and welcome to your handy Big 12 Analysis guide for the upcoming 2015 Big 12 season. Nick and I have decided to take part in a game this season in which we have both divvied up the ten teams in the Big 12 conference and assigned 5 teams to each of us to decide their outcomes for the 2015 college football season.

Based off our five teams, we will combine our total wins and losses for our five teams each and compare them to their actual wins vs. losses at the end of the season.

The prize for our strenuous efforts to determine how each of our fantasies play out? A case of beer of the winners choosing for the person who guesses the closest.

NICK’s BIG 12 TEAMS:

University of West Virginia Mountaineers Baylor University Bears Iowa State University Cyclones University of Kansas Jayhawks Oklahoma State University Cowboys

WES’ BIG 12 TEAMS

Texas Tech University Red Raiders Texas Christian Horned Frogs Kansas State University Wildcats University of Oklahoma Sooners University of Texas Longhorns

Team 1: Texas Tech Red Raiders

Ah, Texas Tech. Lubbock, Texas. Tortilla Factories, Yosemite Sam and Zoro.

Credit to Reddit user u/thelastofthemohicans for mentioning the hype video

Texas Tech is a rather interesting team as they’ve gone through various changes over the past few seasons. They moved on from a coach which gave them varying degrees of success with Tommy Tuberville (20W-17L during his 3 season tenure) to…. another coach with varying degrees of success with Kliff Klingon Kingsbury (12W-13L).

But hey, who wanted that old fart anyway! We’ve got this new guy! He’s a past TTU quarterback, he’s dashing, he kisses babies and have given something for TTU to talk about. There is hope for the future that he’ll be bringing in a change to TTU football, which has already shown in his recruiting over the past 2 seasons.

Plus, who can deny his striking resemblance to Ryan Gosling? Actually, now that I mention it, there are some similarities that I have found between him and his alter ego.

I asked Nick what he thought about Ryan Gosling. The results could been seen as comparable between the two:

WES: “How do you feel about Ryan Gosling’s acting? Honest opinion”

NICK: “Honestly I think he kinda sucks, he’s a pretty boy who can only play one character who is always boring”

Pretty boy: check. A static character (play-style): I can see that. Sucks? Well, I’m going to play nice and say, “It’s too early to say”. Is he going to win an Oscar (Big 12 Championship) with the same job he’s been doing over the past few movies (seasons)? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t like him and the chances he has to improve upon his first two seasons.

The Quarterbacks

The Holiday Bowl of 2013 is in the past. Davis Webb isn’t the passer we thought he might emerge to be after seeing his decline from 2014 to 2015. Decline, though? If we take a look at his statistics from the past two seasons we can actually see a very similar trend in his play-making ability. Both seasons he hovered in a respectable completion percentage (62.6 in 2013, 61.2 in 2014), YPA (7.53, 7.36) and TD/INT ratio (2.22, 1.84). The TD/INT ratio may not be stellar, but there’s been worse. When looking at his interceptions per game in which he stated last season, there weren’t any real giveaways that Webb might particularly be the reason behind a close loss (Potentially aside from a 37-34 loss to WVU). So what’s the deal?

Well the deal is that Webb wasn’t getting the job done as well as his counterpart. Patrick Mahomes recorded better overall passing statistics than Webb. Mahomes started the last 4 games of the Red Raider’s 2014 season and wound up with a better YPA (8.36), TD/INT ratio (4.00) and Quarterback Rating (151.4 as opposed to Webb’s 138.4), along with 104 yards rushing. Not really dual threat, but Mahomes seems to have the ability to make a play last longer with either his arms or his legs. Below is a highlight video of him and some plays from the last season. When I watch him, I personally see some promise for a solid quarterback going into the future.

But wait…. what’s this? Vincent Testaverde Jr.?

Oh.

That Vinny Testaverde? The Vinny Testverde who played in the NFL since about the end of Vietnam? Legend says he’s still playing to this day…….

This is too much. I think I need a beer. How could I let this pass by me?

Well, apparently he wasn’t recruited by Tech, but rather walked on. Still, it’s food for thought as to what the future might hold for Texas Tech and who might hold the reigns after Webb and Mahomes leave (Especially considering their unfortunate recruiting loss). The starting QB position is still open, and there’s almost no way that he’ll start. But damn, wouldn’t that be a blast from the past to see him take the reigns.

