Big 12 football 2019 season preview: Can Jalen Hurts keep Oklahoma on top of Texas?
Big 12 football has a ton of contenders but it could well come down to a Red River Showdown at the top of the conference to determine the 2019 champion.
In 2018, the showdown for the Big 12 football title came down to two rivals in the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns. Though the latter won in the Red River Rivalry game in the regular season, it was Lincoln Riley and co. that took the Big 12 Championship Game and earned a berth in the College Football Playoff. Entering a new season, we could be headed down the same path.
Things have changed a bit in Big 12 football coming into the 2019 campaign. While Texas appears fully back, Riley and the Sooners have a new quarterback (Jalen Hurts) at the helm. Meanwhile, West Virginia could see a precipitous drop-off from their fourth-place finish a year ago and the bottom of the standings from last year could shuffle a great deal.
Even still, it should be an incredibly exciting year in the conference. Even if it does come down to Hook ‘Em and Boomer Sooner for the title again, there’s always intrigue in watching two rivals vie for the top spot. Furthermore, it’ll be fascinating to see which sleepers emerge, who surprises and so on throughout the Big 12.
Having that in mind, we’re going to go deep into Big 12 football and predict the major award winners, the final standings and, of course, the champion for the 2019 season. We start with a relatively obvious candidate for Offensive Player of the Year.
Offensive Player of the Year: Sam Ehlinger, Texas
The resurgence of the Texas Longhorns under Tom Herman and the emergence of Sam Ehlinger as the quarterback in Austin go hand-in-hand. Ehlinger first took the field in 2017 and, in nine games, showed that he had a bright future at the helm of the offense. It was the 2018 season when he took the leap into bonafide stardom, however.
In 14 games last season, Ehlinger threw for 3,292 yards, 25 touchdowns and five interceptions while also adding 482 rushing yards and 16 rushing touchdowns. He was incredibly proficient at finding the end zone for the Longhorns, proving to be capable of moving the chains with his arm and legs on a consistent basis.
On top of that, the quarterback proved that he’s an absolute gamer. No matter the moment, Ehlinger has an aura that inspires confidence. Even if he doesn’t fully come through, there is a belief that he’s going to and it’s unquestionable that he’s going to leave everything he has on the turf to try and do what needs to be done to win.
As Ehlinger returns for another year and still has a top-tier big-play weapon like Collin Johnson at wide receiver, he’s the rightful favorite to win Big 12 football Offensive Player of the Year. He’s going to keep slinging it and putting his shoulder down in Herman’s offense. When you have that setup for production and the captivating nature of watching him play, he’s in line for hardware.