Mack Brown: 'The Big 12 has become a space league'

When it comes to putting up monster numbers on the offensive side of the ball, no conference does it better than the Big 12.

By our count, Big 12 teams scored 50 points or more 27 times last season alone. That's about as impressive as it gets.

Big 12 offensive coordinators may not be employed by NASA, but they have proven to be experts at getting their guys in space. Coordinators in the conference have perfected the ability to put their guys in a position where they need to break just one tackle in order to rack up some major yards.

This spring at Texas, a premium has been put on tackling. Coming off a year where the Longhorn defense allowed more than 400 yards per game, and gave up just under 30 points per game, tackling has been stressed every time Manny Diaz gets his defense on the field.

With the Longhorns putting some of the most highly regarded talent on the field each season, the missed tackles don't seem to come down to a talent differential, so Diaz and his staff have stressed fundamentals and tackling in space this spring.

“We have to tackle better at linebacker and have to tackle better in the secondary. We’re working really hard on it because this league has become a space league.” Mack Brown explained on Statesman.com.

Brown brings up a good point. Not only is the Big 12 becoming a "space league" (and the spread isn't going anywhere anytime soon) but tackling at the second and third level of your defense has to be solid in order to be a formidable defense in the Big 12.