re: Why can’t Big 12 teams play defense?

Texas high school players are slightly overrated from an athleticism standpoint.

They are well coached, but they peak early and lack the raw athleticism that the players from the Deep South states possess. The ones from Houston are pretty athletic. That part of Texas is Southern.

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You know the Big East that had Cincy, Rutgers, Connecticut and South Florida.

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That’s not the old big east

You are deflecting. The conference has the least amount of talent by a lot. Even when you do a per team average it's dead last.

Big 12 dearth of talent

It's much closer to the American than it is to the rest of the Power 5.

Only 48 defensive draft picks over a 5 year period is pathetic.

I don't think it's a matter of not playing defense as it is to the styles of offenses they run. If you want to keep up with OK and OSU you better get a coordinator that passes the ball alot or you can't keep up. If you pass alot, and score quickly, you are putting your defense back on the field sooner. Over the course of a game they just can't keep up that pace and are gassed. Look, if the Big 12 teams played grind it out, running style of football their defenses would be better.

Part of the problem is that they actually have good offenses. Another part is that most play high tempo which means a ton of plays are run.

Big XII defenses usually do fine against non-Big XII teams