I've been inspired by the boys at the Big Ten Blog, and this should be a fun walk-through each week in the new-look Big 12 next season. I'll pick one game a week during the season that I'd attend if it were entirely up to me. I don't make the call, and things change as games are played, of course. But right now, this is how it would look if it were up to me. I'll include road nonconference games, too.
Week 1: West Virginia vs. Marshall
Week 2: Kansas State vs. Miami
Week 3: Texas at Ole Miss
Week 4: Kansas State at Oklahoma
Week 5: Texas at Oklahoma State
Week 6: West Virginia at Texas
Week 8: Kansas State at West Virginia
Here's the Week 9 slate in the Big 12:
Texas Tech at Kansas State
Texas at Kansas
TCU at Oklahoma State
Notre Dame vs. Oklahoma
Baylor at Iowa State
My pick: Notre Dame vs. Oklahoma
My apologies to TCU at Oklahoma State here, which may have some serious implications to the Big 12 title race. With Brian Kelly and the Irish in town, it seems a fitting week to make my second trip to Norman.
Expectations are low for Notre Dame this year, but the history with this game will be too much fun to ignore. Believe it or not, Oklahoma's never beaten Notre Dame at home, and is 1-8 all time vs. the Irish. Remember that 47-game winning streak from Bud Wilkinson's teams between 1953 and 1957? Well, the Irish ended it with a 7-0 win in 1957.
Before that, who was the last team to knock out the Sooners? Well, the Irish of course, with a 28-21 win over the Sooners in the 1953 season opener.
Crazy stuff. Nothing quite like two of the game's best helmets and best uniforms going head to head for four hours. Notre Dame won't be scary this year, but kudos to Oklahoma for putting together a tough nonconference schedule. Nobody schedules as difficult as the Sooners, and that's to be commended.
The Sooners, though, made their one win against the Irish count. A 40-0 win in 1956 still stands as the most lopsided home defeat in Notre Dame history.
Too much history here to ignore.