Longhorns edge Aggies for league supremacy

Life in the Red
 E-mail Story
 Print
  Share

 digg it!
 Facebook
 del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit

Text Size: 

By the Lincoln Journal Star

Texas won seven Big 12 trophies in 2008-09 to only two for Texas A&M, yet the Longhorns only narrowly edged the Aggies for league supremacy in a comparison of each program’s average Big 12 finish.

Texas, which averaged a 3.47 finish, won Big 12 championships in baseball, volleyball, men’s indoor track and men’s and women’s swimming, took the postseason baseball title and shared South Division honors in football. Texas A&M, champions in women’s indoor and outdoor track, was at 3.53.

The average finish is based on regular-season standings or Big 12 meets, and in the case of football, only division standings are considered. Ties are not broken.

Nebraska was third among conference schools, its 4.85 average finish an improvement over last year (5.25). Baylor, Missouri and Oklahoma rounded out the top six.

Other notes from the year in Big 12 sports:

* Missouri won more Big 12 trophies (four) in 2008-09 than in the first 13 years of the conference combined (three).

* Colorado, which had the worst average Big 12 finish, did not win a conference title in 2008-09. Its the first time in Big 12 history that the Buffaloes have been shut out.

* Texas A&M’s national title in men’s golf was the first NCAA championship won by the Aggies since softball in 1987. A couple weeks later, the Aggies swept the national titles in outdoor track and field. Nebraska’s bowling title was the only other national title for the league.

* Texas, at No. 11, was the highest-ranked Big 12 team in the most-recent Directors’ Cup Division I all-sports standings. Nebraska, which was 11th after the winter sports season, was 25th as of May 27.

— Todd Henrichs