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League Wide: Life After Bob

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Let’s take a look at some news around the league from this week. 

Small but Mighty

The coaching talent in the Big 12 is in a bit of a “changing of the guard” but it doesn’t have to be bad. Fox ranked them in the middle of the Power Five.

3) Big 12. In such a small league, this ranking hinges heavily on whether Oklahoma and Texas have the right guys in place. The Sooners do with Bob Stoops (Editor’s note: This was published prior to Stoops’ sudden retirement Wednesday) and I believe the ‘Horns finally do with Tom Herman.

Gary Patterson is high up in my national Top 10, Bill Snyder is a Hall of Famer and Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy is perennially underrated. Baylor’s Matt Rhule did outstanding work at Temple. And beware, Holgo. [FoxSports]

The coaching status of the league feels a bit like the competitive balance of the league — you’d take the top eight against anybody’s. But you’d be crazy to put money on the Big 12’s top two (brands) to run the table.

CBS put it best, the middle is shored up but the helmet schools have to deliver.

Kansas State is what it is today because of Bill Snyder. Mike Gundy has done an underrated job at Oklahoma State. Gary Patterson built a sustainable power at TCU. All three are stalwarts. None of them will win a national title where they are right now. Snyder may not be around college football much longer as it is.

A new era ushered in by Riley and Herman will determine whether the Big 12 can get back to the top of college football or stumble through another rebuild. We just don’t know what it will be yet. [CBS Sports]

Lopsided

The Big 12 has been maligned for poor defenses, and the draft numbers in particular don’t help.

Things get sideways when all the four and five stars are going to Texas and NFL-ready guys aren’t pumping out on the other side. By far and away this was the most alarming stat referenced:

Texas had seven defensive draft picks in the 2013-2017 span; UConn had nine. [SB Nation]

Shrinking Depth Chart

Texas Tech lost a couple of receivers early this off-season, now a team in OU deeply in need has lost two.

“It’s really trying to play under control because (Dehu Green) is so fast and explosive,” (Lincoln) Riley, by way of Tulsa World, said prior to the April 8 spring game. “He’s easily one of the top five most talented guys on our team, just straight-up talented at their position, no question. He’s had to learn. He came in very, very raw. He’s progressing well. He’s had an impressive spring. I can’t deny it.”

Green becomes the second Sooners receiver to transfer in less than a month. In mid-May, Zach Farrar, a 2016 signee, announced on Twitter that he would be transferring away from the football program. [NBC Sports]

After losing Dede Westbrook to graduation, OU is hunting for the next big thing – and it appears there was a possibility the Oklahoma product could have been just that.

Bob O’Stoops

Speculation isn’t exactly swirling but prophecies are being made into where the former OU boss will land.

When the Brian Kelly comes to an end in South Bend — it could be sooner rather than later given how the wheels fell off in 2016 — the Stoops-to-Notre Dame clamor will reach ear-piercing levels. When that happens, remember the following.

“It was fun growing up a Notre Dame fan,” Stoops’ younger brother, OU defensive coordinator Mike Stoops, told The Oklahoman in 2012 about growing up in a Fighting Irish household, adding, “Notre Dame runs deep.” [NBC Sports]

His language in the “retirement presser” was very careful to leave the door open. It would be a big loss for the Big 12 to see the former face hogging a playoff spot – but it’s totally rational. Other than the Catholic connection, he recruits nationally, wife loves nearby Chicago (and their two $2M homes).

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