Welcome to Fact or Fiction Friday. Each Friday, I allow our Facebook and message board fans to ask the most intriguing questions in the Big 12 Conference, and I will tell you whether they come true or if they are set to fail.
Now, let’s crack open this week’s list and see what we have in store.
Iowa State Will Win the Big 12
Fact: At this very moment, I say yes. I said before the season that this Iowa State team would win ten games, and I’m sticking with that. Offensively, they have enough talent between Rocco Becht and their skill players to score points. Meanwhile, their defense has played as well as any defense in the country. The only concern I have with them is with their slow starts. If they can figure that out, they should be the favorites to win the Big 12. Plus, look around. What Big 12 team would you say is better than them? Kansas State? Utah without Cam Rising? BYU? No way.
The SEC Will Have Six Playoff Teams
Fiction: Six? As much as the playoff committee does ass-kissing toward the SEC, there is no way in hell that they are stupid enough to pull a stunt like that. Now, if the SEC and Big Ten get those four automatic playoff bids in a couple of years, then I would be worried about six SEC teams getting in.
BYU is Legit
Fiction: BYU has arguably been the biggest surprise in the Big 12 so far this season, but I’m not ready to go all in on the Cougars just yet. While their handling of Kansas State was impressive, it was also a little fluky in my eyes. And their win over Baylor didn’t wow me after nearly blowing a huge lead.
The good news is we won’t have to wait long to find out the truth about this team because they still have to play Arizona, Oklahoma State, UCF, and Utah over their next four games. We will know a lot more about BYU this month.
The Big 12 Championship Game Will Feature Two Newcomers
Fiction: As great of a story as Colorado and Arizona State have been so far, they aren’t going to the Big 12 title game. Arizona State struggles to throw the ball, and I’m still not 100% sold on Colorado, which is just yet in the trenches.
Of those four schools, Utah and Arizona have the best chance of getting to Arlington. For the Utes, it’s simple. If they get a healthy Cam Rising back, I’m all in, but until then, I can’t buy them as one of the two best teams in the Big 12. As for Arizona, I LOVE what they can do offensively, but I just wonder if that defense can hold up its end of the bargain week in and week out.
Kansas Will Not Make a Bowl Game
Fact: Right now, the Jayhawks are sitting at 1-4 and would need to go 5-2 the rest of the way to get to 6-6. Is there anyone out there who thinks this Kansas team can do that? Not me. The offense isn’t playing well outside of Devin Neal, and Jalon Daniels has looked like a complete shell of himself this year. And the defense hasn’t improved at all from a year ago. Nothing is going right for this Kansas team, and I believe at the end of the year, some staff changes are going to take place in Lawrence.
Dave Arana Will Get Fired This Month
Fact: Let’s be honest here. If Dave Aranda wasn’t such a nice guy, he wouldn’t have been brought back for this season. I mean, why else would you bring a coach back after back-to-back losing seasons, including a 3-9 record last year? After Baylor’s loss to BYU, Aranda is now 2-12 in his previous 14 conference games and 3-16 in his last 19 games against FBS opponents. This Baylor program has been trending in the wrong direction for three seasons now; at some point, enough is enough. He will either be fired this weekend after the Iowa State game or after the Texas Tech game in two weeks.
