You can get an argument over whether the league is changing the way it does business on offense. Missouri coach Larry Smith, a true believer that the ground game is the preferred weapon, thinks the ascendancy of quarterbacks reflects nothing more than a temporary shortage of quality running backs. However, Texas coach Mack Brown and several others think it's a sign of changing times. You have better chance to win seven or eight if you run the ball all the time and have better players than other teams. But if you're going to win all the games, and you go back and study teams that have won the national championship, four of the top five could throw it.
Teams can put enough people on the line of scrimmage to stop the running game.
You have to be able to throw it in the two or three games that the best team in the country has to win to survive. Six Big 12 quarterbacks are ranked in the top 30 in the nation in passing efficiency. Heupel ranks No. 2 in the nation in total offense at 370.5 yards a game and is No. 10 in passing efficiency with a rating of 162. Starting quarterback Randy McCown is No. 17 in the nation in passing efficiency and No. 9 in total offense at 319 yards a game. When you get nine-man fronts, if you're not good throwing the ball, you've got a problem.