Looking Ahead To Week 1 Of The Big 12 Football Season

Now that television completely runs college football, the opening week of the season no longer offers blowout games everywhere you look and the Big 12 is offering up an interesting opening schedule.

Dana Holgorsen debuts his Mountaineers in a game that in many years would have far more glitter than it has, facing Tennessee in Charlotte, N.C., while beginning Will Grier’s Heisman Trophy campaign but once powerful Volunteers are in rebuilding mode under new coach Jeremy Pruitt.

CBS gets this one and that can only help Grier if he has the kind of day he had almost every day last season.

National TV demands interesting match-ups and so defending champion and national semifinalist Oklahoma opens at home against the always controversial Lane Kiffin and his Florida Atlantic team that is trying to become a national power.

Kiffin, of course, was at USC when he turned David Sills V into something a national phenomena, offering the then 13-yard-old quarterback a USC scholarship.

The Sooners will debut their future after a QB battle is decided with most bets going on Kyler Murray, who has signed a $9 million contract after being a first-round pick in baseball’s draft with the Oakland A’s, who were willing to allow him to play football this year

Texas, trying to re-establish itself as a national power, has an intriguing opener at Maryland after having been upset by the Terps in last season’s opener, while Iowa State tackles a tough FCS opponent in South Dakota State, a playoff team last year.

Week 1

WVU Game

Sept. 1— WVU vs. Tennessee in Charlotte, N.C., 3:30 p.m., CBS

West Virginia opens the season carrying high hopes behind Heisman Trophy candidate QB Will Grier and vowing to unveil an improved defense. This is the first meeting between two schools that have rich football history.

The Vols, coming off a winless season in the SEC and a 4-8 overall year, debut new coach Jeremy Pruitt, who has no head coaching experience. Tennessee looks to improve, and WVU looks to win the Big 12 championship.

Prediction: WVU 49, Tennessee 10

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Non-WVU Game of the Week

Sept. 1 — Florida Atlantic at Oklahoma, Noon, Fox

Florida Atlantic comes off an 11-3 season which included an 8-0 championship season in Conference USA in its first year under Lane Kiffin. Oklahoma looks to begin a new era with Heisman Trophy winner QB Baker Mayfield game. A win would establish Kiffin’s program as big time but the word from Norman is the Sooners may be better than last year.

Prediction: Oklahoma 48, Florida Atlantic 27.

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Other games

Aug. 30 — Missouri State at Oklahoma State, 8 p.m., FS1. QB Mason Rudolph is gone, and Oklahoma State has lost some of its swagger. But this is a class mismatch; the kind of game a coach likes when he is breaking in a new quarterback and trying to regain confidence. Prediction: OSU 69, Missouri State 10.

Sept. 1 — Ole Miss vs. Texas Tech in Houston, Noon, ESPN. Two teams looking to regain respect, the Rebels off a 6-6 season in the SEC and the Red Raiders coming off a 6-7 year debuting a new QB and what it hopes to be improved defense. Prediction: Texas Tech 31, Ole Miss 28.

Sept. 1 — Southern at TCU, Noon, FSN. Southern, of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, begins a 10-game season, one less than its normal 11 (imagine if WVU knocked a game off its schedule) and has bitten off more than it can chew. TCU again figures to be a contender in the Big 12, picked just beneath No. 2 WVU in the preseason poll. Southern is coming off a 7-4 season and often has been a power in the SWAC, but this looks one-sided. Prediction: TCU 42, Southern 6

Sept. 1 — Texas at Maryland, Noon, FS1. An interesting matchup as Texas begins its second season under Tom Herman and hopes to jump among the conference contenders after getting to .500 last season. Longhorns are loaded with talent, while Maryland was 4-8 last year in the Big Ten and is picked to finish fifth in the seven-team Big Ten East Division this year. Maryland opened last season by winning at Texas, but suffered a serious QB injury that would haunt it all year. The Longhorns look to avenge that loss. Prediction: Texas 27, Maryland 10.

Sept 1 — Nicholls at Kansas, 7 p.m., Jayhawk TV. Who cares game of the week. KU is trying to schedule victories rather than find a way to build a program to win games. An FCS school, Nicholls State was 8-4 last year playing in the Southland Conference. Kansas is 3-33 under coach David Beaty, who is on a very short leash. Prediction: Kansas 24, Nicholls 21.

Sept. 1 — South Dakota at Kansas State, 7:10 p.m., ESPN 3. Bill Snyder begins his 28th year at Kansas State and once again they figure to be the wild card in the Big 12 race, especially as this well could be his final year. Already a Hall of Famer with 210 wins, Snyder has taken K-State from the bottom in college football and is looking to leave it well set forever. South Dakota got to the FCS playoffs last year, losing in the second round to finish at 8-5. Prediction: Kansas State 31, South Dakota 0.

Sept. 1 — Abilene Christian at Baylor, 8 p.m., FSN. The rebuilding goes on at scandal-ridden Baylor, which fell from the college football elite and is now near the bottom. Matt Ruhle, who built Temple into a winner, is in his second season of the resurrection in Waco and is making strides, although its hard to understand it off last year’s 1-11 record. However, they lost by only eight to Oklahoma and two to WVU, which shows there was some talent still around. Abilene Christian, coming off a 2-9 season, should be the perfect opener for Baylor. Prediction: Baylor 49, Abilene Christian 24.

Sept 1 — South Dakota State at Iowa State, 8 p.m., Cyclones TV. Iowa State is a rising Big 12 power under Matt Campbell and has chosen a dangerous opponent for the opener. The Jackrabbits lost to James Madison, the eventual champion, in the FCS semifinal last season and finished at 11-3. Veteran coach SDSU John Stiegelmeier has learned how to win football games in his 21 years. Iowa State offense features the dynamic David Montgomery, who rushed for 1,146 yards last season and is being touted as a potential future first round pick in the NFL. Prediction: Iowa State 31, South Dakota State 24.