We're continuing our march across Big 12 country with your dream trek for 2013. Want to see the best of the best in the Big 12 this season? Come along with us.
We don't make the final decisions about where we spend our fall Saturdays, but I'm walking week by week through the 2013 season and forecasting where I'd like to be. Circumstances change as games happen, of course, but here's how I'd project the season. Road nonconference games count. Let's move on with the next week.
More 2013 Ultimate Big 12 Road Trip.
Here's the Week 8 schedule across the Big 12:
TCU at Oklahoma State
Iowa State at Baylor
Texas Tech at West Virginia
Oklahoma at Kansas
My pick: TCU at Oklahoma State
If you can get yourself out of a fried stupor from last weekend at the State Fair of Texas (this is easier said than done), there's going to be a heck of a game a little more than four hours north up in Stillwater. To me, these are the two most complete teams to start the season, and while it's still way too early to view this game as a real Big 12 title game, I'd be surprised if we didn't look back on it in December as a night that had a profound impact on the race for the trophy.
I feel bad for TCU, which travels to Stillwater in two consecutive seasons because of a quirk in the Big 12 schedule that forced it to inherit what would have been Texas A&M's schedule. Gary Patterson told me one big focus for the Frogs this season is eliminating the rough performances you'll see from young teams, and there wasn't a worse one for TCU than last season's game in Stillwater. It led 14-9 at the half before being outscored 27-0 in the second half. This game will hold a special significance for TCU, but expect this game to be prime time, and when the stakes are this high, OSU fans rise to the occasion.
This should be a great atmosphere and an even better game. Two teams with good defenses and good offenses, and the talent to make 2013 a very special season in school history. They'll have to go through each other to do it, though.