[|Zach|]

1998

Despite the postseason problems, KSU is still 24-2 in the last two seasons, and they return a majority of their difference-makers from the 12-1 team of 1997. Clearly they're seen as a top notch team. Meanwhile A&M and Mizzou return quite a bit too from solid 1997 campaign. Everybody else in the conference? Yikes.

Preseason Rankings
#6 Kansas State
#14 Texas A&M
#23 Missouri

Missouri Schedule & Results
9/5 Bowling Green W, 37-0
9/12 Kansas W, 41-23
9/19 at Ohio State L, 14-35
9/26 at Baylor W, 35-10
10/3 Northwestern State W, 35-14
10/10 at Iowa State W, 35-19
10/17 Oklahoma W, 20-6
10/24 at Texas W, 27-23
10/31 at Texas Tech W, 28-26
11/7 Oklahoma State W, 42-9
11/14 at Texas A&M L, 14-17
11/21 Kansas State L, 25-31
9-3 (7-2)
With a trip to Waco replacing the doomed trip to Lincoln, clearly things go better for Mizzou in 1998. They start 9-1, reaching as high as about sixth in the country, but a Top 10 showdown with Texas A&M is lost at the hands of Randy Potter (sorry, Randy F'ing Potter), and Mizzou falls a play or two short against K-State as well. Still, though, they are clearly part of a top-heavy New Big 12's upper tier right now. Mizzou, A&M and K-State manage to go 23-4 in conference (20-1 in games not against each other), while the bottom three teams go 3-24. The 1998 season is still full of killer what-ifs, but Mizzou's future as a top member of a decent conference still looks bright.

And ironically, while K-State now goes undefeated in 1996 and 1997, they do not in 1998, a year where they actually did go undefeated in real life. Why? Because of a trip to College Station, where we'll say that Sirr Parker still happens.

Big 12ish Standings
Team Conf.
Record Overall
Record Real-Life
Record
Texas A&M 8-1 11-2 11-3 (+0.5)
Kansas State 8-1 11-1 11-2 (+0.5)
Missouri 7-2 9-3 8-4 (+1)
Texas 6-3 8-4 9-3 (-1)
Texas Tech 5-4 8-4 7-5 (-1)
Oklahoma 4-5 6-6 5-6 (+0.5)
Oklahoma State 4-5 6-6 5-6 (+0.5)
Kansas 1-8 4-8 4-7 (-0.5)
Iowa State 1-8 3-9 4-7 (-1.5)
Baylor 1-8 2-10 2-9 (-0.5)
K-State loses to A&M sometime in late-October or early-November instead of early-December, and because of the way everything else shakes down (Texas finishing a game worse than they did in real life, for one), we'll say that while the Wildcats still get screwed out of a BCS bowl bid (the world is still stupid), they don't fall all the way to the Alamo Bowl.

Bowls

Sugar: #3 Ohio State 24, #8 Texas A&M 14
Cotton: #4 Kansas State 38, #25 Mississippi State 10
Holiday: #17 Missouri 31, #5 Arizona 14
Alamo: Purdue 37, #20 Texas 30
Independence: Mississippi 35, Texas Tech 18
Insight.com: West Virginia 31, Oklahoma 10
Aloha: #21 Oregon 43, Oklahoma State 39

This bowl season goes ... a little better for the conference. The top tier (KSU, ATM, MU) goes 2-1, with ATM scoring a respectable loss to a ridiculously good Ohio State team. (In real life, Arizona pulled an upset over Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl and would have quite possibly done the same against Mizzou, but the Est. F/+ numbers didn't like them very much, giving Mizzou an easy edge.) However, the conference still goes just 2-5 in bowls, putting them at 4-13 in three years. Ouch. Still, though, K-State finished in third in the final AP Poll, with Mizzou and ATM both in the #10-13 range. Thanks to the top tier, and Texas' sudden resurgence, things are looking much better for this young conference.

Of course, Mizzou is about to completely and totally fall off the map, even if Mizzou fans, in total denial (I know I was), don't know it yet.

1999

No Corby and Devin, no problem, right? I know that's what I thought at the time. Yeah, they were really good, but ... recruiting improves with winning, so the next guys will be just as good! Or not. Mizzou held steady until Kirk Farmer's gruesome broken leg, then the offense completely and totally disappeared.

In 1999, the South began to put things together. Texas' ship was being righted, and Texas A&M was still looked upon very favorably. K-State lost so many difference-makers that they once again started ranked rather low (and once again proved doubters wrong). Meanwhile, Nebraska (#6) and Colorado (#15) were both once again featured prominently in the polls. Without them, the New Big 12 once again had only three ranked teams to start the season.

Preseason Rankings
#7 Texas A&M
#17 Texas
#20 Kansas State

Missouri Schedule & Results
9/4 UAB W, 31-28
9/11 Baylor W, 49-26
9/18 Western Michigan W, 48-34
9/25 Texas L, 10-29
10/2 at Memphis W, 27-17
10/9 at Oklahoma State L, 38-41
10/16 Iowa State L, 21-24
10/23 at Kansas L, 0-21
10/30 Texas Tech W, 34-7
11/6 at Oklahoma L, 0-37
11/13 Texas A&M L, 14-51
11/20 at Kansas State L, 0-66
5-7 (2-7)
Upon beating Memphis, Mizzou is 4-1 on the season. That makes them 28-8 since the end of October 1996. It looks like the "sleeping giant" has officially awakened, and a mini-dynasty of sorts is being established in Columbia. Then Mizzou loses 15 of their next 19. Ouch.

