’t back off his pressure-based scheme (Sooners did have 28 sacks), but all the blitz packages couldn’t cover up a unit that was plagued by mis-alignments, mis-assignments and missed tackles.
What could change this fall?
OU brings back two starting linebackers, plus defensive linemen like Reggies Grimes, Ethan Downs and Isaiah Coe (combined 29 TFLs). Venables hit the portal for more front-seven help, too, grabbing All-Big Ten freshman pass rusher Dasan McCullough from Indiana and several other Power 5 transfers.
Two of the Sooners’ marquee signees in their Top 5 recruiting class were 5-star edge rusher Adepoju Adewawore and 5-star safety Peyton Bowen.
So the unit stands to have a good blend of the old and the new. It’s up to Venables, who fielded Top 10 defenses nationally in six of eight seasons at Clemson, to make the pieces fit and produce a group that plays with better competitiveness and competency.
How will Kendal Briles rework TCU’s offense?
The Horned Frogs road the Big 12’s best offense to a storybook season, but they return next-to-nothing on that side of the ball in 2023.
TCU ranks No. 130 — last among all Power 5 schools — in returning production, per ESPN. The Horned Frogs also lost wunderkind offensive coordinator Garrett Riley, now at Clemson.
Sonny Dykes brought in Arkansas OC Kendal Briles to replace Riley, but he better hope he has some leftover Hypnotoad voodoo if the magic is going to continue in Fort Worth.
Gone are quarterback Max Duggan, tailbacks Kendre Miller and Emari Demercado, and their top three wideouts, including likely 1st Round draft pick Quentin Johnson.
Chandler Morris, who actually beat out Duggan to start last season, is back and healthy, but he’ll be working in a new offense flush with SEC transfers.
In a quick-fix effort to replace all of TCU’s talent drain, Dykes & Co., went hard in the portal, bringing in three transfers from Alabama (RB Trey Sanders, WR JoJo Earle and OT Tommy Brockermeyer), LSU wideout Jack Bech and Oklahoma State receiver John Paul Richardson.
So Briles has options to toy with, but he needs to decide this spring if Morris is truly his guy at quarterback, or if the Horned Frogs need to dip back into the portal for a new signal-caller.
Has Joey McGuire positioned Texas Tech as a darkhorse Big 12 contender?
Overshadowed by conference realignment and Texas and OU sucking up most of the oxygen in the league, Texas Tech has quietly had a very strong first 18 months under Joey McGuire.
The Red Raiders had their best season in the Big 12 since 2009, going 8-5 (5-4 in conference play) with wins over Texas and Oklahoma in the same season for the first time in school history. McGuire then went out and signed a Top 25 recruiting class and added a couple potential starters from the transfer portal.
This fall, they return double-digit starters including quarterback Tyler Shough, who was injured for much of the 2022 season, and promising wideout Jerand Bradley.
But the offensive line was bad in 2022 and had to be addressed, and McGuire has done just that this offseason. After the group allowed a Big 12-most 41 sacks, Texas Tech brought in two transfers from Western Kentucky who played for OC Zach Kittley in Bowling Green. They also flipped their starting left and right tackles and benched their center.
If the reshuffled group can build some chemistry and cohesion this spring, then Texas Tech could make some real noise in the conference this fall.
Will Arch Manning show enough this spring to force Steve Sarkisian into playing two quarterbacks?
Quinn Ewers is the starting quarterback at Texas. For now anyways.
The former No. 1 overall recruit had an up-and-down redshirt freshman season, flashing his rocket arm but also struggling with footwork, accuracy and timing.
Still, Ewers has all the tools to make a significant sophomore leap in Steve Sarkisian’s QB-friendly system. The Longhorns should have one of the best OLs in the country, and their receiver room is stacked with the addition of AD Mitchell from Georgia and the return of Isaiah Neyor, a ballyhooed transfer last offseason who never suited up for Texas after tearing his ACL.
But Ewers also has the most famous backup quarterback in America now with Arch Manning on campus.
The purported plan is for Manning to play sparingly, potentially take a redshirt season and become the starter in 2024.
But could that equation change if Manning is awesome this spring?
If he balls out, could Sarkisian opt to play both quarterbacks, especially since Texas will leave the Big 12 for the SEC next season and Manning having some Power 5 experience could ease that transition?
We’ll find out I guess.