Oklahoma State and West Virginia lost by a combined 16 points to Florida State and Alabama, the respective No. 1 and 2 teams in the country.
Strong showing, indeed. So the question of the day was this: What does OSU’s effort against Florida State and WVU’s against Alabama say about the strength of the Big 12 Conference this season?
Texas coach Charlie Strong: “It’s so hard to blow a team out. OSU and West Virginia are both well-coached. It says a lot about the strength of the conference and, honestly, the players.”
Kansas coach Charlie Weis: “I would have been surprised in an opener those two teams getting blown out. Mike (Gundy) and Dana (Holgerson) did a really good job of getting their teams ready to go. I don’t think anyone that’s involved with the Big 12 finds that as a big surprise. We all know this is a loaded league, and you can’t underestimate any team in this league.”
OU coach Bob Stoops: “All these teams are better than people gave them credit for. It doesn’t surprise me. These are good teams with good football players on them.”
OSU coach Mike Gundy: “Obviously I don’t see every game, but it looks like the Big 12 is going to be fairly strong this year. Not that it’s easy to identify the teams from just scores, but it looks like everybody played pretty well.”
Kansas State coach Bill Snyder: “There’s tremendous strength in our conference. Good depth in our conference. The teams at the top of the conference right now indicate what we all know – there’s good strength to our conference.”
West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen: “I can’t speak for Mike Gundy, but I would imagine his answer would be similar. We’re disappointed we weren’t able to pull game out. Both had a chance to pull the game out in fourth quarter. The skill in Big 12 is as good as skill that exists in any conference in football. The skill is as good as anywhere, conference is as good as anywhere.”