The Big 12 South has the two perennial big boys in the conference in Oklahoma and Texas. These two teams have dominated this conference for quite a while until Missouri and Kansas came along last year. This year the conference seems to be deeper than ever. Not only are Kansas and Missouri strong again, but Texas Tech is also a high-flying team to be reckoned with.

Here are the predictions with last year’s records.

Oklahoma (6-2, 11-3): He seems to a little underrated, but Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford lead the nation in quarterback rating last year—as a freshman. DeMarco Murray will make an even bigger name for himself in 2008 and Oklahoma is one of the few teams in the Big 12 that has a nasty defense. Texas and Texas Tech are good, but Oklahoma is gunning for the national championship and they just may get a shot at it.

Texas (5-3, 10-3): Colt McCoy was a little disappointing in 2007 because his numbers were a little lower than what he put up in 2006 as a freshman. However, he was asked to do more for the offense, he threw a lot more passes and attempted nearly twice as many rushes. He will be asked to do the same again in 2008, but this year I think he will be ready for it. I see Colt McCoy being a guy mentioned in the Heisman race. Texas will once again be a force in the Big 12, but I don’t think they have the defense to get past Oklahoma on the road and will probably lose at least once more to either Texas Tech, Kansas, or Missouri.

Texas Tech (4-4, 9-4): The high-flying offense will be ready to break some records again this year. Crabtree has already exhausted the superlatives in only one year of college play. Harrell already has a 500+ yard game for the season and is looking to rewrite the record books as they say. Texas Tech has more receivers than just Crabtree and can still run the ball when they have to. Their defense will be a little better than last year. TT will be a tough team for any of the normal big dogs in the Big 12. I can see them beating Kansas and/or Texas, but I don’t think they can get past Oklahoma. I have them behind the Longhorns but would not be surprised if they finished 2^nd in the South.

Oklahoma State (4-4, 7-6): The talent drop off from the top 3 in the league to the bottom 3 is pretty striking. Oklahoma State is an average team and will probably finish with about the same record as last year. I actually see them going only 3-5 in conference unless they beat Colorado. The Cowboys are going to be experienced and are pretty solid on both sides of the ball, but this conference is just too good and they will be fighting for .500, and a bowl bid.

Texas A&M (4-4, 7-6): They no longer scare anyone. They have fallen on some hard times and the 12^th man is not really an issue when you are down by 3 touchdowns at halftime. They are not as bad as Baylor, but they are probably the 2^nd worse team in the Big 12.

Baylor (0-8, 3-9): They are the worst team in the Big 12. Their only hope for a win is against Texas A&M, but I am not so sure that A&M has fallen that far. I really don’t see them winning any games in conference. They have too many problems on each side of the ball and they simply don’t have the talent of the rest of the conference. It all comes back to recruiting, which they don’t do that well.

So this gives us Oklahoma and Missouri in the Big 12 Championship game. It should be a doozy. These two teams do not meet in the regular season, so there is the chance they will both be undefeated and playing for a spot in the National Championship game.

I give the edge to Oklahoma. Both of these teams can score a ton of points, but I think Oklahoma has more talent and depth on defense. They don’t have enough to stop Missouri, but they have enough to slow them down to where the Oklahoma offense can outscore the Missouri offense.