Everything Else That Might Constitute An Offense

Last year Tech managed to find a solid running back in DeAndre Washington. Washington ended his 2014 season with 1103 yards, 5.9 YPC and 2 touchdowns. He also wound up being the Big 12 conference’s 3rd highest rusher, behind the likes of Shock Linwood (Baylor, 1252 yds/ 5.0 YPC) and Samaje Perine (OU, 1713 yds/ 6.5 YPC), two backs noted for their NFL-bound abilities. He will be joined for his senior season by Justin Stockton (393 yds), making for a nice duo in the backfield to confuse defenses. I’d expect Tech to improve upon their rushing totals from last season (82nd) and win up within the top 50 or so. Running isn’t quite TTU’s forte (and never really has been). However, holding no injuries, TTU will find some new ways to gain more ground territory over this next season.

Credit to u/lastofthemohicans

This is all behind an O-Line with 2014 All-Big12 lineman Le’Raven Clark. The line as a whole seemed to do a good job last year, letting Webb and Mahomes throw for 4086 yards combined. Not many teams can say that. He’s anticipated to be surrounded by LG Alrfredo Morales (Sr.), C Jared Kaster (Sr.), RG Baylen Brown (Jr.) and RT Justin Murphy (Fr.) (Credit to u/thelastofthemohicans and u/hawkspur1 for assisting me). Overall, The talent should be there to protect the QB and give him and Washington as much time as possible to make some dangerous plays happen.

Tech’s Receivers are something else to talk about. TTU last season had two receivers in Jakeem Grant and Bradley Marquez who wound up with not only over 60 catches each, but 938 and 831 yards, respectively. Behind them? Devin Lauderdale (589 yds), Ian Sadler (336), Deandre Washington (Hey I’ve heard of him before… with 328), and more. Actually, the next 3 receivers posted a combined 782 yards, so there’s an exceptional ability to spread the ball around. Marquez has graduated, but it seems that there is still a lot of talent for Tech’s quarterbacks to utilize. As a team that finished with the 5th highest passing totals of any D1 school, expect nothing to change when it comes to moving the ball through the air.

The Defense

The Defense also returns All Big-12 Linebacker Pete Robertson, who will be coming back for his Senior season after a 12 sack, 81 tackles(???) season. That will surely help. However, even with new additions from their past recruiting class (20 commits, 4 in the ESPN 300), the defense will still have areas to improve upon. Last season they wound up as the 126th ranked team for points against. I would think that with the new talent that Tech is starting to bring in that there will be a better overall defense. However, don’t expect that 126 to go up too high. There’s still a lot of talent coming in, but there’s still a lot of training that these young kids have to put in.

I reached out to the TTU fan-base for more information about their defense. Reddit user /u/hawkspur1 mentioned that pass-rushers Gary Moore and Mike Mitchell (5*) should provide some added weight to the defense and put more pressure on opposing quarterbacks. He also went on to mention that additions to the D-Line from incoming high school talent should attempt to start patching holes where Tech has struggled. There’s talent on the defense, but there seems to be a missing piece that’s keeping them from contending with the rest.

Overall Prediction

So, a team that is consistently heavier on the pass than the run; the offense over the defense. Like Ryan Gosling, I wouldn’t expect them to change much this season (Next however…). The offense will be sound should Mahomes take the starting position in the coming weeks, and it always helps to have known starters for RB, O-Line and WRs. The Defense still will allow a lot of points, but that just means you have to outscore the opponent, right?

Is a Big 12 title out of the question? Never say never, but the I have to say that the odds aren’t in favor of Tech. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the Red Raiders will have a bad season, per se. I’m penciling a few games for the Raiders as wins already. This includes Sam Houston State, UTEP and Kansas.

Big games which I can see Tech losing include : OU, Baylor and TCU. No upsets here, sorry fans.

However, the teams toward the middle of the pack is where Tech will pull out some more wins. WVU away will prove to be too much with Carl Joseph and squad disrupting air traffic. Same goes for when Mason Rudolph and the ‘Pokes come into town. 2 more losses, now up to 6. However, a win against a squandering Iowa State at home will help steady the ship.

So, season coming to a close, I’m predicting that the Red Raiders will enter their final two games with a 4-6 record. A win against K-State at home will help their eligibility out. A shootout and final upset at Texas should elevate TTU to a Bowl Game appearance.

Final Prediction: (6-6)

P.S: These helmets are some of the damn sexiest I’ve ever seen. Please bring them back.