Published: July 28, 2009 10:58 pm      

SPRUILL: Big 12 could make some noise in 2009

As good as Oklahoma State has a chance to be this upcoming football season, they still didn’t get one vote as the top team in the Big 12 South Media Preseason Football Poll released last week.

Shouldn’t that raise some eyebrows. Not to say I wouldn’t have voted the same, but for a team that boasts three potential Heisman candidates — Zac Robinson, Kendall Hunter and Dez Bryant — not to mention being ranked in the Top 10 in several preseason publications, it seems a bit unreal.

Oklahoma and Texas tied for the top spot, with the Cowboys being a distant third.

And if you’re a Cowboy fan you have to like the demeanor of Mike Gundy during the Big 12 Media Days. He didn’t make any bold statements.

“We could be the only top 10 team that’s ranked third in our own league,” Gundy said.

OSU was close to where they are now with Les Miles. But Miles made enemies. And that was all Oklahoma needed to turn the tide in the Bedlam Series, just a little fuel. We all know why Les did it though, just to get media attention, like Lane Kiffin is trying to do at Tennessee. Either way, you look like an fool doing it.

But, Gundy knows the Cowboys are good, and he doesn’t need to tell anyone they are.

So what does this mean? Does it mean the Big 12 has finally arrived. The Southeastern Conference is still king, but a king that could fall at anytime, but not until someone knocks off Florida.

The Big 12 has the firepower to compete. So much on the offensive side, that everyone has been able to spend the spring concentrating on the defensive side. And that’s where the Big 12 needed the most improvement.

It’s not that the defenses were so bad, the offenses were so good.

But Oklahoma should be great on the defensive side, as will Texas. Oklahoma State talked up its defense for the past two days, as did Nebraska, the preseason favorite in the North Division.

Of course we won’t actually know until we get into the meat of the Big 12 schedule, but OSU’s opener against Georgia should give us a glimpse. And Oklahoma’s opener with Bringham Young will show us what the defense is made of. As for Texas, we will have to wait a bit, but they prove to have one of the stiffest defenses every year.

If any of these guys know what they’re talking about, chances are they do, Bob Stoops and Mack Brown, each wear National Championship rings, this could be one of the greatest college football seasons in the history of the Big 12.

And one more thing, only 38 days till kickoff. If that doesn’t make you excited, I don’t know what will.