Most likely: 6-6 Wins: Baylor, Kansas, Tech Losses: OSU, TCU, WV Toss Ups: WV and Tech. Tech we get in Austin but WV is on the road.
I think we win BU, KU, TT and steal one from OK State, TCU, or WVU, like many here have mentioned. How far we've fallen that beating those teams is considered "stealing," like we're Baylor circa 2007 or some **** like that.
Texas wins this weekend, book it! OSU has put up crazy numbers this year but they've also done so against defenses that are ranked #81 (S.Bama), #102 (Tech), #107 (Pitt), #125 (Baylor) and #128 (Tulsa). Right now, if you take the Maryland game out of the mix, Texas' D would be ranked 42nd. Texas' will field the stoutest defense that OSU has faced outside of TCU. As for OSU's D? They rank 53rd and have given 372 ypg, compared to Texas' 381.5 ypg. Last 4 games, Texas has faced 3 of the top 4 defenses in the Big 12. OSU, on the other hand has padded stats against 4 of the worst D's in FBS. Texas has one more stout D on their schedule and that's TCU. That game will be even closer if Connor Williams is back. Either way, Texas goes 5-1 the rest of the way and a game out of the Big 12 CC game.
Even if you take out Maryland, we're still not in the top 40? Was that intended to inspire confidence?
Per Jeff Howe, TH said in his Thursday presser that Williams and Rodriguez could be “a few weeks out” from returning. Of course, he also said to put a week on it for their return would be unfair to the rehab process but reasonable to expect them back before the end of the regular season. IIRC, Chip Brown mentioned it on TBL in the last week or so that CW was progressing better than expected and could be back in weeks instead of being out for the rest of the year.
Actually, that would have us about 5 ypg away from top 40. While that may not sound all that exciting, for the Big 12, that's impressive. Our rush defense would be ranked 7th with an 87 ypg average and our pass defense around 274 ypg. If we average 361 ypg through conference play, that likely puts us as the conference's top defense. FWIW, the top defense the last two years were ranked 51st (KState w 387.7 ypg in '16) and 39th (OU w 364.5 in '15). In 2014 TCU finished 18th with 341 ypg and Texas at 26 with 348 ypg.
3-3 for the remainder of the year, and if we were playing at Tech I would be predicting 2-4 (but we're not). A lot of talk this week by Tom Herman regarding our experience level relatively to other teams in the league, and talk radio is celebrating our moral victories in the USC and OU games. During these teen years we've basically been a .500 team (49-46). While I hope that trend changes today, with our O-line situation I'm a'feared it is not.