Big 12ish Standings
Team Conf.
Record Overall
Record Real-Life
Record
Kansas State 9-0 12-0 11-1 (+1)
Texas 7-2 10-3 9-5 (+1.5)
Oklahoma 6-3 8-4 7-5 (+1)
Texas A&M 6-3 9-3 8-4 (+1)
Oklahoma State 5-4 7-5 5-6 (+1.5)
Texas Tech 5-4 6-6 6-5 (-0.5)
Kansas 3-6 5-8 5-7 (-0.5)
Iowa State 2-7 5-7 4-7 (+0.5)
Missouri 2-7 5-7 4-7 (+0.5)
Baylor 0-9 1-11 1-10 (-0.5)
Once again, Kansas State is untouchable atop the New Big 12. They have now gone 47-1 in the regular season since the conference's inception. Insane. Meanwhile, Texas has begun to put things together, and Oklahoma has risen from the dead in Bob Stoops' first season.

So K-State enters the bowl season with a shot at the national title, for the third time in four season. The Bill Snyder reclamation project that has become so revered in real life has taken on an even more epic aura in the alternate world of the New Big 12. Can they break through and actually win the title this time? No.

Bowls

Sugar: #1 Florida State 38, #2 Kansas State 27
Cotton: #24 Arkansas 27, #12 Texas 6
Holiday: Oklahoma 24, Washington 21
Alamo: #13 Penn State 24, #15 Texas A&M 0
Independence: Ole Miss 28, Oklahoma State 20
Insight: #25 Boston College 26, Texas Tech 21

That's right. K-State loses another title bid, and the New Big 12 once again sucks eggs in the postseason, going 1-5 in bowls. That puts them at 5-18 since 1996. Ugh.

Meanwhile, Mizzou's fall is no less precipitous in Alternate 1999. And it's not going to get any better in 2000.

2000

People often talk about the Big Ten's lackluster performance in bowl games through the years. Part of that is because their bowl affiliations are, honestly, a little too good. Their bowl participants are almost always ranked lower than their opponents, meaning they have to pull some upsets to finish over .500. We see a very similar trend with the New Big 12. Assuming again that they retain the Holiday Bowl, that means that they have sent unranked teams to face ranked opponents six times in four postseasons. In 17 bowls with at least one ranked team, their team has been the lower-ranked squad 13 times. The conference has not yet developed any consistent depth. But with Mack Brown and Bob Stoops on the scene now (in 2000, Brown was entering his fourth season in Austin, Stoops his second in Norman), things begin to change. And it all starts with the Sooners.

After a solid 1999 campaign, OU is ranked in the preseason for the first time in over half a decade. To say the least, they make the most of it. Meanwhile, Texas and Kansas State are both in the top ten; while Nebraska is the preseason #1, the New Big 12 is still taking steps toward respectability.

Missouri, on the other hand, clearly is not. It is Larry Smith's lame duck season, and not even offensive guru Bill Cubit can improve things.

Preseason Rankings
#7 Texas
#8 Kansas State
#19 Oklahoma

Missouri Schedule & Results
9/2 Western Illinois W, 50-20
9/9 at Clemson L, 9-62
9/16 Michigan State L, 10-13
9/23 at Texas A&M
L, 13-30
9/30 at Texas Tech
L, 21-35
10/7 Oklahoma State W, 24-10
10/14 Kansas L, 17-38
10/21 at Texas L, 12-46
10/28 at Iowa State L, 20-39
11/4 Oklahoma L, 10-46
11/11 at Baylor W, 47-22
11/18 Kansas State L, 24-28
3-9 (2-7)
You could make the case that, since Mizzou doesn't play Nebraska, Kirk Farmer therefore doesn't break his collar bone, and he is available to lead an improving offense the entire season. But Farmer never made it through an entire season healthy, so I don't know why we'd think he would have anyway. Fate says he breaks his collar bone anyway, and the offense (already with grind-it-out personnel adapting to the spread) just doesn't have enough juice to get anything accomplished. The three tough September road trips start the trend, and aside from a late surge (47 points against Baylor and a helluva fight against Kansas State), there just isn't much life here. As he did in real life, Larry Smith is dumped directly after the Kansas State game.

Big 12ish Standings
Team Conf.
Record Overall
Record Real-Life
Record
Oklahoma 9-0 12-0 13-0 (-0.5)
Kansas State 7-2 11-2 11-3 (+0.5)
Texas 7-2 9-3 9-3 (+0)
Texas A&M 7-2 9-3 7-5 (+2)
Texas Tech 5-4 9-4 7-6 (+2)
Iowa State 4-5 7-5 9-3 (-2)
Kansas 2-7 4-8 4-7 (-0.5)
Oklahoma State 2-7 4-8 3-8 (+0.5)
Missouri 2-7 3-9 3-8 (-0.5)
Baylor 0-9 2-10 2-9 (-0.5)
The Proj. F/+ numbers absolutely love this OU team, and obviously none of their new opponents would have been able to mount much of a challenge. OU still coasts to the BCS Championship Game...

Bowls

Orange: #1 Oklahoma 13, #3 Florida State 2
Cotton: #11 Kansas State 35, #21 Tennessee 21
Holiday: #8 Oregon 35, #12 Texas 30
Alamo: Texas A&M 30, #18 Northwestern 27
Independence: Mississippi State 34, Texas Tech 28
Insight: Iowa State 37, Pittsburgh 29

...and still wins it. K-State, meanwhile, loses twice in the regular season for the first time since the Big 8 was still in existence.

In all, the conference's depth starts to show here. Iowa State is improving, and they kickstart what becomes a 4-2 postseason campaign for the much-maligned New Big 12. Between the four wins and OU's national title, perceptions of this conference begin to change.

Next up: The Pinkel Era.